By Avice Meehan

Mixed results on statewide assessments of math and reading have prompted the leadership of Botelle Elementary School to begin a two-year professional development program focused on the science of reading.

Principal Lauren Valentino shared that game plan, along with student achievement and growth scores, with the Board of Education (BoE) at its Oct. 14 meeting. Valentino, herself a literacy specialist, said members of the instructional staff have already met once and are enthusiastic about working together. It parallels the ongoing focus on math instruction, which has generated positive results over multiple years.
The data shared by Valentino reflects only one of many measures the school uses to assess student outcomes. Called the Smarter Balanced Assessment, it is administered each spring to all students in Grades 3 through 8. The SBAC gauges the percentage of students who meet or exceed standards for English language arts (ELA) and math and, more importantly, whether students have met their individual growth goals.

Botelle’s ELA scores have been relatively flat, year-after-year. As shared by Valentino, 45 percent of the 31 students tested met or exceeded the standard. In contrast to last year, a lower percentage of students met their growth goals. “We were surprised and disappointed by this result,” Valentino said, adding that the SBAC findings did not match what teachers were seeing in the classroom as they continued to roll out a new reading curriculum. “We are seeing an impact, but it did not show up here,” she said.

The scores for math told a different story with 57 percent of 31 students meeting or exceeding the expected standard. Valentino said students also demonstrated consistent growth in their learning, continuing the strong positive results from the year before. “It wasn’t luck that the students performed so well in math,” said Superintendent Kevin Case after Valentino reviewed the way Botelle teachers incorporated math instruction into every school day.

Valentino and Case spent the summer reviewing the academic records and growth goals of every Botelle student. They made the decision to participate in the statewide ReadConn program only in the last several weeks. The two-year program brings research-based learning about how children read and makes it accessible to all teachers. “Small shifts in strategies are really going to be impactful,” said Valentino.
ReadConn originally focused only on high school students. It has now been expanded to all grade levels and relies on research-based approaches that have been successful in teaching students with dyslexia. It is known as structured literacy. Teachers work systematically to help students learn the sounds of words, their forms, what they mean and how they are built into sentences. It fits with Botelle’s curriculum, but will expand professional development to all 22 members of the instructional staff, including paraprofessionals.
More than half of Botelle’s students are identified as “high need” across a variety of measures, including socioeconomic status (whether they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch) and/or a learning disability. In addition, the performance of one student can have an outsized impact on the overall percentage of students viewed as meeting their growth or achievement goals as measured by SBAC. Across math and ELA, Valentino said six students were within what’s called the standard error—that is, on any given day, their scores might have met the state standard. In short, it is a snapshot (albeit an important one) of a moment in time.

Valentino also walked members of the BoE through other assessment tools used throughout the school year, specifically the strategy of sharing concrete goals with students that has been piloted within the math curriculum. The same approach will now be used in ELA, with teachers identifying a “power goal” for each student and helping them understand what they need to do.

Botelle’s growth scores—the numbers that Case and Valentino track most closely—put it ahead of all but one elementary school in Region 7 and lagging in ELA. For a video that illustrates some of the approaches to literacy at Botelle, check out the video posted on the school website: www.botelleschool.org.