That, said Torrez, allowed the school's high population of Spanish speakers an extra year to learn English before tackling the test. This year, the Eugene Field staff is using Design for Literacy, a model instructional program it selected for its potential to teach teachers what they need to teach every child to read. Other such models that were considered cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But work is the key, and it doesn't come cheap. It means long hours for the principal, extra education for the teachers, more tutoring for the students and more involvement from parents and other community members.
Parental volunteers spend one week each semester in the classroom.
Some 200 volunteers are counted on to help teachers and students. Recently, teachers spent a day off campus learning the latest techniques for teaching reading and diagnosing reading problems so they'll become experts. Teaching the teachers has been just as important as teaching the students, Torrez says. Five days of the first semester were reserved for professional development for teachers. The best thing I can do for children is to get the teachers motivated.