Personal Reflection: DRA Levels and Grade One

I was going to post this at the end of the year, but now that I have some time off (woo! March break), I thought I'd share it with you early. I'll probably repost this or print it out at the end of the year. This is targeted mostly toward SK students, but certainly applies to JK students as well.

Last year I worked as a Literacy Support teacher half-time at Beverly Central while I was teaching Kindergarten half-time here at Gatestone. My job there was to support students in the primary grades with their reading. I administered LLI (Leveled Literacy Intervention) to Grade 1 students. This is a program used for students who are a bit behind in their reading, but have the potential to make benchmark (achieve the level expected for exiting that grade). They are taken out of the classroom for approx. an hour a day during a period other than language (ex: gym) for intense reading intervention. In September of last year, it was my job to assess student's reading levels in Grade 1 to see who would be eligible for LLI. I will confidently say that approx. 90 percent of students who came from Kindergarten entering Grade 1 went down at least 1 or 2 reading levels. It got to the point where I would actually just start by testing students one level below what they left SK at. The reason for this is one word: SUMMER.

If students aren't reading on a regular basis over the summer, they will lose certain techniques that we spent all year working on. They may not 'unlearn' words, per se, but they definitely won't be learning any new ones! I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating this can be! :( It's as if we're back at square one, reteaching all of those sounds, strategies, and techniques that we worked so hard at all year. Here's an example:

Timmy leaves SK at a level 4. He's expected to enter Grade 1 at a level 4, but because he didn't read over the summer, he only passed the level 2 text. He's now a full year behind, since the benchmark for exiting JK is a level 2. (A full year behind in 2 months! It happens all the time). He's struggling to keep up in Grade 1 and wasn't eligible to receive additional reading support outside of the literacy block (LLI) Note: Only a couple of students are chosen for LLI, and who knows how much longer we will be lucky enough to have that support.

Grade 1 is by far the most powerful year for a child's literacy development. 

They are expected to enter at a level 4 and leave at a level 16! (That's a bump of 6 levels: levels 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16). If Timmy comes in at a level 2, he now has 8 levels he needs to pass to be where he's supposed to be (level 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16). If your child is behind now, they will (most likely), always be trying to "catch up". So where do you want your child to be? On track? Ahead of the game? Please don't underestimate the importance of reading. Without strong literacy skills, children tend to struggle in all other subject areas, including math and science. If we're requiring intervention at 6 years old, it really goes to show the importance of reading in Kindergarten. I do my absolute best in helping your child succeed with their reading. I've even upped my guided reading routine so I can see every child at least once, sometimes twice a week. However, your child is 1 of 29 to me, and I simply can not read with them every day like you can. They may learn certain skills from me, but it's YOU who has the biggest impact! Show your child that reading is important to you by including it in your everyday routine :)

Thanks for reading!