32. Reading Systems

Lexile scores are a powerful tool because they can be compared with typical Lexile demands in both textbooks and in numerous career areas.  By matching a textbook and student performance Lexile level, the student can normally achieve at least 75% comprehension, a proper learning level to avoid frustration but retain adequate challenge.  If a student is falling below the proficiency range for a grade level, good diagnosis (looking at speed, vocabulary, comprehension, and perhaps auditory discrimination) allows a school to provide new instructional alternatives early enough to avoid the lowering of achievement in many subjects that can result from low reading skills.  To obtain more information on Lexiles go to www.Lexile.com/kits.

2. PROVIDING A BROAD RANGE OF LEARNING OPTIONS - - Certainly an elementary school should use a strong basic reading program that includes different learning style experiences.  Exclusive dependence on one approach (phonics or whole language) is naive and inefficient.  See Topic #6.  Consider computer-assisted programs and/or computer-assisted remediation labs carefully.  The best computer-based programs offer interactive learning style alternatives and incorporate continuous assessment capabilities that reduce serious time demands on teachers.  Provide non-computer-based remediation alternatives also.  Include the options of referral to reading specialist and/or “special education” programs for students with identified disadvantages including poor auditory discrimination which can greatly lower reading ability.  Options should continue in any secondary school after a student leaves the basic program in elementary school:  computer-based and non-computer-based remediation labs, English classes with an emphasis on reading help for those who still need same, a focus on teaching and improving reading skills in ALL subject classes.  Whenever annual monitoring shows a student operating below the proficiency reading range for a grade level, he or she should be giving a reading development plan consisting of one or more options.  Progress under that plan should be monitored, and the plan should be changed again as necessary.  Put simply, if a student is not proficient at reading, he or she should be required to pursue an individualized learning plan to correct that situation.  Reading skills should assume primary importance even to the extent of taking time away from other subjects in cases of serious need.  I have seen excellent reading skill growth in serious cases where high school students were in a reading-focused English class and in a computer-assisted reading remediation lab and concurrently in a special lab program to improve auditory discrimination with time for the latter taken away from an otherwise required subject. The effort and the waiving of other requirements were a worthwhile investment in this critical area.
   
   
3. MEASURING AND CHANGING OPTIONS - - In part 2 above, growth of individual students is measured and options are changed as needed.  In addition to that individual assessment and management, the effectiveness of each program option should be measured to guide annual improvement in the option.  For example, the average annual grade level or Lexile level gain in a computer-assisted remediation lab should be measured with the goal of increasing that average gain each year.  With student help, factors influencing gain can be evaluated:

• Did the students know their learning style preferences and how to use same to select different style lessons in the computerized program?
• Did students have the necessary skills to use the computer properly?
• Were some computer lessons confusing to many students, perhaps needing to have supplementary instruction or activities added by the teacher?
• Were some students computer-phobic or resistant, perhaps needing transfer to a non-computer-based program?
• Did some students feel that they needed more time, perhaps after school, in the lab?

4. ARRANGING DEFINED RESPONSIBILITIES AND SUPPORT PROCESSES - - For a reading system to be effective, responsibilities must be clearly assigned so that each part of the system is implemented thoroughly and so that the entire operation is properly coordinated.  While exact arrangements would vary from school to school (being different in an elementary school than in a secondary school), four basic principles should be observed:

• First, all staff members should be trained to understand the system. 
• Second, individual teachers or groups should be assigned specific roles.  For example, the English Department in a high school might be assigned to ensure initial diagnostic testing and data recording for every entering freshman.  A reading specialist might use the results from reading and learning style tests to prescribe a learning options plan for every student not meeting a minimum reading skills standard for grade nine entry.  NOTE:  In a regional high school where I worked, we had entering ninth graders take tests in the summer before the school year started.  Then class options could be planned before the start of the school year.  In a single K-12 district, such entry testing might only be necessary for students new to the district, assuming that eighth grade reading data would already be available on those who were in eighth grade in the district.
• Third, all parts of the program must be coordinated by an assigned task force that seeks needed support from the principal and/or other administrators.
• Fourth, the principal and other administrators should provide the support needed as one of the highest budget priorities in the school.

SUMMARY

Here is a visual summary of an approach to having an effective system for teaching reading: