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California school district proves all students can achieve

Vista Unified School District and Lindamood Bell Learning Processes collaborated to  work with the students considered "most difficult to teach" by traditional educators. Lindamood Bell is a private company that has effectively aided schools in training staff to implement methodologies with proven results in outstanding gains in student reading, critical thinking, expressive language and reading comprehension. 

 

The "difficult to teach", historically low scoring populations are:

Tom Mendoza is the Director of School Services at Lindamood Bell.  Mr.  Mendoza says " One thing we have done effectively with our school collaborations is not only provide the professional development in our programs, but address the system and environment they are implemented in.  There is quite a bit of research on comprehensive school and district reform, and regardless of the effectiveness of programs or methodologies, they will not be successful (including ours), or have long-term effects, if not implemented appropriately and with fidelity. So all that to say, it is imperative that schools and districts approach this type of  implementation with a strategic plan.  One example, we know that for many students who are in special education, or are significantly behind in reading skills, we have to modify the learning environment so they receive an intensive amount of instruction (usually 2-3 hours daily for about 1 semester -  some students may even need more than that).  That sometimes is very difficult for schools to do because they cannot break from the way the schedule has always been, and cannot give up mandated credits and courses (even though those classes may not be meeting students' needs).  Where we have been successful, we have been able to address these systems and environmental factors collaboratively with the district, and structure a model (not just our programs)  in a way that maximizes student achievement on a large scale."

A shining example of successful school implementation is Lindamood Bell's current school implementation project in Vista unified School district located in northern San Diego county.    A recent report in September 2008 from the Superintendent of the Vista Unified School District (VUSD), Dr. Joyce Bales, is subtitled "Praise Plus". That's because the 1,281 students who received intensive intervention in Lindamood-Bell last year have stepped up their English-Language Arts California Standard Test (CST) results across grades 2-11, showing a consistent increase in student achievement.

Located 30 miles north of San Diego, Vista Unified consists of 32 schools (15 elementary, 4 middle, 5 high schools, and 8 charter, magnet, or alternative schools). There are approximately 28,000 students, with a high proportion of English Learners, minorities, and low-income students.

Starting in 2006-07, the collaboration between Vista Unified and Lindamood-Bell has been a huge success to date. One example is Olive Elementary School (Title 1). Olive was one of the lowest performing schools in the district. After the first year of the Lindamood-Bell implementation, Olive improved its performance index for reading (API) from 628 to 688, an 80-point increase and more than six times its target growth required by the state. This was the largest API gain in the state of California when compared to similar schools. Student achievement also increased for English Language (EL) Learners who participated in intensive intervention. Click here for this summary.

The focus of this ongoing partnership continues to be in professional development, program fidelity, and sustainability. Over 20 Vista instructional leaders will be certified by Lindamood-Bell by the end of the 2008-09 school year.

 

This article was a follow up to a previous article: After years of failure, success in one summer http://www.examiner.com/x-4959-Special-Education-Examiner~y2009m5d27-Last-chance-at-literacy

 

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