Haley Buss

I had the opportunity to interview Kristen McCann, the Reading Specialist at Center

Street School located in El Segundo. While I was visiting the campus I was able to gain a sense

of the school’s culture of literacy. Since I do not currently work at a school site, I decided to

focus on Center Street School and analyze their culture of literacy and assessment data.

Center Street School is a Kindergarten through 5th grade elementary school. They are

located in the heart of El Segundo and are the home of the Cougars. In the 2016-2017 school

year 791 total students attended Center Street School. Of the 791 students, approximately 54% of

students were White/Caucasian, 17% were Hispanic or Latino, 7% were Asian, and 4% were

African American. This shows that Center Street School students are predominantly

White/Caucasian but diversity is still present.

Center Street School is currently in a transition period. The teachers and the reading

specialist do not have a set curriculum to follow when it comes to Reading and Language Arts.

The administration and support teams are currently deciding which direction, curriculum, and

assessments they would like to pursue. Because of this transitioning period, the students are

learning various material through various methods, but are still achieving their goals.

Given this transition period, reading and literacy are still a high priority at the school. The

school holds events such as Family Literacy Night, Book Fairs, and participate in Read Across

America Week which adds to their culture of literacy. Their homework policy also requires

students read a designated amount of time each night depending on their grade level. The reading

specialist has access to a plentiful amount of resources including hundreds of books. Kristen’s

room is large, welcoming, and filled with any resource a teacher could imagine. The

administration cares for Kristen and her position, and continues to provide support in any way
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she may need. This support is critical to the school’s culture of literacy. This support shows a

positive message and attitude towards reading and literacy to the staff and the students of Center

Street School. Along with the support from administration, Kristen reaches out to the teachers on

multiple occasions so they are aware that she is an open resource for them to utilize. Kristen has

provided support for her teachers through other ways as well including creating and presenting

professional development sessions so that the teachers are well informed of the selected topic.

This support further strengthens the culture of literacy at Center Street School.

In 2013, the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program was replaced with the

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) program. ​CAASPP

evaluates new standards that emphasize analytical thinking, problem solving and

communications skills. According to the 2017 assessment results, the school overall produced

magnificent scores in English Language Arts/Literacy. Of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students,

47.06% exceeded the standard, 25.83% met the standard, 17.39% nearly met the standard, and

9.72% did not meet the standard. The results for the third graders are as follows: 42.03%

exceeded the standard, 23.91% met the standard, 24.64% nearly met the standard, and 9.42% did

not meet the standard. The results for the fourth graders are as follows: 53.97% exceeded the

standard, 19.05% met the standard, 14.29% nearly met the standard, and 12.07% did not meet

the standard. The results for the fifth graders are as follows: 45.67% exceeded the standard,

34.65% met the standard, 12.06% nearly met the standard, and 7.09% did not meet the standard.

These assessment results show me that the culture of literacy is valued at this school because the

majority of students have learned the required skills and can perform those skills efficiently.
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The assessment results of the third grade students tell me that teacher literacy instruction

could be improved with a couple strategies or intervention. A large portion of the third grade

students nearly met the achievement standard and a small portion did not meet the achievement

standard at all. Although the fourth graders contained the highest percentage of students

exceeding the standard, they also contained the highest percentage of students not meeting the

standard when compared to the third and fifth grade results. Through the eyes of a reading

specialist this tells me that the teachers are providing excellent literacy instruction, however,

some students are lacking the strong skills that were learned in third grade, have not yet caught

up, and require intervention. The assessment results of the fifth graders show teacher literacy

instruction is exceptionally great. Only 12% of fifth grade students nearly met the achievement

standard and only 7% of students did not meet the achievement standard. Those select few

students require intervention for substantial improvement for further coursework.

If I were the principal of Center Street School, I would be most concerned about the third

grade level of literacy instruction. The fourth grade results showed more students not meeting the

achievement standard, however, the third grade students would require more intervention with

both the students who nearly met the standard and the students who did not meet the standard to

strengthen those literacy skills before moving on to higher grades with more challenging

academics. One step I would implement to help the third grade students move closer to grade

level expectations is observing the instruction of the third grade teachers. I would create a

observation rubric/checklist to use while evaluating the literacy instruction of the teachers. The

rubric would help me identify the different standards that should be met. The second step I

would take to improve the third graders literacy skills would be to evaluate the curriculum or the
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materials being used by the teachers. Since the school is in a transition period and there is no

specific set curriculum this may take some time to analyze each teachers’ instructional method.

Looking deeper at the teachers’ choice of instruction will give me a better understanding if the

standards are being taught properly. The third step I would take to help third graders move closer

to grade level expectations would be to implement more professional development training for

the teachers, focusing on research based strategies to help improve students’ literacy skills. This

last step would require assistance from the reading specialist to decide which instructional

strategies would be best to promote to the teachers.

Overall, I believe Center Street School provides a great amount of support, resources, and

opportunities for the teachers, staff, students, parents, and community that create an excellent

culture of literacy.