The Culture of Achievement-Early Reading Interventions
had four areas of concerns reported on to the Board.
Benchmarks have been established to measure young children
at the Kindergarten level and first grade to determine their
skills in language.  It has been determined by numerous
tests and research that reading on grade level by the end
of the first grade is a very important element in determining
how well a child will do with the rest of his or her elementary
education.  If children are found to be lacking in certain skills
at the early grades (Kindergarten to First Grade), they can
be helped back on the path with careful remediation.

Teacher Patti Philbin, from Irving showed the Board the
wonderful success she has had in Oak Park by having
smaller classes and focusing her efforts on those children
with lower assessed skills.  Having additional funds 
available from the State of Illinois, Irving decided to
put the funds to work for them helping the young readers.
The goal of the program is to have all children reading
at grade level by the end of the First Grade.  Some of
the children in Ms. Philbins class have now returned
to the regular class of students.  When a child graduates
that means that he or she has gone from the lowest level
of reading back up to the standard.  A film was shown
to the Board on how the classes are run.  The enthusiasm
on the faces of the children was infectious, as was the
delight on the faces of the teachers present. It has also
been shown from studies that if a child is unable to
read at grade level, all else will fall behind too.  It is 
with this understanding that the program at Irving set
out to correct.  Ms. Philbin was given a class of students
to work with for an extended period of two and one-half
hours each day.  In this extended teaching time language arts
takes precedents over all other subjects.  When the language
arts part of the day is completed the children return to
their normal schedule of classes. Some of the procedures
shown to the Board were very inventive and productive.
When a child reads a story from a book or an entire book
successfully they bring the book home with them and
read it to their family members.  For each person that
hears the story from the student, an autograph is requested
and when the child has accumulated a sufficient number
of autographs an award is given to the student.  This involves
the entire family, friends, and the student in a fun and
learning experience. 

Marie Fegan, a Kindergarten teacher from Lincoln School,
spoke about McGaw-Hills Open Court Reading program
This program comes with a complete package of classroom
materials and lesson plans.  The books used are filled
with wonderful art and imaginative stories.  Many of the
Board members enjoyed a  quick view of the reading materials.
Ithaca Sound Reading Program link is listed below:

http://hometown.aol.com/isrp/index.html

Marilyn Adams is also a well know advocate of the early
reading research, much of her work, as noted by the speakers
is the basis for the programs in our early reading programs.

If you would like to purchase the Adams book click on the
link below to go to Amazon.com and her book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1557663211/oakparkjournalne

Paula O’Malley, the principal at Whittier School
helped present the results of working with the
Waterford Early Reading Program.  All of the programs
mentioned in this meeting are programs that shall be
used in the Elementary schools of Oak Park.  Each of
the programs is a little different and each has had a
good record of success.  Beginning in August of 1997,
six teachers from Whittier were trained in phonemic
awareness.  The results from the Waterford program
have been well worth the effort.  The majority of young
people in the program told their parents or guardians 
about the program, greatly enjoyed reading the books,
read the books with their family, and made moves forward
in their reading skills.  All of these programs involved
the help of the family and when everyone is working
together the results are right on the mark.  The District
should be proud of their successes and efforts.

Reporting on the Stanford 9 Tests

Stanford 9 Achievement Tests
Performance Standards Definitions

Performance Standards are content-referenced scores that reflect 
what students know and should be able to do in given subject areas. 
The Stanford Performance Standards were determined by expert 
panels of educators, who judged each test question on the basis 
of how students at different levels of achievement should perform. 
These expert judgements yielded four categories or levels of student
performance.

LEVEL 1
Indicated little or no mastery of fundamental knowledge and skills

LEVEL 2
Denotes partial mastery of the knowledge and skills that are
fundamental for satisfactory work.  At the high school level,
this higher than minimum competency skills.

LEVEL 3
Represents solid academic performance, indicating that 
students are prepared for the next grade.  At the high school
level, this indicates preparedness for democratic citizenship,
responsible adulthood, and productive work.

LEVEL 4
Signifies superior performance beyond grade-level mastery.
At the high school level, this shows readiness for rigorous college
courses, advanced technical training, or employment requiring
advanced academic achievement.

Grades 2 - 8 Click on image above for larger
view.

Grades 2 - 8  All subjects, from 1996-
1999  Click on image above for larger
view.

Scale Scores

“Scale scores make it possible to compare scores 
in a given area from grade to grade.  They are especially
suitable for studying change in performance over time.
While they are equivalent across levels of the same subtest
and domain total, they are not equivalent from one subject
area to another.”  Stanford 9 Technical Data Report P.32

Scale scores are meant to increase in value from year to
year.  If the increase is not noted as being very large there
is likelihood of a problem.  As you examine some of the
results you will note some areas of concern in the math
areas.  The district is looking at improving the curriculum
for the seventh graders in the area of  math instruction.

Sept 1999 Averaged Scale Scores
Click on image above for larger
view.

“The Tennessee Value Added Assessment System
analyzes the scale scores students make over a period
of three to five years.  Unlike NCEs and percentiles that
are used to rank students against their peers, the scale score
indicates a student’s current level of attainment in a subject.
Whereas NCEs and percentiles tend to remain relatively 
constant, scale scores are designed to increase from year
to year as the student learns.”  Dr William L. Sanders.
 

There was also action taken on the approval of bids to
begin Elementary School and Middle School work.  The bids
for both material packages of concrete and other labor funds
were both approved.  On the vote approving Bids involved
for the Elementary projects, all board members voted yes.
On the vote approving Bids for the concrete bids for the Middle
Schools, all members voted yes with exception being 
Sharon Patchak-Layman who voted present.