/It’s structured play’ — how Mississippi schools teach kindergarteners to read

It’s structured play’ — how Mississippi schools teach kindergarteners to read

Nonprofit Mississippi News CLARKSDALE — It is a school day in November. Marilyn Payne instructs her kindergarteners to get to their stations to read. Payne, a Clarksdale Collegiate Charter School teacher, isn’t reading. She’s instead helping students to decipher the text for themselves. One student reads, “Kit can learn”, before turning to the next page. “Kit can …”” The student stops, he is having difficulty reading the next word.
“Do you want it to be sounded out?” The student nods. “Sk-ip. Skip. Kit can flip and flip.” “Now, let’s stop there. Asking her small group, “Tell me what Kit can do?” These activities help students improve their reading skills by helping them to recognize letters and sound out words. The state’s performance in a national assessment measuring fourth- and eighth grade students’ proficiency with math and reading was highly praised this fall. Mississippi saw improvement in reading proficiency while the rest of the nation slowed down or declined. Before they can sit down and take the test, however, they must first master the fundamental principles of reading. Many students begin this process in kindergarten. Teachers like Payne help students to be successful throughout their academic careers. The Literacy Based Promotion Act was passed by the state legislature in 2013. It had the purpose of improving reading skills and ensuring that every child can read at grade level or higher by the third grade. The law was passed with new requirements for students to be tested from kindergarten to third grade in order to prevent and intervene. In 2014, the kindergarten readiness assessment was introduced. Both the spring and fall exams are used as progress markers to show how well each child understands school and what they can do at school. Kindergarten students should score at least 530 in the fall and 681 by the end of the schoolyear. Students who meet the fall goal are considered “late emergent readers”. They should be able recognize the majority of the letters and match them with their sounds. Although they can’t yet read fluently, they can understand portions of picture books. Students who meet the benchmark in the spring will be “transitional readers,” meaning they can recognize consonant sounds and vowels and use story patterns and pictures to identify simple words. These benchmarks are set by the Mississippi Department of Education because studies show that students who meet these standards will be able to meet third-grade reading expectations. This is important because the law established what is known as the “third grade gate” and children who fail the test are kept back. The Test Kristin Wells is the state literacy director for the department of education. It measures 27 skills in early literacy as well as early numeracy. The state average was just over 500 this fall, nearly thirty points lower than the benchmark. Wells doesn’t seem to be concerned about this. She pointed out performance in previous years, where the state average following the spring assessment always exceeded the 681 benchmark. Wells stated that “When they enter kindergarten, this is their first time ever (they’ve) been to school”, they can recognize letters, sounds and language by the middle of the year. “Their vocabulary and oral language development has increased significantly.” The department offers expanded professional development to educators since 2014. This is in order to help them understand the importance early literacy skills. Wells stated that the department had invested in professional training for teachers. Wells stated that if a teacher is better prepared, a student will be better prepared. The state has trained more than 15,000 teachers through a program called LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling). It provides teachers with the tools and background necessary to teach literacy and language skills to children, as the name suggests. Tenette Smith, executive director for elementary education and reading, said that she has provided teacher preparation for hours. Teachers are better equipped to teach these components of reading with the LETRS “…programs. So then you’ll have better prepared students leaving kindergarten.” Clarksdale Collegiate has found that daily phonemics and phonics lessons, which are taught with the eyes while phonemics is taught with the ears, have been beneficial for students’ growth, according to Amanda Johnson, the school’s executive director. Although the school is relatively new, their average score this fall was 538. Johnson stated that their spring goal is to grow and surpass the state average score and the surrounding districts. Johnson stated that there have been many discussions about how to teach reading and what it looks like. Johnson stated that reading requires a solid understanding of all skills required to understand a word. The kindergarten class at Magee Elementary, Simpson County, scored a 456 average on the fall assessment. Although there is still much to do, Principal Paul Lawrence admits that his school is skilled in growing its students. Lawrence credits the school’s recent improvement from an F rating to B last year to its focus on growing students, and not trying to ensure that every student passes state exams. He also believes that teachers should be better able to interpret the data of their students. He said that if scores fall, you should know why. “Own it. Lawrence stated, “You know why it’s going down and you know why its gone up.” “Don’t let it surprise you in any way.” Dedra Clark-Allen, assistant principal, said that one of the school’s greatest challenges is filling the skills gaps. This includes comprehension concepts such as reading comprehension. She said that young children learn through experiences. It makes sense that children who have fewer experiences are less likely to be able to enjoy the fullness of their food. We learn from what we know. Teachers can teach children to recognize sounds and letters, but it can be hard for them to grasp the meaning of words without any background knowledge. “We can tell you stories about the circus, but you won’t be able to imagine it if you haven’t been there.” Clark-Allen stated that there is no reference point or context for what Clark-Allen described. Clark-Allen said that one of the greatest challenges we face is the inability of parents to expose their children to many activities and settings. At Corinth Elementary School staff prepares each kindergarten class for the start of school months ahead. Parents are invited to bring their children to school for a screening to assess their knowledge and to give tips to parents about how to prepare their children. The day camp is for students who have just registered to get a feel of their school. It involves walking through the halls, finding the restrooms and looking around the classrooms. Brian Knippers, Corinth Elementary Principal, said that this pays off. This year’s students arrived at school prepared to learn because they had already been familiar with the area. Knippers stated that this change in culture has changed the school’s entire culture. You can do it before or spend the first week trying to get children what we call “ready to learn.” Kindergarten classrooms are creative spaces for learning. Deborah Baugus, kindergarten teacher, has students stamp vowels on a sheet of paper with an ink pen. Others participate in a game called “write the Room.” Each number corresponds to a photo on the wall of the classroom. Students must find the number of syllables within each photo. One student colored three gingerbread men using a green paint pen after he saw the broccoli photo on the wall. Knippers said that while it is a coloring activity for the child, teachers can write in the room as an Excel spreadsheet. In class activities like these are one way teachers can gauge how well a student understands the material and where he or she needs assistance. Staff can see the whole picture by combining testing and classwork data. Linda McAdory is the administrator for early learning at Leland School Park. She says that establishing a positive school environment and encouraging parental involvement are important. With an average score of 583, the Leland school was the best performing in fall scores. McAdory said that one reason for this high score was parental engagement. She said that staff make every effort to speak with parents at drop-off and pick up. Teachers send out weekly newsletters to parents and worksheets for parents with activities that include the words and letters learned in class. “We give resources to parents so that they can work with their children. The parents and the parental involvement component that we have in the Leland School district are the reason our children excel.” Students at Ambition Prep Charter School in West Jackson scored just a few points higher than the state average in the fall assessment at 507. The school was opened with 73 kindergarteners as well 64 first-graders. Staff quickly took to the job. Every kindergarten classroom is named after the college where the teacher went. Students gathered on a colorful rug in the Louisiana State University classroom, on a December morning. Students were gathered on a colorful rug in a classroom at Louisiana State University. A teacher asked them how they could read the words on the page. They responded with chants “top to bottom!”
“Fffffff…at” was the next instruction. They did this several times until they were able to read what all of those sounds added up to — “fat.” DeArchie Scott, founder of the school, said that it is deliberately longer than a traditional public school because they needed more time to learn literacy. Ambition Prep’s kindergarten class includes students from a range of backgrounds. Some are returning from home to start school, while others have been enrolled in Head Start programs or preschool programs. Some children are “repeaters”, which are those who attended kindergarten at another school last year. Kayla Applewhite (dean of curriculum and instructional) said that kindergarten can have “repeaters” — children who don’t recognize letters or are almost reading. Applewhite and her staff use a variety of assessments to determine how students are doing and where there are gaps. Teachers can view specific information about each child and class, including what sounds or letters they are having difficulty recognizing. This data allows teachers to break down students into groups according to their ability. She explained that this allows students to focus on their individual skills. One group may be working on a repeated pattern in a book or reading from left-to-right. A higher group might be working on word-solving right now. Applewhite explained that they are almost reading the picture and using the initial sound to find a word. “That individual instruction is actually possible in those small groups moments and then the teacher gets to inspect with each scholar,” Applewhite said. Although each school Mississippi Today visited has its own teaching methods, there were commonalities. Everything has a purpose, from the multicolored rugs that students sit on to the letters of the alphabet on the wall to the interactive learning stations scattered around the room. Teachers know that young children have short attention spans and learn best using their whole bodies, so classrooms must be appropriate for them. Smith of the state department for education said that while desks and lecture settings will be added later, school at present is structured play. Jill Dent is the bureau director of early childhood at Mississippi Department of Education. She said that “every piece is intentional.” Dent stated that kindergarten teachers are extremely creative in how they integrate the (early learning standards) into learning centers. She also explained what she wants them to teach their children through this play. “Students don’t realize they are learning while doing this because they have so much fun.” Make a regular donation to support this work today as we celebrate our Spring Member Drive.