Alternative Programs Show Reading Gains

By Edie Grossfield, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.

Jun. 21–Teachers from the Rochester public schools alternative education programs reported big gains in student reading achievement this year because of new strategies.

The alternative programs for struggling middle and high school students are housed in the district’s Area Learning Center at the Golden Hill Education Center in southeast Rochester.

As ALC Coordinator Judith Bell reported to the Rochester School Board Tuesday, most of the ALC’s approximately 80 students read significantly below their grade levels. Bell, who will be retiring this month, said teachers from the ALC’s Bridge, the Continuing Education Center and the Rochester Alternative Middle School collaborated this school year to focus on improving student reading.

Research has shown that reading is integral to success in any academic subject, the teachers said.

The overall result of the ALC’s focus on reading this year was that, on average, students at ALC improved their reading skills by three grade levels.

For example, when one of the students at ALC began the school year, the most advanced book the student was able to read was “The Cat in the Hat.” By the end of the school year, the student was reading “Charlotte’s Web.”

Another student started out by reading books such as “Clifford, the Big Red Dog,” and ended up with “Old Yeller.”

This school year, the ALC implemented new reading programs, including Language!, which is a comprehensive literacy program focusing on skills such as phonics, grammar and the basics of writing.

Also, students participated in a Readers Workshop program, in which all of the teachers at the ALC, including math and science teachers, taught reading and incorporated reading instruction into their classrooms.

Beth Rojas, a teacher in the ALC Bridge program for struggling ninth-graders, said these new initiatives made a significant difference.

“Our students did show growth. Our students read more books than they probably ever have in an entire school year. They took more investment into their learning. There was more effort,” Rojas said.

She said the teachers also involved the students in keeping track of their progress.

“And they were excited about it, like, ‘Hey, I’m showing success here and I want to improve.’ So, it was really neat to see that,” Rojas said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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