District Statistics
- School District: Lee County Public Schools
- Schools: Skyline Elementary School
- Number of Students: 800
- Grades: 2nd-5th
- Population: ELL Students 41%
- School Structure: Mid-Size City
ELL Students See A Marked Improvement in Reading Proficiency
At the start of the 2006 school year, administrators at Skyline Elementary School in Cape Coral, FL, found themselves faced with an ELL student body that had nearly doubled in size from 23 percent to 41 percent. An increased focus on fostering reading proficiency for ELL students became a top priority.
In January 2006, Reading Assistant™ software was integrated into Skyline’s reading curriculum, which already included multiple reading programs including Harcourt Trophies Reading Program and Accelerated Reader by Renaissance Learning. Reading Assistant software was being used by approximately 60 percent of the student body and after noticing a marked improvement in reading proficiency, Skyline officials decided to increase student usage.
“The teachers of our second, third, fourth, and fifth graders, who are all using […] Reading Assistant, love the way the program delivered a patient guided oral reader for each student,” says Judith Gault, Reading Coach at Skyline Elementary. “The children are getting the one-on-one support they need to strengthen their reading fluency skills and the teachers are easily able to integrate […] Reading Assistant time into their regular classroom activities. This program is truly one of the best on the market for fostering reading fluency.”
Skyline Elementary has used Reading Assistant software to deliver English Language Learner (ELL) reading instruction and develop reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills for 800 students. The software enables teachers to turn on ELL features within the program that allow students to view and hear English word translations in Spanish, fostering an essential bridge to comprehension and concept development.
