The Pilot News - Program is important reading tool for CES teachers, students, parents

In its third school year at Culver and Monterey Elementary schools, the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) program, in use at schools across the nation, measures phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension in students. Each student in the school is involved in the program, said Culver Elementary School Title 1 teacher Terri Zechiel, who noted kindergarten through sixth grade students are assessed three times per year.
Also present along with Schuldt and Zechiel to discuss the program was fifth grade teacher Raeanne Stevens, who demonstrated the Oral Reading Fluency (or ORF) test with a student. Fifth grader Erin Bendy was asked to read, out loud, a short story on high-speed trains, comprised of several details. The girl’s answers impressed an applauding Kiwanis audience, who listened as she recounted a number of details of the story in reply to a list of questions Stevens asked her during the “retell” portion of the evaluation.
Teachers use a Palm Pilot hand-held device to determine timing and scores, said Stevens, and sync the device to a school computer to merge the data there and keep track of overall scores.
Zechiel distributed several sample sheets of DIBELS student summaries which are sent home to parents and use an “aim” line to show reading and comprehension goals and each student’s scoring in relation to those goals.
Students whose scores show them to be “high risk” receive 30 to 60 minutes of interventions daily from two separate teachers using two different curricula.
Zechiel said a new form of student reporting this year has enhanced information for parents aimed at indicating where students are on a performance scale, and also suggests specific activities to help parents in improving students’ performance. The report also tells parents when the next DIBELS assessment will be.
Other reports for parents indicate students’ progress from grade to grade (“A nice tool to be able to see your child’s progress, previous struggles,” and the like, noted Zechiel), and which skills are most important for the individual child to focus on.
The Oral Reading Fluency line on one report may indicate a child appears not to be having issues, Zechiel said. “So the parent says, ‘How does this help me? My child is not having any issues.’ The parents’ take-home sheet gives those parents (of children not struggling with reading) some higher level thinking activities. We can individualize a little bit for each level of student.”
Zechiel stressed the DIBELS program is only a tool. “We use other things,” she said, “but this has been a big benefit to us.”
In answer to audience questions, Zechiel noted teachers finding low scores on a student’s assessment try to eliminate the possibility of hearing or sight issues in their evaluation and children with speech impediment issues are referred to speech services. She also explained DIBELS testing doesn’t factor in student grades.
Though Culver’s Title 1 program doesn’t handle mathematics interventions, math is one component added recently to the program via math-based sub-tests, said Zechiel.
Superintendent Schuldt also addressed the club concerning Culver Community Schools’ budget, explaining the Culver school system ranks third in the state in assessed valuation – the value assigned property for tax assessment purposes -- behind each child. He also noted the second ranked school in assessed valuation is another lake community, Wawasee (the first is Freemont, Ind.). In spite of this, said Schuldt, the number of Culver schools’ free and reduced lunches, offered to lower income students, continues to climb towards 60 percent; some buildings in the system, he said, are over that number.
The gymnasium at the Culver Elementary School – under renovation all summer – is nearly complete, said Schuldt, and will be ready within weeks
The superintendent also discussed the concerns earlier this year that the Culver school system would lose between $500,000 and $1 million based on enrollment-related predictions, due to recent Indiana legislation. Governor Mitch Daniels, Schuldt said, “is putting the emphasis on dollars following students. He said whatever your enrollment is, that’s what you get.”
However, Schuldt explained, “if we lose 25 kids at Culver Community Schools, they’re not all from (just one) grade…I can’t just get rid of one teacher. The basic programming still has to be there. It’s hard to trim from the overall program. Significant cuts mean people. You can’t save enough paperclips in your purchasing to make up for budget deficiencies.”
Though steps were taken in the legislature to prevent such a massive shortfall for Indiana schools (Culver included), Culver was still under threat of losing significant funding monies. The state predicted a loss in enrollment of 40 students this year and next, Schuldt said, but enrollment is actually up 35 to 40 students this year throughout the corporation, “and this means more money for us.”
Schuldt noted the state’s predictions were based on birth statistics, people moving in and out of the Culver community – which he pointed out lacks a great deal of industry to draw families to move here to work – deaths, and other factors.
Discussing dropout rates, Schuldt also said more Culver students are staying in school to graduation than in years past.