Seeing Stars Students in Fulton County Schools Grow in Reading Levels 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, Fulton County Schools achieved significant improvements in overall reading placement for their LindamoodBell students. In fall i-Ready® testing, 1,382 out of 1,688 students were two or more levels below the target for their grade. In spring testing, 1,112 students were two or more levels below, a decrease of 20%. Furthermore, the number of students on or above level in overall reading scores grew from 28 in fall testing to 186 in spring testing, an increase of 664%. The results of this study illustrate that Lindamood-Bell instruction leads to improved reading, which is essential to achieving success with school curricula.

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