The Pueblo Miracle
By Sheryl Knapp

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities

Copyright © 2007 by Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities
www.smartkidswithld.org


Eight short years ago, Pueblo School District (PSD) 60 in Pueblo, CO was among the lowest-scoring districts on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP), the first statewide reading and writing assessment. To many, the results were not surprising: PSD 60 is a large urban district with 61 percent minority students and a majority that qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Building on that core philosophy, in 1998 the district forged a seven-year school reform partnership with Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, the provider of intensive literacy instruction and diagnostic programs for struggling readers. The goal was to significantly increase student achievement, closing the gap between the “have” and “have not” schools. The district reform model focused on scientifically based reading programs and a multisensory approach that included the following key elements:

1. Professional development that prepared literacy teachers to implement science-based reading instruction and general education teachers to include literacy skills in their content areas.

2. Diagnostic needs assessment to determine each student’s strengths and weaknesses in reading, spelling and language comprehension.

3. Customized program implementation ranging from up to four hours a day of direct instruction for students identified as most at-risk, to small group and classroom instruction infused into all K-12 curricula for those requiring less intensive intervention.

4. On-site mentoring and support.

5. Community outreach, demonstrating the importance of sensory-cognitive processing for language and literacy development and providing parents with the tools to continue the process at home.

6. Accountability for progress assigned to both teachers and students and assessed by nationally normed standardized tests and state achievement tests.

The results have been nothing short of astonishing. Students in all grade levels have consistently outscored the state and district averages on all Colorado assessments since 1998, and a significant percentage of students have exited the special education rolls—down from 10 percent to two percent at the end of 2003. What’s more, between 1998 and 2003, the achievement gap between Latino and white third graders in Pueblo was cut almost in half. Eighty-six percent of fourth graders at Pueblo’s Beulah Heights Elementary School now read at the proficient or advanced level compared with only 63 percent of fourth graders statewide. “Ten years ago when I was teaching first grade,” explained Beulah Heights teacher Jeanine Takiki, “I felt that I always had high expectations for my kids. But nobody told me where the bar was. Now I have a bar, and it is, indeed, way higher than it was before, because…I didn’t have the specifics of what kids needed.”

The success of the Pueblo project has prompted other districts to adopt the model. For example, Alaska’s Education Commissioner has begun to implement Lindamood-Bell’s model in all elementary, middle and high schools within the Dillingham City School District. The initiative is expected to take up to five years to fully implement, and will encompass a variety of reading, writing and math programs. Preliminary results, however, demonstrate that progress has already been made, particularly in the areas of reading and comprehension.

The Pueblo initiative is a testament to what can be done when decision-makers and communities refuse to accept the status quo. As Superintendent Joyce Bales points out, there is no magic formula: “Anybody can do what we’re doing. It’s easier to complain and whine than it is to do this hard work. We work hard. We work hard all the time...”

The author is a parent advocate specializing in literacy issues for children with learning disabilities. Knapp is currently pursuing Certification in the Orton-Gillingham methodology with a Fellow of the Orton-Gillingham Academy.