Studies published as far back as the late 1980’s showed that children’s reading scores at the end of third grade could accurately predict their high school achievement by 80%. Wayne Foster, project director for a program aiming to transform 16 schools in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County school district, points to those studies - and the latest national test results which show that 34% of 4th graders are below a basic level for literacy – and says something must be done. He connects the dots between the thirty-plus percent of enrolling kindergarteners who are behind, those that stay behind in 4th grade and 8th grade, and the 25-30% of students who never graduate. "Do you think those are different sets of kids?" he asks. "No, it’s cohorts of kids who come into kindergarten, we never catch them up and they never do well."
With more than 100-thousand children enrolled in kindergarten this year, that’s a staggering number of students needing additional help.
Second grade students at Sedge Garden Elementary School get extra assistance in reading thanks to their Primary Reading Teacher, Sally Sikes. Sikes was working with two boys the day WFDD visited the school. "They are making some progress," she says. "They were two years behind, but we’ve moved them up closer to the first grade level and hope to get them on grade level by the end of the year."
The North Carolina general assembly passed a budget this summer which cut the state Department of Public Instruction by nearly $429 million. While the cuts were not intended to specifically cut teacher positions, 68% of the nearly 9,000 people who lost their jobs were teachers or teacher assistants. In Forsyth County, teacher assistants like Sally Sikes - who works part-time with no benefits - took a cut in hours but were able to keep their jobs. Second grade teacher Anna Huff has seen the difference in the number of hours Sikes is able to spend in her classroom. "When Miss Sikes and I first worked together, she was in my class four hours rather than the one this year. Pulling an assistant or PRT out of the classroom does some disservice to the students, because they don’t have that help to help boost those reading skills." Sikes has been a teacher assistant for 27 years. In addition to her reading work with the 2nd graders, she also helps out with math in this classroom, works with 4th graders, and this year is assisting 5th graders in an accelerated program that will help some struggling students advance 2 years in one year. "I'm passionate about those kids!" she says. "They can’t go to middle school – that’s when they’re going to get into trouble. The graduation rate is up in Forsyth County and we're proud of that, and the key is their progress in reading. They can't do the story problems in math if they can't read, they can't engage with the content in social studies or science. That’s where this will pay off and we've got to catch 'em young."
In Winston-Salem, a universal screening for literacy has been adopted for kindergarteners through 2nd grade. The boys Sikes is working with were identified through such screening, and as a result, they are getting the individual attention they need to catch up. Wayne Foster says the next step is finding structural programs that will help the schools address the need for such targeted support for a large number of students. "And I predict – I’ll go out on a bit of a limb – if we do a really good job in K-2 and 3, the problems with behavior we see in high school, gang activity, the students who drop out, those things are a function of poor achievement. Those students know they can’t do the work so they’re finding alternative things to do. So what we’re doing now is a different support structure, it’s a game changer for 4th grade on up, and we’ll see a difference in probably 2 years. I really think for the first time we’re on the right track."
Next year, North Carolina will roll out a new public school curriculum – part of the common core standards that are being adopted across the nation - which will focus on literacy in the 3rd grade.
