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New Study Reveals High
Minority and High Poverty Children Can Rise to Meet the Requirements of
No Child Left Behind
San Luis Obispo, Calif., February 28,
2006 — As high poverty and high minority schools continue to
struggle to close the achievement gap, one Title I district in Pueblo,
Colorado has achieved unprecedented results. Over the past
eight years, Pueblo School District 60 (PSD60) and Lindamood-Bell
Learning Processes have proven that low socio-economic status is not a
social liability. PSD60 is a 65 percent free and reduced lunch and
minority district. Findings from a new study published in the spring
issue of the prestigious American Education Research Journal confirm
that PSD60’s district-wide literacy reform model has
significantly closed the student achievement gap. In 1998,
results on the state achievement test ranked near the bottom in
Colorado. Representative of this effort from 1998 to 2005,
PSD60’s third-grade students have improved 16 percentage
points, to 83 percent proficient or above reading proficiently, while
the state (35 percent free and reduced lunch and 37 percent minority)
has only improved 5 percentage points, to 71 percentage proficient or
above.
With
accountability being a main concern for school districts under the new
mandates of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, this study offers
scientific evidence on what works for students. The NCLB Act
stresses that programs must be grounded in research.
The
authors of the study, Dr. Mark Sadoski and Dr. Vic Willson from Texas
A&M University, cited PSD60’s success in carrying out
school reform measures, including effective practices in teaching,
learning, management, high-quality staff development and the use of
scientifically-researched methods. They noted that,
“In effect, PSD60 went ‘by the book’ in
producing large-scale reform with unparalleled success.”
PSD60 did this by allowing Lindamood-Bell to train over 1200
professionals in the district over the researched period of time and
assist the district with over 4300 children receiving intensive
remedial instruction in reading.
PSD60
was chosen for this study as a result of its dramatic increase in
student achievement after it partnered with Lindamood-Bell Learning
Processes, a private literacy and research organization with years of
success in improving reading and comprehension skills.
“We always believed that these students could perform
academically,” said Paul Worthington,
Lindamood-Bell’s Director of Research and
Development. “Based on the typical expectations for
high poverty schools, PSD60 is a statistical improbability,”
referring to the fact that these students from poor areas are
performing so well.
“The
centerpiece of this intervention was the Lindamood-Bell materials, with
teacher training being exclusive to these materials and corrective
instruction utilizing these materials,” according to the
study. PSD60 Superintendent, Dr. Joyce Bales,
agrees. She has been the superintendent since the inception
of the partnership with Lindamood-Bell and is convinced that the
district has figured out what works best. “It does
not take more money to do what we are doing! We quit doing
things that didn’t work. We used resources that
were already in the district. We used our Title I funds to
focus on professional development for our teachers."
Since
partnering with Lindamood-Bell in 1998, PSD60 has received state and
national attention for student achievement. Honors have
included three National Blue Ribbon Schools, two National Title I
Distinguished Schools and three Governor’s Distinguished
Improvement School Awards. Its district reform model has been
recognized by President George Bush and Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings. For more information on Pueblo School District 60,
visit them on-line at
Lindamood-Bell
is an internationally recognized leader in education, owing to its
scientifically-based reading research and instructional
success. It has over 30 years of success with students,
including those diagnosed with dyslexia, hyperlexia, ADD/ADHD, and
autism. It selectively partners with schools and districts
each year to provide professional development and school reform
models. Lindamood-Bell’s research and instructional
programs have received national attention in U.S. News
& World Report, Newsweek, Time, the neuroscience
journal, Neuron, and on
CNN.
Please
for more information on Lindamood-Bell's comprehensive district
reform.
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