Westlawn efforts honored (2/17/04)

DUNKIRK — Westlawn Elementary School keeps making strides to improve the quality of education at the school, and the teachers, support staff and parents will be honored for their efforts at a convention in Indianapolis on March 8.

The school has been awarded an International Reading Association Exemplary Reading Program Award for its reading program.

The school — which received a $342,000 state grant through the federal I Read program — established a reading plan that is intended to bolster students reading aptitudes. Westlawn principal Gary Storie said the idea for the program was formulated and in the early stages before the grant was received, but with the money, more opportunities were available.

The plan that originated with the teachers at Westlawn coordinates with Purdue University that focuses on using one method throughout the elementary years to teach children to read. Special literacy coach Donna Geesaman went to Purdue for a total of eight weeks to be trained to teach other teachers new teaching methods within the program. She continues to return to Purdue periodically.

“Past (test) results really motivated everyone. This plan was implemented not just to pass a test. We needed strategies to learn how to learn to read,” Storie said. Along with the reading program, he said teachers and staff do their own assessments throughout the year to see “where the minds of the kids are.” The tests results, he said, don’t come in often enough to let instructors know where the strengths and weaknesses lie and where improvements are needed.

“The program is effective. Everyone is learning to read,” Storie said.

Regarding the school’s newest honor, he said he received an application from the Indiana Reading Association in the fall 2003 for an International Reading Association Exemplary Reading Program Award. Storie thought enough of the school’s reading program to apply.

“Everybody here are all on board for this program,” said Storie this morning in a telephone interview. “All use the same model, philosophy and teaching methods.”

Storie explained that in addition to classroom teaching and tutoring for students, every two weeks an intense study group is conducted for the teachers, who also earn credits from Purdue, to learn new methods of instruction. The reading program also involves workshops for parents and a summer program for kindergarten and first grade students.

The summer plan involves giving each student 10 books — one for each week of summer vacation — that are age- and reading-level appropriate, along with instructions from the teacher to keep the kids up to speed on their reading.

“I’ve never seen a school be so focused on a program,” said Storie.

The plan, as described in the application, inspired the Indiana Reading Association — the state chapter of the International Reading Association — to take a closer look at Westlawn’s program.

The state association reviewed the submitted applications and selected three schools to visit this school year. Members of the Indiana chapter visited Westlawn on Feb. 13. Storie and the rest of the staff were notified Monday that the school had been chosen to receive a plaque and $500 cash at the state convention.

Storie said there are members from each part of its program that will attend the conference. “We should have a pretty large group going,” he said. A delegation from Westlawn will attend the annual International Reading Association Convention in Reno in May.

Storie added, “The teachers really care about these kids. The support staff, parents, everybody cares. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve come a long way.”

The reading association is a “professional membership organization dedicated to promoting high levels of literacy for all improving the quality of reading instruction, disseminating research and information about reading, and encouraging the lifetime reading habit,” according to the group’s web site. For more information, visit www.indianareads.org.[[In-content Ad]]