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How do you teach students in
high school or middle school who are three or more grades
behind in reading when they enter your school?
A new method of
tutoring poor readers is making significant inroads into
solving this perplexing problem. Principals report this new
approach works quickly to help their students and is cost
effective. One tutor works with four students at a time, and
in a six period day each tutor helps approximately 24
students. It is not unusual for tutored students to improve
their reading three to five grade levels in a single school
year.
The following story was
published on October 12, 2005 on TexasISD.com.
www.texasisd.com/article_34771.shtml
Struggling Secondary Readers Transformed
San Antonio School of Excellence in Education Superintendent
Ricky Hooker is on fire for a new reading program that is
transforming some struggling inner-city junior high and high
school readers into excellent readers in a single school year.
Hooker decided to bring the program, Read Right®,
to his charter school in September 2004 after visiting an
existing public school program at Decatur High School in
Decatur, Texas.
In May 2005, at the Texas Charter School Conference, Hooker
told the story of one particular student who "couldn't read
the word 'start' on video equipment" when he started the
School of Excellence's Read Right program last September, let
alone read a book. By May, the student was reading so well
that he was inspired to create a video about the reading
program that has transformed his life. The video features the
teen and other inner-city students who learned to read and
comprehend complex reading material in a single school year
through the school's new reading program.
School of Excellence personnel provided data on nine of their
junior high students at the May conference. In the seventh
grade, one special needs student went from a total non-reader
to
a Grade 5 reading level. Two other students started at a Grade
4 reading level and finished the school year reading at Grade
9 (above grade level) and Grade 7 (at grade level). Results
were similar for three eighth graders and three ninth graders
featured by School of Excellence staff. In each case, the
students gained at least three full grade levels of reading
ability by the end of the school year.
The average improvement for all 109 School of Excellence
students enrolled in the program during 2004-2005, including
22 students with special needs and seven English language
learners, was just over two full grade levels of gain per
student in one school year. The average amount of tutoring per
student was 24 hours.
"Keep in mind, our program is brand new," Hooker said.
"Imagine what we can do after we've had it a while."
The program is highly effective for special needs students,
said School of Excellence Reading Specialist and Read Right
site coordinator Wrelesha Murdock. "One of my special needs
kids couldn't read the, at, or is at the
beginning of the school year. By the end of the year, she was
reading at a fifth grade level."
According to Hooker, significant improvement in reading
ability had another unexpected benefit for the inner-city San
Antonio school.
"If a student goes from fourth grade reading to ninth grade
reading in one school year, what do you think we're getting on
campus?" he asked. "Higher self-esteem, less name calling. All
of a sudden we're seeing fewer problems on the bus. It's just
beautiful!"
Murdock agreed. Teaching students to read with excellence is
one of the best interventions for behavior problems. "When
kids start to read, the discipline problems go away."
Read Right methodology is grounded in a very different view of
what the brain requires to produce excellent reading ability.
The conventional view proposes that explicit, systematic
instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary,
fluency, and comprehension are required to create excellent
reading ability. In the new view, the majority of what the
brain does when it reads with excellence occurs implicitly-or,
below the level of conscious awareness. Reading interventions,
therefore, must address the implicit or subconscious aspects
of reading ability in order to transform struggling readers
into excellent readers in a short period of time. Recent
research with individuals with severe brain injuries published
in the Journal of Nature supports the concept that
learning can be implicit, or without conscious awareness.
"Read Right creates the right kind of environment to address
the implicit aspects of the reading process," said Dee
Tadlock, Ph.D., developer of the methodology. The program was
developed and tested over a 25-year period.
"Read Right has become a haven for our kids," Hooker said,
noting that his inner-city students actually want to
participate in the program. "Some of our hard-core kids
started the program saying, 'I don't want no Read Right nothin'.
Now, they're like, ‘Read Right helped me read this, man!’ Kids
do not want to fail,” Hooker said. "Everybody wants to do
well. But once you feel like the door's closed and you can't
make it, you'll go for what you know, even if it's trouble."
Read Right
helps kids experience success in reading quickly, restoring
hope and instilling the belief that they can and will become
successful readers. Mr. Hooker invites interested schools and
educators to visit his Read Right program in San Antonio.
Inquiries about the program can be made at 210-431-9881, ext.
2102.
Perhaps this is a program worth considering to help your most
challenged readers?
If you or some of your staff would like to explore and learn
more information about Read Right please forward this
information along to them. Some ideas follow:
Read articles about educators from many
schools across the country highlighting their experiences with
this new tutoring program at:
www.readright.com. If you only have time for one article
we suggest, “Zero Drop Out Rates and High Test Scores—High
School Teachers Can Learn to Read”
TexasisdHighSchoolStudentsCanLearnToRead.pdf
Obtain a
copy of Dr. Dee Tadlock's new book Read Right: Coaching
Your Child to Excellence in Reading, McGraw Hill,
July2005. It is available at Amazon.com, local book stores or
through the Read Right office 360-427-9440.
Contact
the Read Right Office by phone or Email. We will be
happy to answer your questions and forward you a school
information packet and other materials that might be helpful
based on your questions.
Home Office: 360-427-9440 or Email:
info@readright.com.
Phone principals and reading teachers across the country that
have first hand experience. They are delighted to share their
successes and advice. A referral list with phone numbers and
email addresses is included in the school information packet.
Visit a school site that already has a Read Right learning
center to observe tutoring and to talk to tutors, teachers and
students. We can help you arrange a visitation if you would
like.
Finally, for those that love to read
about theory and research, information about ordering Dr.
Tadlock's academic paper, "Interactive Constructivism and
Reading: The Nature of Neural Networks Challenges the
Phonological Processing Hypothesis" is available at:
www.readright.com/whitepapers/BookWhitepaper.htm.
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For more information, contact us at
Email: info@readright.com
Telephone (360) 427-9440
Copyright 1995-2010 READ RIGHT Systems, Inc.
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