Reading Pull-Out Programme boosts literacy at Innswood High

Karen Sudu, Gleaner WriterRobert Robinson's low self-esteem, disruptive behaviour and inability to master literacy caused him many embarrassing moments while at primary school. Now, the grade-10 student is not only oozing with self-confidence, but has positioned himself among the top performers in his class and in his school's leadership cadre."Since I came to Innswood High School, the first family I had was the teachers and the principal. They are my role models. They encourage me, they have helped to change my life, I feel so good to have them guiding me ...," the fervent Students' Council vice-president and member of the St Catherine Junior Council told The Gleaner.The 15-year-old is listed among hundreds of academically challenged Grade Six Achievement Test students the Ministry of Education has been placing at the institution since it was opened in September 2001. However, Anthony Ewbanks, inaugural principal, has been inspiring the staff at the St Catherine-based shift school to work with these students to transform their lives through special interventions.According to Christine McDonald, head of the language department, one such intervention is the Reading Pull-Out Programme, which caters primarily to students reading at grade-one to grade-three levels."We get students who are unable to identify letter sounds. For the past eight years, we've been having roughly 70 per cent of students reading below the grade-four level. Those are the students we get," explained McDonald.specific reading needsUnder the programme spearheaded by reading specialist Sheldon Smith, grades seven, eight and nine students are tutored in designated areas during their language class time. They are given more intensive intervention geared towards fixing their specific literacy needs to return them to the regular class setting."Apart from the Pull-Out Programme, we also have a resident class setting where the most critical students who are reading at pre-primary to grade-one level are placed ... that teacher teaches them all the core subjects ... we mirror a primary school setting to give them back that foundation," Smith explained to The Gleaner.The Pull-Out Programme is boosted by the Grade Seven Intervention Programme (GSIP) for literacy implemented in January this year."We now have 110 students in this programme. They are tutored twice per week outside of regular class time to raise their reading levels ... ultimately to get them to the grade-four level. We have been reaping some success," McDonald said.good resultsThirteen-year-old Dimmel Stephenson, a grade-seven student, is in both the Pull-Out Programme and GSIP."I feel proud because when I was at primary school, I couldn't read good, but now the teachers really help me to understand how to read better," he said with a smile.Now in grade 10, 16-year-old Ian Williams, placed at the institution through the Grade Nine Achievement Test, speaks proudly about his experience with the Pull-Out Programme."Before I came to Inswood, I could read but not well. I had a big problem calling words and each time I went to the class, I learnt different ways how to pronounce words. Now I feel good because I can read a lot better," he said, echoing Stephenson.During the 2008-2009 academic year, approximately 60 per cent of the 140 students in the Pull-Out Programme moved up by one to three levels. It was a similar situation for the 2009-2010 school year. At the same time, always cognisant of the need to introduce new stimuli, with the help of corporate Jamaica, the school initiated an annual reading competition in 2009.emphasis on IT, vocationsSimilar to academics, Ewbanks said since inception Innswood High has also been placing special emphasis on vocational training and information technology."We have 11 vocational areas including computer repairs ... . These are NCTVET certified courses. Every class does information technology (IT) ... . From the very beginning, IT has been an integral part of our programme not only as a subject, but as instructional delivery. The reading programme too has a lot of IT components; we have a lot of reading software," said Ewbanks, noting that a large percentage of the students sit the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence exam.Meanwhile, in 2009, six of the 46 students who sat English language in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate were successful. However, in 2010, 35 entered and 16 passed. Notably, for the first time last year, two students gained grade-one passes in English language.