Thomson Community School Reading Initiative

The goals of the Thomson Reading Initiative are to improve reading instruction for students of all abilities, decrease frustration levels of our students that are struggling in the current structure, and try to make the life of a teacher more manageable.

The grade 1-8 students will have teams of staff members involved in their instruction. These teams will include a combination of the classroom teachers, school administrators, Learning Assistance Teacher, Teacher Librarian, E.S.L Teacher, the Speech and Language Pathologist and Teacher Associates. The groups will target instruction specific to the needs of the individual student.

Thomson Community School Reading Initiative

Our School

Thomson Community School is a pre-kindergarten to grade 8 school. We have a very transient clientele. To date (Sept. - May, 2003), we have had 245 students register since the start of the school year and 189 withdraw. In addition to our regular academic program, we currently have 93 E.S.L. students, of all grade levels, who integrate into our classrooms.

We have found that reading levels of many of our students are low for their age, some would fall in the average category and some above. With the wide range of abilities, academic and behavioral needs of our students, as well as having the E.S.L. students integrated into our classrooms, it is very difficult to provide individualized instruction that is meaningful to the students.

By implementing the reading program school wide, we hope to improve reading instruction for students of all abilities, decrease frustration levels of our students that are struggling in the current structure and try to make the life of a teacher manageable.

Rationale

As a Community School with a highly diverse student population, the improvement of reading skills was identified as a focal point for this school year. The administration, teaching staff, support staff, and community members explored strategies to assess current student abilities and skills. That data led towards the implementation of a comprehensive instructional process designed to improve student achievement in reading.