Seeing Stars Students in Fulton County Schools Achieve Growth Goals in i‑Ready Testing

Georgia, i-Ready, Progress Monitoring, Reading, Response to Intervention, RtI, Seeing Stars, Special Education, Tier 3

Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, serves a large percentage of students who are at-risk of reading failure. During the 2021-22 school year, Fulton County special education teachers implemented Lindamood-Bell® instruction to address the specific needs of this student population. One thousand six hundred eighty-eight students received primarily Seeing Stars instruction to develop symbol imagery and phonemic awareness for reading. Instruction was delivered by Fulton County teachers who received professional development in the programs developed by Lindamood-Bell’s founders. Students in grades K-8 received small group instruction as close to daily as feasible for 30-45 minutes. Student gains were measured with the i-Ready Reading Diagnostic. (Note: Some small groups received Visualizing & Verbalizing instruction for language comprehension and thinking.)

RESULTS:
On average, Lindamood-Bell students at Fulton County Schools achieved 130% of the predicted typical growth set for them by i-Ready in their fall diagnostic. Additionally, students on average reached 60% of stretch growth goals, which are ambitious goals intended to put below-level students on a trajectory toward proficiency. Eight hundred sixty-one students (51%) achieved 100% of typical growth by the end of the school year, and 364 students (22%) achieved 100% of stretch growth.

PROFILE:
Special Education Students – End-of-Year Results
Number of Students: 1,688
Grade Levels: Kindergarten-8th Grade
Lindamood-Bell Programs Implemented: Seeing Stars®
Outcome Measures:
• i-Ready® Reading Diagnostic