The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

March 10, 2013

Raleigh County Schools: Online program improves readers

By Sarah Plummer Register-Herald Reporter

— Data show Raleigh County Schools’ students are reading better through individualized online learning programs.

Sandra Sheatsley, director of federal programs for the district, said kindergartners are working toward reading up to a second-grade level as they work their way through MimioSprout, a supplemental online reading program.

Rolled out in November in all kindergarten classrooms, the program consists of 80 20-minute episodes.

Sheatsley said that, according to studies on the program, students who complete three MimioSprout lessons a week, speak aloud when prompted to do so by the program and complete all 80 episodes across 12 benchmarks will be working at a second-grade level.

In January, Raleigh County kindergarten classrooms averaged 2.5 episodes a week. In February, classrooms were averaging 3.2 lessons.

As of Feb. 22, 3 percent of county kindergarten students were already past episode 61 of the program, 17 percent have surpassed episode 41 and 51 percent passed episode 21, Sheatsley said.

Sandra Trent, director of elementary education, said students in grades 1 through 8 across the county are also working to improve their reading skills through Lexia Learning.

Trent said Lexia conducted an analysis of Raleigh County Schools’ data. In a sampling of 4,000 students, 2,500 third-graders and 1,500 fourth- and fifth-graders, 74 percent of third-graders and 100 percent of fourth- and fifth-graders needed to review reading skills below their grade levels when the program first started.

“What is different about this program is that it forces some of our older children to back up and fill in the gaps. They may have trouble spelling because they hadn’t grasped some spelling patterns,” she said.

According to Lexia’s data review, students who use the program for 30 minutes per week master an average of 2.5 skills.

The number of skills learned quadrupled for those who use the program for 20 minutes three times per week.

“Students move through the level pretty fast, but the beauty is that it remedies itself. It takes the kids back to the basics and builds on that if needed,” Trent said.

Superintendent Jim Brown commented, “The rule of thumb is that if students are not reading fluently with comprehension skills by third grade, odds are, they are not going to. A lot of the skills start in kindergarten and first grade.”

Brown said the district is working to make it easy for teachers to implement these online programs. “We are trying our very best at removing some of the challenges teachers are facing. One example is that we know we need a minimum of six iPads in every classroom tocreate a station for MimioSprout. If we do that, time for this program is not a problem.”

Trent said data show teachers are using the program often, with 16,000 requests for program reports downloaded by teachers, and teachers have examined individual students’ lessons 3,000 times this semester.

Lexia is being used in grades 1 through 8 in the county.

— E-mail: splummer@register-herald.com

Text Only
Today's Front Page
  • Fayette County Office of Emergency Services takes planning seriously

    Improving the county’s communications during a disaster is a top priority of the Fayette County Office of Emergency Services, says the agency’s new director.

    May 18, 2013

  • New trail in works for Hatfield-McCoy system

    Another addition to the Hatfield-McCoy Trail system in southern West Virginia is in the works.

    May 18, 2013

  • Students suspected in vandalism at Wayne High

    Wayne County’s Board of Education will meet to consider disciplining students suspected of vandalizing a high school.
     

    May 18, 2013

  • powerball Drawing tonight

    With an estimated Powerball Jackpot of $600 million, the largest prize in the game’s history and the world’s second largest lottery prize, many local residents are dreaming of how they would spend their fortune if they were to strike it rich.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • Details still ‘sketchy’ concerning shutdown of cardiac stent procedures at RGH

     The four-day suspension of heart stent procedures at Raleigh General Hospital due to an “unexpected availability of physician coverage” and without further explanation has left more questions than answers, answers that, according to hospital spokesman and Director of Marketing Kevin McGraw, will not be available until at least Monday.

    May 18, 2013

  • ticket 2013 Click-it Or Ticket campaign starts today

    Beckley Police Lt. Paul Blume wants to let motorists know that if they get pulled over in the Beckley area today, they’re getting a ticket.

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • grad An Eye Toward the Future

    May 18, 2013 1 Photo

  • RGH suspends heart stent procedures until Monday

     Officials at Raleigh General Hospital issued a statement late Thursday afternoon indicating that “due to the unexpected unavailability of physician coverage,” cardiac stent procedures won’t be available to area residents at the Beckley facility until Monday, May 20.
     No other details were provided by hospital officials.
     Interventional cardiac care procedures were launched at RGH in November 2009 to serve a growing need for angioplasty lab services in Southern West Virginia.
     

    May 16, 2013

  • Thompson to depart house speaker post

    Rick Thompson is abandoning his post as speaker of the House of Delegates to accept a cabinet-level job in the Tomblin administration as head of the Department of Veterans Assistance.
    Thompson’s departure is likely to trigger a scramble to succeed him as speaker, with a number of Democrats expected to jockey for the post.

    May 16, 2013

  • No Powerball winner; jackpot soars to $475 million

    The Powerball jackpot has climbed to $475 million after no tickets matched the winning numbers in the latest drawing.

    May 16, 2013