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Show S BG(pDZ(B(aI By ROSELYN KIRK A programmed tutorial reading program, used in the 23 schools in Davis County School District which receive Title I funds, has been recognized by the U.S. Office of Education. ED CAMMACK, director of federal program, said that Davis District was one of 18 school districts selected to receive a contract to present the reading program to other school districts at six regional conferences. According to Mr. Cammack, 1,500 school districts nationwide all of whom participate in the programmed tutorial reading program were eligible for selection. He said that Davis was one of the six school districts chosen as a pilot study a year ago. The selection was made on the basis of an evaluation process developed by the district to measure students' progress in reading. MR. CAMMACK said this selection led to the district being offered the contract to disseminate the programmed reading program to other districts. The contract is accompanied by a $50,200 grant. Although the programmed tutorial program was originally developed by the University of Indiana, for the first and second grade level, Davis District has written additional programs to extend tutorial tu-torial reading into the third and fourth grade. ABOUT 185 tutors used the programmed approach to teach about 1,300 students in grades 1-4 in elementary schools which qualify for Title I funds. The first step of the reading project is to identify students in those schools who score below a target reading competency score. These students are tutored on a one to one basis for 15 minutes a day by a trained high school student or adult who has been hired and trained to administer the program. MR. CAMMACK said the tutor spends between 15 to 20 hours learning how to administer the program. "No student is ever told that he has read the sentence wrong," he said. Instead the tutors' responses are "Read the sentence again," or "Look at this word again," or "the word is blue. Read the word blue." In addition to the positive reinforcement technique the plan also ' ' uses a self discovery approach, also a part of the program. The student is asked to skip the word and read the rest of the sentence. "Sometimes a context clue in the sentence will tell the student what the word is and he can discover it for himself," him-self," Mr. Cammack said. MANY OF the tutors sign up for work study courses at the high schools and use the block to tutor the elementary students. After being trained, or programmed, to give the child the correct response, they are placed in elementary schools near their high school. Some tutor as many as six children in that time period. Principals in the various schools try to hire the high school students first. Then they accept applications applica-tions from college students and adults. Some tutor as many as 14 students. . MR. CAMMACK said that no additional rooms are needed for the tutoring process. "All they need is a quiet space where they can sit side by side for 15 minutes a day." That quiet space could be in the back of the room, in a hall, or a health room. "We have even used the furnace' room if there was no other space," Mr. Cammack said. In some cases an empty class room is available and several pairs of readers work in that room. Good relationships between the child and the tutor are essential, he said. "Tutors are paid something, but not very much." The program provided through Title I funds is a supplement to the regular reading program. DONNA HARSTON, Title I coordinator, oversees the five reading supervisors who themselves train and supervise the tutors. Three of the supervisors are part-time and work with five schools. The supervisor super-visor also correlates materials with the child's regular teacher and provides materials and instructions to the tutor. The other two tutors are part-time and work fewer week days. All supervisors are professional certified teachers. IN ADDITION to the tutorial reading program, two other supplementary reading read-ing programs one for kindergarten children and another for fifth and sixth grade students are also available in schools which qualify for Title I money. The kindergarten program, lasting only ten weeks, helps children to develop concepts con-cepts necessary to learn to read. The reading supplementary program in the higher grades is based on a diagnostic testing concept which allows additional reading help to students in areas where they are found to be deficient, Mr. Cam-mack Cam-mack said. NO SPECIAL reading programs are available in secondary schools through Title I, he said. |