Fortunately, I had inherited a language arts department filled with committed, hardworking, and student-centered teachers who were as concerned about the students’ reading levels as I was.  More importantly, they were willing to do whatever it took to tackle the problem.  Together we spent the remainder of the school year searching for the most effective way to help our struggling students.

            The smartest thing we did was to not look for a quick fix.  Before we started talking about solutions, it was important we understood, as clearly as possible, the problem.  When we want our students to gain a more in-depth understanding of some topic, we ask them to do research.  So that is just what we did.  In November, we organized a study group of interested teachers and met after school to discuss articles on reading and reading instruction.  I would supply food and drinks and articles to read and discuss—the teachers supplied the enthusiasm and expertise to sort through the materials and find meaning and significance for our situation at Tuttle.  From meeting to meeting, whenever we found articles related to reading, we shared them.  Going into this, I had felt that Tuttle was experiencing a problem unique to us—it didn’t take long to realize that vast numbers of middle school students read below grade level.  It is a problem many schools are struggling to resolve.  The number of articles and books written to address the problem bears this out.

By the beginning of February, armed with a much broader understanding of reading and its various components, the discussions began focusing on our students and targeting their weaknesses and needs related to reading.  By March we were ready to begin looking for programs to help us tackle the problem.  But what program?  Several programs were recommended to us, and we perused lots of brochures and sample books and discussed their strengths and weaknesses.  In the end, we agreed that the Corrective Reading program sounded good, but did it work as good as it sounded?  We didn’t want to invest thousands of dollars in a program that wouldn’t produce.  We scheduled a visit from a company representative and received examination copies of the series.  The program seemed strong.  But those of us in education know all too well how something can look good, but . . .

        The second smartest thing we did during this process was to find a school and teachers that had used this program for a number of years, send a group of teachers to that school to observe the program being used, and talk to the people who had actually experienced it and knew if it was as good as it looked.  It was early April, and we knew we were running close on time if we wanted to get something up and running by the next school year.  Fortunately, we were able to schedule a visit to a school in Terre Haute.  I didn’t make the trip, but my teachers came back completely sold on the possibilities of the Corrective Reading program for our students.

        The time invested in studying reading, examining our own students, investigating available programs, and researching current users of a program paid off again when it came time to sell our superintendent and school board on the critical importance of addressing the needs of these struggling readers and the benefits the Corrective Reading program could provide.  It was also beneficial in getting buy-in and commitment to the program from teachers who had not been involved in the process from the beginning.

        Three weeks before school let out for the summer, we tested every student in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades whom teachers targeted as reading at least two grades below grade level.  The Corrective Reading placement test is relatively simple (I tested most of our students) and takes five minutes or less per student.  In fact, it was so simple, we wondered about its validity.  Nevertheless, we placed students according to the test results.  (After one semester of Corrective Reading, only one student has been identified as having been placed incorrectly.)  By the end of school, we had determined the number of books and materials needed at each grade level in order to implement the program the following school year and placed our order.  During the summer, the publishers sent in a representative to train the teachers who would be using the program.  This school year began with three Corrective Reading classes at each of the sixth and seventh grade levels and two at the eighth grade level. 

        This process from recognizing a problem to finding a means to address and resolve it sounds relatively simple on paper—in reality it was much less so.  First of all, during the research and program search process, teachers put in many hours after the regular school day ended.  Then, once the Corrective Reading program was adopted, teachers had to rethink their way of teaching and make major adjustments.  The success of the Corrective Reading program is its controlled presentation.  Each lesson is scripted and details exactly what the teacher is to say for each activity, what signals the teacher is to use, and how the teacher is to correct mistakes.  Trust me!  This forced my innovative and creative teachers wwwwaaaayyyy out of their comfort zone! 

        In addition, teachers had to contend with adolescent attitudes of students who felt (at first) that this program “was beneath them.”  My teachers did a commendable job of getting students to buy into this program.  In only a few weeks, students were beginning to realize that they weren’t “stupid,” they just “hadn’t gotten the hang of reading” the first time around.  Of course, teachers also had to use their professional “instinct” to tweak the Corrective Reading program to ensure that it turned their students on to reading—not off.  Whereas sixth grade students tend to do what the teacher says, no matter how “different” it might seem, eighth graders tend to rebel at anything an adult says will be good for them, and seventh graders fall somewhere in between.  Teachers were able to adjust the program accordingly.

        Finally, the program didn’t just fit into our schedule.  We had to make some adjustments because we were committed to keeping the Corrective Reading classes small.  And since student placement is dependent upon test results, there is a resemblance to “tracking.”  We prefer, however, to call it “doing what’s best to help students achieve academic success.” 

        At this point we have no quantitative data to validate the effectiveness of the Corrective Reading program to increase students’ reading levels.  However, we are almost one semester into the program’s first year and my teachers are more convinced than ever of its potential.  They have noticed significant gains in the students’ abilities to recognize words and an increase in reading rates.  The comment I hear over and over is how much more willing students appear to be to read out loud and perform in classes where other students are reading at about the same ability level as they read.  An additional benefit?  Students who previously refused to participate are now eager to do so.  Self-confidence and self-esteem are important factors at the middle school level in whether or not students will succeed academically.  My teachers have no doubt that our standardized test scores will improve as a result of this program.  Unfortunately, it will be a year or two before we can verify that.

        While we chose to dedicate our efforts and money to the decoding portion of the program this year, we are already making plans to add the comprehension portion next year.  We are also investigating the possibility of looping at the seventh and eighth grade levels so that a teacher will have two years to work with a student and develop a deeper understanding of the students’ strengths and weaknesses. 

        An unexpected but much-welcomed benefit of this whole process has been the impact it has had building-wide on my faculty (and myself) and the increased understanding of the need for all teachers to be teachers of reading.  At our teacher meetings each month, teachers are sharing reading strategies that they have used in their classes and found to be effective.  Individuals are doing presentations and involving teachers in hands-on reading strategy activities that they can take back to their classrooms and use.  I have provided each teacher with Jim Burke’s book Reading Reminders on reading strategies and have asked them to submit a written summary of one new strategy they have used (which will be placed in their permanent file).  I also purchased for each teacher a three-ring binder, filled it with some articles on reading, and hand out additional articles on a regular basis.  (They are asked to bring their binder to each teacher’s meeting—so it doesn’t get put on a shelf and forgotten.) 

        At Tuttle, we are doing everything possible to make sure everyone—teachers, students, and parents—knows the importance of reading and understands how critical it is to be a good reader.  The Corrective Reading program is a critical part of our efforts to achieve this.  Add to that the hard work of dedicated teachers determined to do whatever it takes, and it won’t be too long before I’m hearing: “When they read, they understand it.”  “He will not only survive in this class, but he will excel because he has essential reading skills.”  “She loves to read out loud to her classmates.”