The number of Santa Barbara Unified students reading at or above grade level has increased after the district piloted a universal literacy screener for its youngest students last year.
Across the districts’ nine elementary schools, students at or above the reading benchmark increased by 23%, 26% and 12% in kindergarten, first grade and second grade, respectively.
The Santa Barbara Unified School District shared results of the screener for grades K-2 as third through sixth grade teachers began implementing the screener on Monday.
The district’s literacy screening platform, mCLASS, assesses students several times throughout the year for comprehension, fluency and accuracy. The district piloted the screener in grades K-2 as part of a statewide mandate last year and is expanding it to grades three to six this year.
With 33 years of teaching under his belt, Pedro Guillen, a sixth-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School, is used to traditional pencil and paper curriculums to measure fluency and accuracy. But he said he is optimistic about turning to the computer-based screener.
“From what I know, everything is inputted right away, and we get results almost immediately and these results can help us right away,” Guillen said. “I don’t have to grade everything and wait. [The results] are there and we can start helping them.”
Even though previously, the district had access to test scores, it couldn’t specifically identify the major reading challenges students were facing at each school or district-wide.
“The teacher was the holder of all information, and they had it all on paper and pencil,” said Denise Alvarado, the district’s executive director of elementary education. “Now with this screener, [the data] is something that they now have at their fingertips.”
Teachers are now able to quickly see which areas their students are struggling in the most and provide the appropriate small-group instruction.
“This is a quick snapshot that allows us to identify quickly, monitor progress, and provide the skills that the student needs and respond,” Alvarado said.
Franklin’s instructional coach, Marlen Limon, said a universal screener, especially for younger students, is best practice.
“When you’re looking at a student who may have a reading difficulty, you want to assess that early on,” Limon said. “If we wait until sixth grade, it’s never too late, but you can address those needs much earlier.”
Casie Killgore, the principal of Franklin Elementary School, believes having concrete data about students’ performance sets them up for success in junior high and high school.
“[Students] might have cute pigtails and smile every day, but if they can’t read and don’t have long term success targets then we’re not doing anything to help them,” Kilgore said. “And if you look at what elementary education is supposed to be, it’s like, how do we make sure that the kids are academically successful, and socially and emotionally successful?”
