Press Releases

Contact:
Caroline McHale, Manager of Public Relations and Outreach (800) 233-1819

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2007

Collaborative District Reform Gets Results

San Luis Obispo, Calif., August 20, 2007 – In the first year of a district reform initiative, Lindamood-Bell and Vista Unified School District successfully addressed the needs of its students through state-of-the-art instructional programs. The core of this reform initiative rests in aggressive professional development, working with district staff to provide intensive and developmental reading instruction to all students. Representative of this first years work, 490 students, in 13 schools received intensive instruction services, making significant improvements in all areas of the Scientifically Based Reading Research requirements (SBRR), as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). According to Paul Worthington, Director of Development for Lindamood-Bell, “These gains are consistent with the kinds of progress achieved in previous Lindamood-Bell® district reform initiatives.”

The following highlights specific student gains in SBRR required areas:

  • Phonemic Awareness: 18th percentile to 42nd percentile.
  • Reading Accuracy: 12th percentile to 27th percentile.
  • Fluency: 6th percentile to 16th percentile.
  • Vocabulary: 14th percentile to 21st percentile.
  • Comprehension: 18th percentile to 37th percentile.

*Percentile ranges are 1st through 99th, with the 25th to 75th considered the “Normal Range of Function.”

Additionally, considerable gains were also noted when comparing the English Learners (EL) and the Non-English Learners (Non-EL), in which EL students made equal or higher gains in all areas necessary for literacy development. The implication of such achievements on behalf of EL students is very promising.  This performance counters the argument that students who learn English as a second language cannot learn as quickly or effectively as Non-EL students. Rather, this research suggests EL students need the proper instruction to make significant gains.

This successful reform start up, led by Dr. Joyce Bales, the district's new superintendent, is further validated according to the California Standards Test (CST), released August 15, 2007. Across the district, in all grade levels, there was an increase of 6% in student proficiency by one performance level. The greatest gains were from English Language Arts (ELA) students moving from Far Below Basic (8% decrease) and from students achieving Proficiency (3% increase).

About Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes

Lindamood-Bell is an internationally recognized leader in the research and development of programs for learning difficulties. Lindamood-Bell collaborates with hundreds of schools to provide innovative instructional programs, professional development and consulting. Lindamood-Bell has received national recognition from CNN, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report and the neuroscience journal Neuron, and has been featured on the PBS special The Secret Life of the Brain. Lindamood-Bell’s programs are also the featured subject matter of a five-year study on a major school district reform, also led by Dr. Bales, to close the achievement gap, published in the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ).