At the end of the 2009-2010 school year, one of the key areas identified for improvement in my school was growth in reading comprehension in our lower school. Our school administers the MAP test three times a year to measure growth over time and, while our end-of-year scores are satisfactory, only 45% of our students show above-average growth in math when compared to the national average and the goal was set to raise that number to at least 65%.
The issue was identified at the start of the 2010-2011 school year and faculty were told of the focus on this subject area in grades 2-5. Over the summer a new curricular program had been indentified (The Columbia Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop) and teachers were introuduced to it at orientation. Three teachers had been to training over the summer months and they were each tasked with groups of teachers to train and mentor in the program. The first administration of the MAP exam was used as a baseline measurement and work begin in earnest to help students progress in reading comprehension before the second administration in December.
It is important to note that the new program was put into place in other grades as well and was not used simply as a way to raise scores this year for this test to achieve this goal. The school has made a long-term investment in adopting the Workshop and the benefits go far beyond reading comprehension scores in grades 2-5.
Informational meetings were held for parents over several weeks to introduce the program, several guest speakers came to campus to speak to families and train teachers and a bi-monthly newsletter had been produced and emailed to families dealing specifically with the workshop. The new aproach has quickly become part of the fabric of the school and, I am happy to report, the December administration of the MAP test saw over 70% of our students with above average growth since the first round of testing, meeting the first stage of the stated goal.
It was an impressive implementation of a specific School Improvement Goal, well considered, well-researched and effective.