School Wide Program - Benchmark

Culture of Literacy

Dorsa Elementary School is relatively small, serving 371 students in grades K-5. Within the student

body, 88 percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged and nearly half, 48 percent, are English language

learners. Due to the number of English learners, my principal has been focused on ELA proficiency over the

past few years. She began to develop a culture of literacy at our site by creating professional developments

around Guided Reading practices and small group instruction. Through multiple grants, we were awarded a

library makeover complete with new books, furniture and technology. As we continued to focus on small group

reading in classrooms, we allocated money for a complete set of leveled books for our school to share. When

we saw a continued need for after school care and academic support, our school created Soaring Scholars, an

intensive afterschool reading program taught by staff. We began planning Dorsa Literacy Nights where students

were joined by their families in the evening to participate in engaging literacy activities. When looking at the

2019 SBAC report card with a broad lens, you can already see the benefits of a changing culture of literacy.

Dorsa’s overall English Language Arts score increased by 18 points to 49.2 points below standard. Diving

further, English language learners increased their score by 16 points, Hispanic students increased by 19 points,

and socioeconomically disadvantaged students at Dorsa increased by 18 points.

Through the Lens of a “Reading Specialist”

Through the lens of a “Reading Specialist” I reviewed data from the 2018-2019 Benchmark Leveled

Screener for our school. When analyzing the Benchmark Site Overview, there is a steady increase of students

entering the Benchmark and Challenge levels throughout the year. This data supports Dorsa’s growing culture

of literacy, encouraging those who are already on grade level to continue pursuing challenging texts. The

decline in Strategic and Intensive students, shows that extra support through small groups during and after

school, connection to physical books through an engaging new library, and access to training for instructors is
playing an influential role in reading success at Dorsa school-wide. I also analyzed Benchmark Leveled

Screener data by grade level. Kindergarten had 18/42 students not take the end of year leveled screener.

Whether students were absent during the testing period or no longer attending Dorsa is unclear. Because of this

lack of data, I dug further into individual class scores. Twenty of the students assessed the second half of the

year made at least one level of growth. The remaining two stayed at a level A. This tells us that our earliest

students are not regressing while in school. Exposure to a literacy rich curriculum is building, while slowly, a

strong foundation for our earliest readers.

Benchmark Leveled Screener Data

Kindergarten ​/42 Mid Year End of Year

Challenge

Benchmark 4 4

Strategic 11 6

Intensive 26 14

The data collected from first grade classrooms correlates with the Site Overview through a steady increase of

Challenge and Benchmark students and a decrease of Strategic and Intensive readers. With one of the largest

level spans (D-I), first grade students must make large leaps to reach grade level proficiency. It is encouraging

to see Benchmark level rise from 1 student to 8, however 22 students still reading at levels AA-F is something

to prepare for as these students move to the next grade.

1st Grade ​/46 Beginning of Year Mid Year End of Year

Challenge 6 7 8

Benchmark 1 2 8

Strategic 10 12 8

Intensive 27 23 22
Second grade shows a trend that will follow for the rest of the grades: a large amount of Challenge or above

grade level readers along with an even larger number of students reading far below grade level. The challenge

for second grade teachers and beyond is how to support the extremes in one classroom. Dorsa’s take on small

groups helps to reach all students, however, even with differentiation the numbers in each group are still large.

2nd Grade ​/42 Beginning of Year Mid Year End of Year

Challenge 3 7 13

Benchmark 2 3 5

Strategic 3 2 0

Intensive 33 29 24

The data collected from third grade classrooms shows that the strong readers continue to grow while the

intensive readers fall stagnant. A spike in academic language, harder content, and more complicated

comprehension questions could play a role in why those below grade level continue to struggle. The number of

strategic level readers grew by the end of the year indicating that the students right at the cusp of grade level

may need an extra boost in the form of targeted small group instruction and parent involvement at home.

3rd Grade ​/45 Beginning of Year Mid Year End of Year

Challenge 8 11 15

Benchmark 8 9 4

Strategic 6 5 7

Intensive 21 19 19

By fourth grade, the extremes have grown but this year, the most growth was in the challenge level. This shows

that the work done by previous grades to build a strong foundation has caught up with academic vocabulary,

fluency and comprehension. For fourth grade, it would be important to continue to reach the students well

below grade level through targeted instruction that is motivational and engaging. As students progress to upper

grades, those who are still reading at a first grade level may suffer from lowered self esteem, lack of
engagement or even resentment of reading. As Dorsa continues with its strong culture of literacy, strong readers

will thrive and struggling readers may find incentive to keep pushing.

4th Grade ​/44 Beginning of Year Mid Year End of Year

Challenge 12 16 20

Benchmark 6 4 4

Strategic 8 3 1

Intensive 15 15 19

Principal’s Next Steps

If I were the principal I would be most concerned with second grade’s progress. Second grade proves to

be one of the final years where curriculum focuses on establishing a solid foundation for reading. With this

urgency in mind, I would also turn toward the year’s data. Second grade had the widest discrepancy of

Challenge to Intensive readers. While there are routines in place to differentiate for students, the difference is

monumental. As a principal I would recommend a “Walk to Read” approach which divides readers into separate

classrooms and then smaller groups within those classrooms. With “Walk to Read” teachers and services

providers would be given a group that they would instruct during reading time. For students who need intensive

support, the resource specialist or reading specialist would instruct them. A second teacher would instruct the

remaining Intensive students while a third would teach reading to the Challenge group. With this in mind, I

would recommend professional development and training for second grade with teachers focused on reading

group. As teachers become experts in their student’s needs, the students will begin to flourish in their smaller

groups. My third step would be encouraging parent involvement through parent workshops, parent read alouds,

and continued family literacy night. Creating a partnership between second grade teachers and their parents will

allow students to generalize what they are learning from school to home. Clear and consistent communication
and opportunities for parents to be involved in their student’s classroom may allow the hard earned culture of

literacy to flourish from school to home.