ARLINGTON – Kim Mattson felt relief, not sadness, when her daughter was invited into a new class emphasizing reading after the first grade.
It was three years ago and Olivia was a bright and well-rounded girl whose reading skills were developing behind her peers.
“I could tell that she wasn’t where she should be,” Mattson said. “And I feel if there is any opportunity to better a child, I would be a fool to deny that opportunity.”
The strategy at Eagle Creek Elementary School in Arlington was simple: Catch kids early and narrow the gap quickly.
Early results are impressive.
Thirteen of the 14 students in the program passed the fourth-grade reading Washington Assessment of Student Learning last spring. The 14th child missed the mark by one question.
That 93 percent passing rate was higher than the school, district and state averages.
Olivia and her classmates followed the same curriculum as students in other parts of the school and other elementary schools in the district.
The main difference is that their class size was smaller over the past three years and more time was dedicated to reading.
There was also extra instructional help with an educational assistant and daily visits from the school’s reading specialist.
And the school tried innovative approaches: Students knitted often, based on research that suggests it can help with reading development, and they bobbed on large rubber balls to release any nervous energy.
As for Olivia, she aced all three WASLs – in reading, writing and math – and is back in a larger classroom this fall as a fifth-grader.
Olivia believes the smaller class size, “without so many kids talking,” helped her learn.
“I really liked it,” she said. “My teachers were all nice.”
Diane Kirchner-Scott was the Eagle Creek principal three years ago when the program started. She cried with happiness when the WASL results came back because she knew how hard teachers and students had worked over the years.
It took an entire school, Kirchner-Scott said. To get the smaller class sizes, teachers in other classrooms added students.
“The model of trying to intervene before we are talking about labeling kids is important,” said Kirchner-Scott, now the district’s special services director.
The reading initiative required more than hard work and research-based teaching strategies, said Denise Putnam, Eagle Creek’s principal, who was the assistant principal when the program began.
“There was a lot of trust that had to be called on from those parents,” Putnam said. “We couldn’t guarantee the outcome.”
These days, word is getting out and parents are starting to approach Putnam to ask about getting their children into the class.
Mattson, who has seven children, is thankful for her daughter’s sake that the school was willing to try something different.
Classroom visits over the years gave her hope.
Classes were small enough for teachers to read the body language of individual students, down to Olivia’s raised eyebrow, if the child didn’t understand and was afraid to ask.
“It built her confidence,” the Arlington mother said. “She felt she could take on the world.”
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