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Everyone recognizes Sue Schell as she walks through the halls of Franklin Elementary School, she greets students and paraprofessionals in their small reading groups and smiles as she watches students sound out words and comprehend stories. If it weren’t for Schell, these groups may not be in place.

Schell helps coordinate the school-wide Title 1 program that helps students who are struggling in academics, mostly focusing on reading. Schell said it was a joint effort to get the ball rolling on Title 1, but it has been very beneficial.

“When you see students, even the ones who aren’t struggling too much, excel within these groups, you realize how important it is.” Schell said.

Title 1 is Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides financial assistance to states and school districts to meet the needs of educationally at-risk students. The goal is to provide extra instructional services to support students with performance standards in mathematics, reading and writing.

Schell began being involved with Title 1 15 years ago, and has since watched its progression from a target to school-wide program. Title 1 is federally funded with each state receiving funds. The State Educational Agency then awards certain schools funds based on the number of low-income students each school has.

Franklin Elementary School qualified this year to become a school-wide Title 1 school. This means that over 40% of students are on either free or reduced lunch, and therefore qualifies the school for more funding. This also allows for much more flexibility within the program, Schell said. Now, instead of teachers assessing students and only involving at-risk students in the Title 1 program, any students may qualify.

The program at Franklin includes 4 paraprofessionals. These are teachers specially trained in reading modules, comprehension, phonetics, and other reading tools. Throughout the day, these paraprofessionals, including Schell, meet with groups of 4-6 students in different grade levels to work extensively on areas where the students are struggling. The program works as a preventative tool to ensure that all students are meeting state standards in education, the earlier learning problems are addressed, the better the outcome, Schell said.

“Can you sound out ‘H’?” Lorna Bruya said to a first grader during a reading session. Bruya is another Title 1 teacher at Sunnyside Elementary School. Lorna also has been involved with Title 1 for 15 years, and has worked closely with Schell on educating themselves on better techniques to teach reading.

“In 1995, Sue and I both volunteered to go to a two-week summer Reading Leadership workshop at Western Washington University,” Bruya said “Margaret Moody, from New Zealand, spoke at this workshop, and New Zealand has the most extensive knowledge about literacy and reading, it was very exciting”.

Bruya said it can be difficult to watch students backslide sometimes over the summer, but remaining patient, staying optimistic, and giving plenty of praise for a student’s success helps stay in focus for the greater cause.

“I feel Title 1 is justified all the time,” Bruya said, “sometimes, it takes a while for some things to click for students, but when it does, and when you see them get excited and talk to their friends about books they’ve read or want to read, it’s very rewarding then.”

Sources:

Mark Rodgers: 332-2617

Sue Schell: 334-5641

Lorna Bruya: 334-1800