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Fog/Mist Lawrence school district attacks its literacy problem
Changes aimed at improving student test scores
Lawrence School District officials are hoping that a restructuring of positions at the middle school and an increased emphasis on literacy throughout the district will boost scores on the state’s English Language Arts exam, especially among special-needs students.
Lawrence, which is currently on the state’s “needs improvement” list for both the high school and middle school, registered small gains on this year’s ELA test, but the percentage of students who met or exceeded the state standard for the exam remains painfully low.
Jennifer Vitale, the director of English Language Arts and social studies at Lawrence Middle School, has resigned, and Superintendent Gary Schall has made several administrative changes at the school, including appointing current Assistant Principal Rina Beach as ELA chairwoman.
Beach was the district’s curriculum director for ELA, social studies and reading for grades six through 12 from 2006 to 2009. Of her new appointment, Schall said, “It will strengthen our approach to literacy at the middle school.”
To strengthen the district’s overall approach to literacy, Schall explained, the first 15 minutes of every class will begin with reading, speaking or listening to a teacher read. In music classes, the subject matter may be biographies of musicians; in gym, it may be Sports Illustrated or newspaper articles about athletes.
“Our goal is to infuse literacy and numeracy into all subject areas,” said Beach, who added that her role is to support the improvement of instruction at every level in the school. “Gary has asked every teacher to teach the standards of reading, writing, speaking and listening.”
As curriculum director, Beach worked with teachers to develop curriculum and instructional methods. She expects to do similar work as ELA chair, while adapting the newly instituted Common Core Standards to the schools’ curriculum to help ensure that the education is relevant to students and they are learning. “Our district has one unified belief: Success is within reach of each and every learner,” she said.
