But there s already a drop in the number of children needing special services for dyslexia, or severe reading problems. Last year the number dropped to 40. The Language Enrichment program was implemented in the fall of 1997 after 27 first-grade teachers were trained that summer. Bilingual teachers who had received the Language Enrichment training were trained in Esperanza. So far no standardized testing of children taught to read by the new methods has been done.
Standardized tests compare children s performance to the norm for their grade level.
It was observational. This year, TPRI scores were compiled and reported to the school board. And second-grade results showed that students had a good grasp of the patterns of language, but still had problems with spelling. The TPRI is a diagnostic tool that pinpoints the skills individual students have mastered and the ones they need more help on. Its indicators will help us to plan instruction more appropriately.