JOHNSON CITY, TN, June 13, 2011 – Since 2006, Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes has partnered with the Johnson City Schools to establish a comprehensive Professional Learning Community, using evidence-based programs and processes to improve student performance. The Johnson City partnership has led to unprecedented growth in teacher effectiveness and student literacy skills. Partnership highlights include the capacity to provide intensive intervention for at-risk or low performing students increasing from 70 students in year 1 to over 400 students in year 5, thousands of students receiving high-quality instruction in reading and comprehension skills in regular classroom settings, and nearly 250 teachers from all schools in the district receiving extensive, job-embedded professional development in the Lindamood-Bell® programs.
Significant gains have been made in the schools in the areas of reading and language comprehension. The 2010-2011 midyear results are consistent with the positive gains achieved this year: reading fluency went from the 13th to the 47th percentile, vocabulary went from the 37th to the 50th percentile and reading comprehension went from the 16th to the 45th percentile.
One of the participating schools, Indian Trails Middle School, was recognized this year at the 2011 Value-Added Achievement Awards ceremony. This annual award recognizes the most effective principals and schools in the state of Tennessee. Schools whose students make the greatest annual gains in achievement earn the highest added-value scores.
“Johnson City Schools enjoyed a successful partnership with Lindamood-Bell for five years. Many of the hundreds of students we served exited the program reading and comprehending well above grade level. Watching children transform from struggling readers who don’t believe in their abilities to fluent, confident readers is uplifting and contagious. Proving that substantial growth is possible for our most at-risk students is transformational for all involved. In addition to teaching us how to create an intervention program in which this kind of success is possible, the Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes® consultants also provided ongoing job-embedded professional development for more than one hundred teachers and paraprofessionals to ensure that they have additional tools to help them meet the needs of their students now and in the future,” says Allison Gardenhour, Title 1 teacher who was certified by Lindamood-Bell.
About Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes
Lindamood-Bell is an internationally recognized leader in the research and development of programs for reading instruction and remediation. The organization partners extensively with school districts to offer innovative literacy solutions and professional development. Its comprehensive school improvement model was research-validated in the American Educational Research Journal for its success in Colorado Schools. Based on this success, Lindamood-Bell is an approved professional development provider in the states of Colorado, Tennessee, Ohio, and Arizona, with emphasis in the areas of school turnaround/transformation and Race to the Top initiatives.
Lindamood-Bell has received national recognition from CNN, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report, and the neuroscience journal Neuron, along with being featured on the PBS special The Secret Life of the Brain. More information on Lindamood-Bell is available online at www.lindamoodbell.com.