Synthetic Phonics

Phonics a hit in Wyoming schools

CASPER - Linda Bush slowly writes the word "grin" on a board, encouraging the 10 first-graders on the floor in front of her to blend the letter sounds as she writes.

"When you blend, you can use your robot voices to let all the sounds blend together," she reminds the students, who immediately switch to monotone to sound out the word.

Phonics is back in vogue in reading education, and one program being used in a handful of Wyoming schools in Big Horn, Fremont and Natrona counties - including Willard Elementary School in Casper, where Bush teaches - is proving a success.

Reading First is a regimented curriculum that provides daily lessons for elementary school teachers.

Each day's lesson includes a focus on phonics and phonemic awareness - the sounds letters make and how they work together - as well as letter and word recognition, vocabulary and reading comprehension.

"In education, we get so many new things," said Willard Principal Leslie Madden, a strong supporter of the Reading First curriculum.

"In my opinion, this is back to basics." But the program is more than just phonics instruction. It operates on the principle that students need targeted reading instruction, which is why every grade level at Willard has a 90-minute block each day devoted to absolutely uninterrupted reading lessons.

The program also includes frequent assessments that provide teachers feedback on how students are progressing and the constant opportunity for intervention for those who need extra help.

Small groups are key to the program. Children work in groups of eight to 10, separated by ability levels.

Willard uses a federal grant filtered through the Wyoming Department of Education to fund the program and the schoolwide reading coach it includes; the school's Title I money, federal dollars that go to schools with high rates of low-income students, also pays for four additional teachers whose sole job is to work on reading intervention.

Teachers say one of the most important components of the program, though, is teacher training. Willard's teachers have committed to intensive summer training in the program, and an outside group comes in monthly to provide teacher in-service and training.

"It's absolutely changed my life, changed the lives of the teachers and certainly positively impacted students," Madden said. "The teachers are the ones to be complimented, commended and celebrated." She said the ability to constantly monitor and evaluate student progress has led to tremendous successes.

Students can be pulled out for additional 30- to 60-minute blocks for extra help, and parents get regular reports on how their children are progressing toward grade-level benchmarks. Teachers can tell parents exactly which basic reading skills their children need to work on and can provide simple, at-home activities to improve those skills, reading coach Peggi Hopkins said.

Madden credits Reading First for the fact that last year's kindergarten class was the first ever to reach 100 percent proficiency on reading exams. "I have the first group of second-graders who had this in kindergarten," said second-grade teacher Joy Cunningham. "They're way past where previous second-grade groups have been."

The Wyoming Department of Education provides grants for 10 schools around the state to use the Reading First program and recently announced that an external study showed all of the schools were making similar progress.

"Wyoming students at all grade levels saw statistically significant gains in their reading achievement," reported the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, which evaluated all Reading First schools in the state.

Specifically, 45.6 percent more kindergartners, 16.1 percent more first-graders, 16.7 percent more second-graders and 12.6 percent more third-graders reached grade-level benchmarks between fall 2004 and spring 2005. Fallback rates and the need for interventions also declined in the schools, the study found.

Madden said even the young students had started to recognize their successes. "My initial concern was, are we pushing too hard, taking away childhood?" she said. "But they're ready to learn. They're so excited about the success and progress they've made."

Willard staff members were so enthusiastic about the program that they used their building-level budget to purchase support materials for fourth- through sixth-grade students because the department grant only covers kindergarten through third grade. They've also started integrating some letter recognition into preschool programs at the school to prepare the kids for kindergarten.

"We know if kids aren't at grade level by the end of third grade, the future is grim," Madden said. "We don't give up on them, but the goal is to develop students who meet targets and enjoy reading."

Meanwhile, three other Natrona County schools - Midwest, Mountain View and Grant - are using the program, and the department is offering a round of grants to help other schools with low reading scores and high poverty rates implement the curriculum.

The program also is run at Burlington and Rocky Mountain elementary schools in Big Horn County School District 1; Fort Washakie Elementary in Fremont 21; and Ash Grove, Jackson and Lincoln elementary schools in Fremont 25. "The kids here are poverty kids who maybe haven't had an opportunity like this.

For them to have this bountiful chance is such a blessing," Madden said. "It makes me as a principal able to live with myself. I know we're doing everything we know how to do."

December 02, 2005

With many thanks to the brilliant 'Billings Gazette' website.