Golden Apple: Reading Corps Builds Core Reading Skills At Northome School

For students that might be falling behind in their reading skills, AmeriCrops is there to help. The program at Northome School helps target, improve and monitor those who might not qualify for more advanced help.

During Kim Lindner’s 2^nd grade class, she’s carefully paying attention to her students. If the students are behind by a grade level in reading scores, they undergo Title 1 federal help. If they’re behind by two grade levels, they would go to special ed.

“Reading Crops helps fill that gap of the kids that are on the bubble,” says Lindner.

She’s talking about the bubble between falling critically behind and just needing an extra boost. When she notices this happening, she consults with Linda Ferdig.

“Sometimes it’s where they don’t stop at the end of a sentence with the period,” says Ferdig, the Reading Corps tutor. “Generally, it’s so they start reading at a faster pace.”

For twenty minutes each day, she takes the students she works with out of class for one-on-one sessions using different kinds of interventions. This might take the form of duet reading or repetitive reading, all depending on what she decides to use with the help of Lindner, who sees it first hand in the class room.

“Along with my coach, we figure out which would be best for them and that’s what we work on daily. Then, once a week, I progress monitor them.”

She graphs out the weekly results to see their progress over time. Once she finds that they’re no longer in that bubble, she benchmarks them- only testing them again quarterly to make sure they aren’t slipping again.

“And if they’re not up to par, then they will keep them again until they get up to that standard that they need to be.”

Principal Judd Wheatley says this is all about early intervention, critical for students to build on. He’s been so impressed with the work, that he’s considering Math Corps through the organization for his middle school students.

The students will age out in third grade. If they need extra support after that time, they’ll have specific interventions.

Linda Ferdig says the students who have the most improvement are the ones who read with a parent of family member each night.