Local Press

 

Lindamood-Bell clinic gets results, impresses board
By Peter Strescino

November 24, 1999


Karen Brown, a coordinator at School District 60's Lindamood-Bell Reading Clinic, was post-testing one of the first students who completed the intensive remedial course.

"Her scores dropped dramatically," Brown told the school board Tuesday. "I thought that she would have to return to the clinic."

But when Brown tested the next student she got the skinny on the bad performance from a boy whom, like the girl was a Park View Elementary student.

The fix was in. The young girl threw the test so she could return to the clinic.

"I retested her," said Brown, who is one of the teachers instrumental in Bessemer Elementary's celebrated academic turnaround. "She did considerably better."

Many kids did "considerably better" after their eight weeks in the Lindamood-Bell Clinic, which is located at Bessemer, and served 75 students who did not read to grade level last year as third-graders, the board learned.

Christian Piatt of Lindamood-Bell delivered the good news.

The average kid who entered Lindamood-Bell in the third week in September spelled in the 14th percentile nationally, he said. The average at the end of the course was the 23rd percentile.

That's nothing, according to Piatt and Lindamood-Bell's diagnostic testing, which he said is measured against the national standard. In reading accuracy, kids who entered scored at the 16th percentile and left at the 37th percentile. In reading comprehension, the average percentile score rose from the ninth percentile to the 25th.

"Wow!" responded board President Jack Rink. "That's just the kind of improvement we've all been hoping and praying for.

"This gets those kids back into the game."

Piatt said it is imperative that the students continue to receive "intensive daily stimulation" at their own schools. The first wave of students at the clinic came from Park View, Fountain and Belmont elementaries. Those now attending are from Irving, Goodnight and Somerlid.

The classes are for three hours in the morning and another group comes in for three hours in the afternoon. The groups average a five-to-one pupil-to-teacher ratio for 55 minutes out of every hour there.

"We see these as notable gains," Piatt said. "The mean reading accuracy for these kids is now at grade level and comprehension is within a year. That's some movement in the right direction."

Piatt also singled out the growth of three children to try to put a face behind the statistics for the board:

* A Fountain Elementary boy improved from the second-grade level to the fourth in spelling; from the mid-second-grade level to almost the fifth in reading accuracy; from the fourth to the fifth in comprehension.

* A Park View Elementary girl rose from a second-grade to a fourth-grade level in spelling; from a fourth-grade to a middle fifth-grade level in reading accuracy; and from a third-grade level to a sixth-grade score in comprehension.

* Another Park View girl soared from a middle first-grade level in reading comprehension to one that registered in the middle of the fourth grade.

"These are just three examples," Piatt said. "Of course not all kids made these strides."

Board member Judy Weaver said she was concerned that the support be there at the schools where the clinic kids returned.

"We have to figure where our support should go," she said. "Regression takes place very quickly."

Even in her concern, Weaver beamed at the improvement she heard.

"I'm so excited. It's tremendous."

Flo Lenhart, who runs the Lindamood-Bell school program for District 60 (in conjunction with a Lindamood-Bell representative), gave a rundown of what is going on in the seven schools where the reading program has been adopted.

"Most programs are progressing," she said. "The administrative support has been tremendous, and teacher participation is progressing and we're increasing the number of students involved."

Corwin and Risley middle schools and Bradford, Baca, Hellbeck and Minnequa elementaries opted to implement Lindamood-Bell this year. Bessemer adopted the program last year.

More specific information on those schools will be presented in early December, Piatt said.