By Christina Cooke
Staff Writer
Hillcrest Elementary School teacher Barbara O’Hara said the 5-year-olds she’s working with this summer will enter first grade in September ready to read.
“I’m so proud of them,” she said. “They’re reading so fluently. They’re doing such a good job.”
In Ms. O’Hara’s classroom on Thursday morning, the students in the Great Beginnings program spelled words such as “dig” and “jig” with lettered tiles and copied sentences including “the pie smells good” and “I like milk and cookies” from sets of cards.
Two years ago, in response to lower-than-desirable test scores, Hamilton County Schools launched a strategic literacy initiative. This year, the county has stepped in to support the school system with its own reading initiative, Read 20.
Mayor Claude Ramsey announced Friday afternoon that Shawn Kurrelmeier-Lee, current vice president of the Public Education Foundation, will serve as the county’s chief reading officer.
“You can’t have a good community without an effort toward reading,” he said. A literate community, the mayor said, means “you’ve got a trainable work force and you’ve raised the level of awareness about so many issues.”
The county has budgeted $25,000 for the program for this year, and private donors will fund the remaining $172,000, the mayor said.
Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jesse Register said he is pleased with the mayor’s effort to help promote reading and writing.
“The mayor’s initiative is a way to broaden what’s going on in K-12 schools now and to pull other community interests into what’s going on,” he said.
Hamilton County educators began embedding a focus on literacy into every classroom in the district about two years ago after test scores showed too many students were reading below grade level, said Cathy Carroccio, one of the school system’s two literacy coaches.
The system hired Ms. Carroccio and one other coach in 2004 to develop a common literacy curriculum for all schools. The two also work with each school to develop a literacy plan tailored to its needs.
One aspect of all plans, she said, is urging all teachers, no matter their subject, to focus on reading and writing.
“We’re not asking a science teacher to teach students to read,” she said. “We’re asking science teachers to see what practices they can use to get their students to better understand the subject matter (presented in books).”
A major focus of the initiative always has been to ensure that students are reading at grade level by third grade, educators said.
“If they haven’t learned to read by third grade, they’re not going to be able to read to learn the rest of the way, and they’ll fall behind,” said Charlene Becker, director of secondary instruction for Hamilton County Schools.
Ladarius Gordon, 12, a rising sixth-grader at East Side Middle, has realized that to be the scientist he aspires to be, he must be a good reader first.
“(Reading) helps you learn more about science,” he said.
Dr. Rebecca Everett, principal of Hillcrest Elementary, said her school runs the Great Beginnings program over the summer to give kindergarten and pre-k students a head start.
“The earlier we’re able to immerse our children in literacy, words and the wonder of words, the more successful they’ll be in life,” she said.
Programs such as Great Beginnings have helped Hillcrest score straight A’s on Tennessee Value Added Assessment System tests for the last three years, Dr. Everett said.
But unlike many school systems in the state that stop teaching literacy after elementary school, Hamilton County carries the focus through 12th grade, Ms. Becker said.
Robert Smith, principal of Soddy-Daisy High, said he thinks his school’s increased emphasis on literacy has contributed to the 18.2 percent increase in the school’s graduation rate over the last two years. Literacy is at the heart of everything else students learn, he said.
“Literacy helps kids be more successful,” he said.
The system’s focus on literacy has proven successful so far, according to Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test scores, said Dr. Kirk Kelly, director of accountability and testing for the Hamilton County Schools.
Since the county schools launched the initiative, the number of third-graders reading at grade level increased 12.8 percentage points, from 76.3 percent in 2003 to 89.1 percent in 2005, records show.
In addition, the total number of students who scored proficient or advanced on the Reading/Language Arts TCAP test increased 10.3 percentage points, from 78.3 percent in 2003 to 88.6 percent in 2005.
Educators said that they won’t be satisfied, however, until all students are reading at grade level.
And Hamilton County government hopes to play a part in facilitating that achievement.
“It’s going to take a concerted effort from this entire community,” Mr. Ramsey said.
E-mail Christina Cooke at ccooke@timesfreepress.com
Staff Writer
Hillcrest Elementary School teacher Barbara O’Hara said the 5-year-olds she’s working with this summer will enter first grade in September ready to read.
“I’m so proud of them,” she said. “They’re reading so fluently. They’re doing such a good job.”
In Ms. O’Hara’s classroom on Thursday morning, the students in the Great Beginnings program spelled words such as “dig” and “jig” with lettered tiles and copied sentences including “the pie smells good” and “I like milk and cookies” from sets of cards.
Two years ago, in response to lower-than-desirable test scores, Hamilton County Schools launched a strategic literacy initiative. This year, the county has stepped in to support the school system with its own reading initiative, Read 20.
Mayor Claude Ramsey announced Friday afternoon that Shawn Kurrelmeier-Lee, current vice president of the Public Education Foundation, will serve as the county’s chief reading officer.
“You can’t have a good community without an effort toward reading,” he said. A literate community, the mayor said, means “you’ve got a trainable work force and you’ve raised the level of awareness about so many issues.”
The county has budgeted $25,000 for the program for this year, and private donors will fund the remaining $172,000, the mayor said.
Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jesse Register said he is pleased with the mayor’s effort to help promote reading and writing.
“The mayor’s initiative is a way to broaden what’s going on in K-12 schools now and to pull other community interests into what’s going on,” he said.
Hamilton County educators began embedding a focus on literacy into every classroom in the district about two years ago after test scores showed too many students were reading below grade level, said Cathy Carroccio, one of the school system’s two literacy coaches.
The system hired Ms. Carroccio and one other coach in 2004 to develop a common literacy curriculum for all schools. The two also work with each school to develop a literacy plan tailored to its needs.
One aspect of all plans, she said, is urging all teachers, no matter their subject, to focus on reading and writing.
“We’re not asking a science teacher to teach students to read,” she said. “We’re asking science teachers to see what practices they can use to get their students to better understand the subject matter (presented in books).”
A major focus of the initiative always has been to ensure that students are reading at grade level by third grade, educators said.
“If they haven’t learned to read by third grade, they’re not going to be able to read to learn the rest of the way, and they’ll fall behind,” said Charlene Becker, director of secondary instruction for Hamilton County Schools.
Ladarius Gordon, 12, a rising sixth-grader at East Side Middle, has realized that to be the scientist he aspires to be, he must be a good reader first.
“(Reading) helps you learn more about science,” he said.
Dr. Rebecca Everett, principal of Hillcrest Elementary, said her school runs the Great Beginnings program over the summer to give kindergarten and pre-k students a head start.
“The earlier we’re able to immerse our children in literacy, words and the wonder of words, the more successful they’ll be in life,” she said.
Programs such as Great Beginnings have helped Hillcrest score straight A’s on Tennessee Value Added Assessment System tests for the last three years, Dr. Everett said.
But unlike many school systems in the state that stop teaching literacy after elementary school, Hamilton County carries the focus through 12th grade, Ms. Becker said.
Robert Smith, principal of Soddy-Daisy High, said he thinks his school’s increased emphasis on literacy has contributed to the 18.2 percent increase in the school’s graduation rate over the last two years. Literacy is at the heart of everything else students learn, he said.
“Literacy helps kids be more successful,” he said.
The system’s focus on literacy has proven successful so far, according to Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test scores, said Dr. Kirk Kelly, director of accountability and testing for the Hamilton County Schools.
Since the county schools launched the initiative, the number of third-graders reading at grade level increased 12.8 percentage points, from 76.3 percent in 2003 to 89.1 percent in 2005, records show.
In addition, the total number of students who scored proficient or advanced on the Reading/Language Arts TCAP test increased 10.3 percentage points, from 78.3 percent in 2003 to 88.6 percent in 2005.
Educators said that they won’t be satisfied, however, until all students are reading at grade level.
And Hamilton County government hopes to play a part in facilitating that achievement.
“It’s going to take a concerted effort from this entire community,” Mr. Ramsey said.
E-mail Christina Cooke at ccooke@timesfreepress.com
