By GREG WRIGHT
Gannett News Service
Published on June 7, 2006
WASHINGTON (GNS) -- An Alabama program to boost lagging reading scores in the state's middle and high schools is working because educators tailored it to fit individual classroom needs, according to a report released Wednesday.
Under the Alabama Reading Initiative, coaches help middle and high school teachers in core subjects such as English and science develop strategies to improve reading comprehension. Students with reading problems also get special attention.
Although more must be done to improve reading scores, other states should follow Alabama's lead and create such flexible reading programs, said an official at the American Institutes for Research, which prepared the report along with the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Schools in Massachusetts and northern Florida have begun programs modeled on Alabama, state education officials said.
"They have a long way to go in Alabama," said Terry Salinger, chief scientist at American Institutes for Research and one of the report authors. "But they are taking very positive steps so they are going to get there."
There are 752 schools participating in the Alabama Reading Initiative, according to the Alabama Department of Education Web site. Alabama spent $56 million on the program during the 2005-06 school year, said Katherine Mitchell, assistant state superintendent of education for reading.
Alabama educators credit the program with helping reading scores improve. During the 2004-2005 school year 35 percent of Alabama eighth graders were reading at a level that exceeded academic content standards, compared to 24 percent the previous year, according to data from the Alabama Department of Education.
The program is working because secondary school educators took a program that was initially "one-size-fits-all" and adjusted it for individual schools and classrooms, the report said.
For example, the Alabama Reading Initiative calls on students to "flag and tag," or note every unfamiliar word they read. Students can come back and review the words.
But Wendy Warren, a reading coach and teacher at the rural Russell County High School in southeastern Alabama, said the teachers there tweak this method to fit classroom needs. One teacher may ask students to flag all vocabulary words they do not comprehend while another teacher may ask students to note something a story character says they do not understand.
Warren remembers a ninth-grade girl who was in danger of failing high school graduation tests. The student could read well phonetically, but did not comprehend what she read. The program improved her skills so much she passed the tests and graduated this year, Warren said.
"I remember her particularly because she cared so much," Warren said. "If the student is motivated and the teacher is willing, it can work."
On the Web:
www.alsde.edu, Alabama Department of Education
www.air.org, American Institutes for Research