By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Gov. Mike DeWine was wowed Tuesday by the dramatic upswing in reading statistics by students at Conneaut Elementary School.
The students were more impressed with the governor’s family stats, after he revealed to a class of second graders that he and his wife, Fran, have eight children and 26 grandchildren.
“WOW,” one student blurted out loudly.
As the DeWines left the classroom, another student could be heard saying, “I’ve always wanted to meet a governor.”
But DeWine wasn’t at Conneaut Elementary to discuss his family tree. He was there to get a lesson on how Bowling Green City Schools have turned around the district’s reading program.
“The word got out that we are doing a lot of great things for kids,” BG Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Angie Schaal said minutes before DeWine’s arrival.
The key has been the district’s adoption of the “Science of Reading” program, which meant a change in curriculum, intense reading intervention, and a shift in instruction.
“We want to make sure we’re instructing our students to be the best readers they can be,” Schaal said.
The change has created measurable success for students, with far fewer having great difficulty with literacy since the program started in 2020.
“That number is shrinking,” Schaal said of struggling readers. “We have done a lot of work in the last four years.”
The “Science of Reading” program started small, being tested out in a couple grade levels at Conneaut Elementary. But when seeing reading skills increase, school officials decided to put the program into action throughout the district.
“Our teachers have done a great job,” Superintendent Francis Scruci said to DeWine.
“It’s a great honor to have the governor here,” Scruci said, as he stepped into the background and let the teachers do their thing.
The shift in reading instruction actually began at the insistence of teachers, Schaal said.
“They said, ‘We aren’t seeing the progress in my kids that we should,’” Schaal recalled. “The spark started because teachers wanted to make a difference.”
The teachers presented DeWine with the data showing the gains in reading – at all levels.
“That’s amazing,” the governor said.
Conneaut’s three reading specialists – Molly Leader, Kaela Bilski and Sara Lucid – walked DeWine through the process that makes the “Science of Reading” program so successful. Students respond well to explicit sequential instruction that builds on the lower level skills, lifting students to higher level skills.
The more success they have, the more they love reading, Lucid explained.
“I’ve seen their confidence grow as readers,” she said.
The governor asked for tips on how the state might help more of the 630-plus school districts in the state adopt the reading program.
“As we try to roll this out through the state, what kind of advice do you have for us?” he asked.
The reading teachers were forthright, and said a good reading program requires high quality instruction and enough personnel to implement it.
Leader explained that prior to Covid, Conneaut Elementary School had only one reading specialist for the entire school.
“You’re maybe putting out a couple fires,” when there isn’t adequate staff, she said. “You’re not doing the best for kids.”
The Covid relief funds from the state have allowed the district to add two more full-time reading specialists at Conneaut, which allows the school to fully implement the program rather than just reacting to the few students with the greatest needs.
By sharing the literacy program with all the teachers, everyone in the classrooms is speaking the same language, using the same process.
Conneaut Elementary jumped in with the “Science of Reading” program right before Covid hit. But now the program is in full swing and fully staffed. District-wide there are three reading specialists in each elementary, one at the middle school and another one shared by the middle and high schools.
DeWine praised the work and progress of the district.
“There’s just nothing more important. You have to be able to read to get in the door,” he said.
Led by Principal Alyssa Karaffa, the DeWine’s took a spin around Conneaut Elementary School – getting a close up view of third grade teacher Sarah Swortchek using the reading program to work with one student, and reading intervention lessons led by Bilski and Lucid with small groups of children.
As they walked through the school built in 1957, the DeWines also got a peek at the space deficiencies at the school, as they squeezed into a storage closet transformed into a reading room.
“This is what our creative principal and teachers do,” Schaal said.
