Pullout programs can provide special attention

Benjamin Grove

Friday, May 21, 1999 | 10:12 a.m.

Ten-year-old Richard is learning to read.

In a steady monotone, the lanky fourth grader at Helen Jydstrup Elementary School plods through "word clusters" from a special reading book.

"...a tall girl...a big house...made me mad...all last night...in the book..."

Richard is one of five pupils from John Pendry's fourth grade class in the Clark County School District's Reading Improvement Program, or RIP. Students leave their regular classroom to meet with reading specialists for 50 minutes four days a week.

Pendry now has five students in the RIP, four in gifted and talented classes and two in special education classes.

Pendry tries to arrange the class schedule so students in the pullout programs don't miss much classwork. Pendry says that the programs generally offer students the attention he can't deliver.

The RIP, offered to first-through-fifth graders, operates at all district elementary schools, serving between 30 and 70 students at each.

Richard and four classmates from Pendry's class, Elena, Jorge, Rachel and Shannon R., are among the school's 45 pupils in the reading program.

Reading specialist Joan Edwards meets with just six or fewer students at a time.

"I like figuring out what works with each student," Edwards said. "You look at Richard and sometimes he is somewhere else. It's been a matter of keeping him tuned in to what he needs to be learning."

The purpose of the program is to break students away from the distractions of their regular classrooms and feed them a phonics-heavy curriculum designed to spur them into reading at grade level.

"As the city grows, we get students from all over the place," said Darrin Hardman, a RIP coordinator, who notes the program has grown steadily since its inception in the 1970s. "We can really do one-on-one teaching when we have small groups of five to eight children. Our kids deserve that one-on-one attention."

Children stay in the RIP between six months and two years, until they are able to keep up with their classmates.

The RIP is distinctly different from the district's English Language Learner program, or ELL.

This year, about 10 of Pendry's students do not speak English as a first language -- they speak other languages at home. But those students now speak enough English that they are not in ELL classes.

Students in Clark County schools are supposed to learn to read by the end of third grade. But not all do.

Some students have moved from school to school, which has diminished their reading practice time. Others have learning disabilities.

Many pupils in the RIP do not have parents who read to them at home, or encourage them to practice reading, Hardman said.

"These are jewels that we're dealing with here," Hardman said. "With just a little polishing, these are children who can and do become readers. The RIP is a support, a boost, a kick in the pants, if you will, to get them moving along."

Richard's mother said her son is behind in reading in part because he attended a school in Torrance, Calif., where students lag behind their Nevada peers.

Richard himself has noticed a difference.

"I'm reading better words," said the gangly boy with baggy, fashionably wide bell-bottom jeans. "Bigger words I didn't used to get."

In another room at Jydstrup Elementary, the school's brightest students meet for gifted and talented education, or GATE.

On one day seven of the school's fourth graders pondered philosophy as classical music played softly in the background.

This quiet, nurturing setting hardly seems the backdrop for a sometimes testy controversy.

But in some education circles nationwide, parents and educators are debating the pros and cons of GATE, which pulls gifted students out of class for special attention.

Is the program a godsend for the district's smartest students who need extra stimuli to challenge their minds? Or is GATE "elitist"?

Programs for gifted students have operated in districts nationwide for years. In Clark County, GATE is 26 years old and serves roughly 7,000 children.

The program, offered to third through sixth graders, selects students based on test scores, but GATE coordinators also consider referrals from parents, teachers and even students themselves.

Students are then pulled out of class for 450 minutes a week -- typically two hours and 20 minutes or so on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday -- for a classes that focus on new ways of stretching the brain, creative thinking and risk taking. Students make up missed work.

Four of Pendry's 29 students now are enrolled in GATE: Molly, Karen, Erin and Hannah. (Karen and Erin have joined the class since the beginning of the year; Shannon T. moved away.)

Jydstrup GATE teacher Carolyn Stewart defends GATE against what she calls "factions" of teachers and parents who believe GATE should be integrated into the regular classroom.

"What we need is to see them more, not less," Stewart said. "If there were no GATE, it would be a disaster for these students. There are students in every class who are at the top of the pyramid, and if you make every classroom a GATE classroom, they will suffer."

Molly, one of Pendry's GATE students, says she loves GATE. The ambitious girl said she learns more in GATE than in Pendry's room.

"We wish we had GATE all day, every day," she says.

Several times this year Pendry has glimpsed the fury inside Teresa Lee, one of his fourth graders designated "special education."

During one incident, the 10-year-old yelled at Pendry and vice principal Charles Anderson, hitting and berating Anderson, telling him to "go to hell."

"She's OK until she flips," Pendry says. "Then she just goes blind with rage."

Many special education students do not have emotional disorders that cause violent tantrums, teachers say.

But Pendry's skirmishes with Teresa Lee are illustrative of the effects that "mainstreaming" special education students can have on today's Clark County classroom.

Nationwide, nearly 6 million students receive special education services at a cost to school districts of about $43 billion a year.

Officials say that about 10 percent of Clark County's 203,000 students are designated special education. Special education costs the district about $141 million.

Conditions that impair the learning of special education students vary widely.

Jydstrup special education teacher Patti Norris explained that many of her students simply cannot process information through sight and sound as quickly as other students.

Pendry has only two special education students in his class, Teresa Lee and Orwell. Norris meets with the two students in a class of 12 or so other special education students for three hours a day for math and reading/language arts. The two join Pendry's class for the rest of the day, including science, social studies, art, music and physical education.

Inside their special education classroom, Norris works alongside a part-time aide and a student teacher.

They eased into the day's spelling lesson with a discussion about Norris' new granddaughter. Norris showed the class pictures of the infant and encouraged the children to share their own experiences with hospitals and babies.

Each of Norris' students have their own Individual Education Plan, a blueprint for what each is expected to learn during the year. Each year parents meet with special education teachers to craft the plans and set the educational goals for each child.

Norris said she often teaches lessons during intensive bursts because some students cannot concentrate for more than 10 minutes.

Special education students are prone to high levels of frustration that are rooted in failures they have had in "regular" classrooms, where they sometimes feel overwhelmed, Norris said.

Norris heaps praise on her pupils to build their self-esteem.

"I don't want them to believe for one minute that they cannot learn or succeed in life," Norris said.

Norris said she fights a misconception that special education students are "dummies" who can't fit into a regular classroom.

"Being learning disabled just means that you learn differently," Norris said. "You go to a little different class for a little while, and then you go back."

The issue of "mainstreaming" special education students has developed over the years nationwide. Many educators and parents believe special education students should spend as much time as possible in their regular classrooms among their peers.

"The child has a right to be in the classroom," said assistant superintendent Charlene Green, who oversees special education. "If we remove her and put her in with a group of other students with severe behavior problems, where are her role models?"