Reading program expansion sought

Terry Webster

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 10:53 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are looking to expand a literacy program to ensure that students can read by the end of third grade.

The expanded program would carry a $6.9 million price tag over four years for staffing, classroom instructional materials, professional development for teachers and administrators and research and evaluation data.

"Even though we mention third grade, we believe this is a Kindergarten through Grade 8 emphasis," said Agustin Orci, assistant superintendent for elementary education. "We want to prevent kids from falling behind or failing, but we also want to help kids catch up."

But, Orci said, the ramifications are great for students who can't read.

"The dropout rate is affected by children who cannot read," he said. "Prisons are full of people who cannot read. In Nevada, 22 percent of adults have less than a high school diploma. The last four years I spent in the corporate sector made me acutely aware of how important it is for people to possess the basic skills."

On the 1999 fourth grade TerraNova exam, 4,639 students scored in the lowest quarter.

"We have 21 schools right now in grade four that have 50 or more of these kids," Orci said, adding that all schools have some of the students.

About 65 percent of fourth graders who scored in the bottom quarter are regular education students, around 18 percent have limited English language skills and about 10 percent are special education students.

"We're in a high-growth area, so sometimes it's easy to say these students come from all over the United States," Orci said. "Approximately 71 percent of these fourth graders have been in this district for at least three years. About one-third had been in the same school for three years."

District-wide, a total of 13,984 students in grades that take the TerraNova scored in the bottom quarter. About one-half of them are minorities.

After hearing about the benefits of expanding the program Thursday, School Board members urged administrators to go ahead with the expansion as soon as possible.

Board member Susan Brager said the district needs to stop talking about improving the reading program and just do it.