Maricela’s Story

Maricela was seven years old and in the 2nd grade, attending Marshall Elementary School when she started our program. Her ethnicity is Latina and her family income falls under the low income category using HUD criteria for a household of four members.

When Maricela started our program, she spoke little English and would only write in Spanish. She very quickly increased her English usage by the middle of the program year.

By the end of the program year, Maricela would write frequently in English, while maintaining a preference for writing in Spanish. All curriculum materials were completed in English; only her journal and free-write assignments would be more often in Spanish than English. Her reading level was pre-assessed at a beginning first grade level (1A) and by the end of the program she was post-assessed at a beginning fourth grade level (4A).

She made marked and measurable improvements in her English reading, writing, speaking, and comprehension.

Dexter’s Story    top^

Dexter was ten years old and in the 5th grade, attending Fairmont Elementary School when he started our program. He is African-American and his family income falls under the very low income category using HUD criteria for a household of 2 members. His mother heads the household and receives some help from her family. Dexter was identified with ADHD and medicated as treatment. He started the program in the middle of the program year and was pre-assessed at a high fourth grade level (4F).

Once Dexter was placed in a reading group it was very hard for him to concentrate and he would constantly doubt his reading abilities. He needed to be moved back to find a comfort level and was placed at the middle range (4C). Moving him back gave Dexter the opportunity to increase his confidence and feel more comfortable in the reading groups.

Dexter ended the program with a post-assessed level of high fourth grade. It is common for fourth and fifth grade levels to only increase one grade level, because these anthologies contain stories that are much longer than the lesser grade levels.

While Dexter did not increase a grade level as determined by the assessment tool, he definitely increased his confidence and reading abilities.