Goals being met at Ralph Witters Elementary

At the start of the school year, staff at Ralph Witters Elementary (RWE) set a few goals and are well on their way to meeting those goals for the 2017-18 school year.

The library went under a bit of renovation to create a special space for books dedicated to a reading leveling system. At the beginning of the year each student was assessed as to their placement within that reading system.

Once their benchmark was set in the Fountas and Pinnell system, each student worked toward improving where they sat in the system.

The improvement across the grade levels has been extraordinary to say the least. Students from first through fourth grades had a 97 percent growth in their reading from September to December.

In September, 40 percent of first graders at RWE were reading at or above their grade level while 60 percent were reading below grade level.

With the Fountas and Pinnell system, along with hard work from students and teachers, in December, 73.7 percent of first graders are reading at or above grade level, while just 26.3 percent are below.

A big jump is also seen with second graders, who, at the start of the year had 46.2 percent reading at or above grade level and 53.8 percent reading below grade level.

In December 66.7 percent were reading at or above while only 33.3 percent were reading below grade level.

Third grade had a significant change for the better as well.

In September, they had just 40.7 percent of students reading at or above grade level with 59.3 percent reading below. December’s tests show 68 percent are now reading at or above with only 32 percent reading below grade level.

Fourth grade actually stayed fairly level, but they did have some growth.

September showed 56.3 percent reading at or above grade level and 43.8 percent below. December’s numbers have 62.5 percent reading at or above and 37.5 percent reading below grade level.

While it was not initially planned, the kindergarten teachers began the leveled reading program with their students at the beginning of the second quarter and already have 71 percent of those students reading at or above the kindergarten level.

Additional testing will be done in the spring to see how the movement has gone for the entire year. By then, they will have benchmarks for all the grades, making it unnecessary to do the initial benchmark test in the fall for all but the incoming kindergarteners and any students who move to Thermopolis. Midyear and end-of-year benchmarking will continue so that student needs can be met.

“Having addressed individual student reading needs using the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading system, as a teacher myself, I understand the intensity and level of commitment my staff is having to put into this process,” said Principal Laurie Graves. “I am so pleased with their efforts and in the results they are achieving. There is a definite undercurrent of excitement in our students and staff as we are making such tremendous reading gains.”