AS SEEN IN DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION
Scholastic Programs Help Educators Significantly Raise Reading Scores on State Assessment
RISE Academy in Florida Credits Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. and Literacy Pro for Dramatic Improvement
F or one charter school in Margate, Florida, taking a different approach to reading instruction and the use of new software tools resulted in one of the state’s largest improvements in third-grade reading scores on the 2022 statewide assessment. RISE Academy (Raising Individual Student Excellence) is a public K–8 charter school that is part of the Broward County Public Schools and was founded in 2008. Dr. Carmella Morton is its founder and executive director. “Our curriculum is focused on science and technology,” she says. “We are one of the only STEM Cognia-certified schools in south Florida and proud to be one of the highest-performing schools in Broward County.” As a public charter school, RISE Academy follows the curriculum of Broward County but has the freedom to use additional educational materials and resources. The academy currently enrolls approximately 300 students, and Morton says the leadership hopes to move the school into a new facility soon so it can accommodate more students to keep up with demand. High-achieving but still looking for ways to improve Despite RISE Academy’s steady improvement in grades from the state department of education— moving up from a B rating from school years 2016–2018 to an A rating in 2019—school leaders were looking for ways
to improve further. Tricia King, curriculum specialist, says she was also looking to address the impact of the pandemic. “We were seeing learning loss in many areas but most clearly in reading,” she says. “I attended a literacy workshop in the district in February 2021 where I saw the Scholastic programs F.I.R.S.T. and Literacy Pro, and they were just what I
each student, using a reading recommendation engine that works in partnership with teachers to drive students toward books that are aligned with their interests, grade level, and independent reading level. Reorganizing classrooms into rotation models “We started using F.I.R.S.T. for our K–2 students and Literacy Pro for grades 3–5 beginning in August of 2021,” King says. “At the same time, we rearranged our classrooms to follow the recommendation from Scholastic in a design better suited for both whole-class and small-group instruction in a rotation model. That was something we had wanted to do, but Scholastic provided us with a clear blueprint.” [pictured at right] “We use F.I.R.S.T. and Literacy Pro in stations as part of our 90-minute reading blocks, which use a 30-minute rotation schedule. Implementation was fast and easy for our teachers, because the
was looking for. I knew they could provide our teachers with the tools they needed and would motivate and engage our students.” Introducing interactive, personalized reading programs Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. (Foundations in Reading, Sounds & Text) is a research-based program that focuses on teaching students the five foundational reading skills through interactive and adaptive activities and games, as well as eBooks. Designed to fit seamlessly into any classroom schedule, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T. is effective both in small-group rotations as well as in independent digital learning settings. Scholastic Literacy Pro is a reading management solution that provides access to a library of over 2,800 eBooks for students in grades K–8, comprehension checks for thousands of books, assessments, and many additional resources for teachers and families. The platform curates a personalized bookshelf for
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