Student Literacy Levels Improve as Teachers Use A2i
When teachers in Westchester are using the professional development tool known as A2i (assessment to instruction) administered by the United Way, their students’ literacy levels rose above proficiency, according to the 2018-19 year-end results of kindergarten and first-grade students in the Peekskill and Elmsford school district. The outcome showed that students’ improved their levels of literacy by more than a full year within one school year.
Dr. Marc Baiocco, Superintendent of the Elmsford School District was encouraged by the results. “Despite our teachers’ best effort, we were operating in a deficit model while we were trying to get students to proficiency. What we are now seeing, since implementing A2i, is that the students are working above proficiency. This to me is incredibly impressive”
On average the students in Peekskill and Elmsford improved their vocabulary by 1 year and 1 month and their comprehension of words by 1 year and 6 months.
“The thing about A2i is that it allows students to be assessed every six weeks and in that assessment, teachers are able to identify where the child needs help and in what type of instruction,” said Dr. Baiocco. “Teachers are no longer guessing on how to help the students, we are now making data-based decisions.”
The 2018-19 school year was the first year of a three-year study that the Peekskill and Elmsford School Districts partnered with United Way of Westchester and Putnam and Learning Ovations to use the A2i Professional Support System, which identifies each student’s needs and provides strategies on how to address them in their classrooms. A2i is a research-validated system, created by Learning Ovations, that is drastically improving the third-grade literacy rate of students across the country.
Reading on grade level by the end of third grade is a key indicator of future success for students. Most students who fail to reach this critical milestone falter in the later grades and often drop out before earning a high school diploma. They are also more likely to end up incarcerated and to live in poverty.
There were 763 students in 32 classrooms, in kindergarten or first grade, using the A2i tool between the two school districts in Westchester County. A2i is not a program or a curriculum. It is a professional support system for teachers. It is allows them to assess students and, through specific algorithms, determines the exact number of minutes and type of instruction that allows a child to progress with the most reading growth in a year. During the 2019-20 school year, both districts will be expanding the use of A2i to their second grade classes, then to the third grade classes the following year.
Through research funded by The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the US Department of Education and the National Institute of Health, seven randomized studies nationally have concluded that through the use of A2i, 94% of all students are able to read at or above grade level by the end of third grade.
