Comeback Kids
By Peter Strescino

October 6, 1998

Bessemer Elementary School shows greatest improvement statewide in scores

Last November, after the state reading and writing assessment scores indicated massive problems at Bessemer Elementary, no one panicked.

In fact, in a school where just 2 percent of the fourth-grade students were proficient writers, not one teacher jumped what easily could have been described as a sinking ship.

Everyone stayed. Bessemer righted itself, and showed the greatest improvement of any school in the state when this year’s Colorado Student assessment Program (CSAP) scores were released last week.

Teachers there on Monday said they were wondering what all the fuss was about.

"The schools that score highest should be getting all of the publicity," said Rhonda Holcomb, a second-grade teacher. "We still have a long way to go."

But not a school in the state’s 17 school districts improved as much as old brick Bessemer on Mesa Avenue. In a building that looks like what a turn of the century school must have, Bessemer students and teachers got back to basics.

Not a school from Alamosa to Fort Collins advanced as much as this one, where more than 240 of its 325 kids qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. The school with a minority population of more than 80 percent proved that hard work works wonders.

Bessemer improved that dismal writing proficiency score of 2 percent to 48 percent; the 12 percent proficiency in reading turned into a 64 percent proficiency rating. Two different fourth-grade classes took those tests.

The scores from 1997 hurt the teaching staff at Bessemer, said one fourth-grade teacher.

"Last year, we were devastated when scores came out," said Laura Maldonado, who is in her fifth year at Bessemer and 17th year as a teacher. "(The teachers and staff) had a meeting when the scores came out.

"We put everything on the table and decided on changes."

"After those first scores came out, not one teacher transferred," said Ms. Holcomb. "We felt like we failed. But we took responsibility."

"The scores were shocking, but enlightening. We had to make some big-time changes."

That was in November. The second CSAP test took place last spring. In just a few months, the students produced a huge increase in writing and reading results.

Reading time was expanded from one hour to two, taking up virtually the entire morning now. The former "multi-aged" classroom concept, where students from more than one grade are taught together was changed to the more traditional single-grade concept this year. New reading strategies, as in the Lindamood-Bell process were employed, also this year.

The teachers and students turned devastation into proficiency. They took the challenge seriously. And continue to, staff members said.

There are about 30 kids who are having reading troubles currently, and five teachers have taken six kids each for special work in the Lindamood-Bell process, one that links auditory, visual and language skills and attempts to find which is causing the problem and work from there.

Ms. Holcomb said she also thought that Bessemer and other schools got away from the basics of learning.

"There were a lot of programs, all well-intended, but we were straying from the basics," she said.

"We had to prioritize reading and writing," Ms. Maldonado said.

Karen Brown has been a teacher for more than two decades, and is teaching special education students at Bessemer. She is one of the school’s leading proponents of Lindamood-Bell – which until recently has been largely a clinical method – but also said that the school is on the right path, moving forward by going back to basics.

"I saw a whole generation of teachers who came out of school trying to be creative, not using textbooks and employing little straight-and-narrow teaching," she said. "We did a lot of self-esteem things (with students). We decided that at Bessemer they’d have self-esteem (if they worked harder)."

"Some of it was fun, but first things first," said Ms. Holcomb. "No disrespect, but with some of the thematic efforts like dinosaur month and other, we’re better off going back to basics. We had to go back to basics."

All three teachers said that if children are asked to work hard early in their school career they won’t mind it so much later.

Students also began to write more in every subject, Ms. Maldonado said.

Ms. Holcomb said that the school was pushing reading because, "You learn to read early so you can read to learn later."

Superintendent Henry Roman said Monday that the entire district’s kindergarten through eighth grade is taking a sharp turn toward the basics.

"We’re increasing time in reading, in writing and in math," Roman said. "We’re prioritizing our instruction to address other subject (less). Other subjects are important, but we want at least 60 minutes of reading every day."

That was the case Monday in Ms. Maldonado’s fourth-grade classroom. The children worked diligently on reading a couple short stories and writing their reviews on the stories. They also reviewed four short stories they had read this year.

"Think about the exciting things in the story," Ms. Maldonado said. "Then you can show me what you’ve learned."

The children wrote their topic sentences on green paper strips, yellow strips were for supplemental facts and the bottom, pink strips were for further supplementing facts. "It helps them organize their thoughts," she said.

Ms. Maldonado told the children that they would be tested all week on their previous readings. On their desks were taped writers’ checklists pertaining to mechanics and another, larger sheet giving students tips on power writing.

Ms. Maldonado moved about the classroom, pointing out mistakes and making suggestions about making the work more clear. Microscopes, globes, maps and other teaching tools sat idly in the back and sides of the brightly decorated room, ignored, at least for now, in the pursuit of learning to read and write.

Glue was passed out to stick the colored slips of paper to a larger piece and all the kids used pencils as they sat hunched over their work. With the morning sun shining into the classroom and black stacks of Oregon Steel framing the southeast horizon, it almost seemed like the scene was out of a more basic time.

"Stop at each page and visualize the story," Ms. Maldonado said. "The mood, the background, the size, the shapes and the action."