Teacher PD that makes a difference | Spotlight on Cañon City School District
Cañon City School District is continuing into its second year of a three-year Colorado Department of Education literacy grant initiative. With the goal of changing outcomes for struggling readers, Cañon City partnered with Lindamood-Bell to provide teachers with workshops and ongoing coaching to develop their skills.
Participating teachers start out by learning the steps of Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking and Seeing Stars for Reading and Spelling. These research-validated programs address the imagery-language foundation that underlies reading, spelling, language comprehension, memory and critical thinking.
Job-embedded professional development
After the workshop, teachers receive job-embedded professional development. Throughout the year Lindamood-Bell provides onsite support in the classroom through the use of state-of-the-art telepresence robot technology. Learn about our robot coaching in the following video:
Making news
This cost-effective solution was described by school administrators and teachers in articles appearing in the Cañon City Record. Get the hometown story:
Cañon City School District: More students measuring up in reading
Cañon City School District sees gains one year into implementing reading intervention.
Focus for the 2017-18 school year
The district is continuing to facilitate professional development for new and continuing staff. They will use what they learn with more students, prioritizing those who have an Individual Education Plan or otherwise qualify for services under the Colorado READ Act. Teachers will also be building on the growth students experienced in the first year of the initiative. For example, new readers may now be tackling reading fluency.
Lindamood-Bell is thrilled to continue supporting Cañon City Schools educators. We look forward to helping to achieve the big goals they have for students.
Below, check out results for decoding students.
Colorado Students Receiving Seeing Stars Instruction Make Significant Improvements in Reading
Background
Cañon City Schools in Cañon City, Colorado, serves a large percentage of students who are at-risk of reading failure. During the 2016-17 school year, Cañon City implemented Lindamood-Bell® instruction to address the specific needs of this student population. One hundred nineteen students received an average of 104 hours of Seeing Stars instruction to develop symbol imagery for reading. Instruction was delivered by Cañon City teachers who received professional development in the Lindamood-Bell programs. Student gains were measured with a battery of reading assessments.
Results
On average, Seeing Stars students achieved significant improvements in reading. They made large standard score changes on all measures. Additionally, the 18-point percentile increase in word recognition put these students within the normal range (25th-75th percentile). Their pre- to posttest results were statistically significant on all measures. The results of this study illustrate that Lindamood-Bell instruction in the Seeing Stars program leads to improved reading, which is essential to achieving success with school curricula.
Profile
Number of Students: 119
Grade Levels: 1st-5th
Lindamood-Bell Programs Implemented:
Focus of Professional Development:
– Job-embedded Coaching via Telepresence Robot
– Instructional Leadership Support
Lindamood-Bell instruction can change learning for students, regardless of their previous struggle with language and literacy. Contact us to learn how your school can get started: 800-233-1819.
