After examination of the reading data following the previous visit, the elementary determined a continual need to increase fluency to help with comprehension. Extensive research has shown students who are able to read fluently are better able to understand the meaning of passages, thus improving comprehension.
One of the goals for reading was for 80% of elementary students to consistently be at benchmark when using the DIBELS assessment as a progress check. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, there was evidence of growth with more students being at the benchmark level. However, the percentage of students meeting benchmark was still in the high 70 percents. Likewise, NeSA and MAPS data also showed the trend that improvement was occurring, but there was still room for growth. This led the school improvement team, through discussions with the entire staff, to determine that continuing the course of action of focusing on reading comprehension using, at the time, the RTI process which has become MTSS, was the best option for our goal in school improvement.
Pictures from the annual elementary Reading Banquet