WEBVTT

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[Music Plays...]

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As the middle of the school year fast approaches, the third-grade
demands for independent reading have increased.

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Mr. Hess, a third-grade teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary, has become
more concerned about the lack of reading progress in one of his students.

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Having tried everything he can think of to help this student, Mr. Hess
decides to go to his school's Support Team, or S-Team, to get

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some assistance. At a weekly S-Team meeting, Mr. Hess tells the team
that the student's cumulative records indicate that his reading

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skills have always lagged behind those of his classmates'. Because
third-grade textbooks are more difficult, he's struggling to keep up

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in content areas like social studies and science, and his grades
have fallen drastically.

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Mrs. Hernandez, an experienced first-grade teacher and lead member
of the S-Team, says they see this problem all the time.

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In fact, she believes that too many first graders struggle with reading,

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and she wonders how many students there are who end up like
Mr. Hess's third grader, who is now failing

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because he can't read well enough. She's confident that what's needed
is a new approach.

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Ms. Jacobs, the lead special education teacher, says

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that most of these struggling readers do not require special
education services, but they do need some sort of additional

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intervention to give their skills a "boost." Ms. Jacobs stresses
that many students who have trouble with reading in the early grades

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continue to have problems throughout school. She adds her own
frustration that the small percentage of students who truly do need

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special education services are usually not identified until third or
fourth grade because their skills must fall significantly behind in

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order to qualify. The S-Team members agree that they have seen these
two problems over and over again. They decide they need to find a

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better way to get extra help to their struggling readers. In
addition, there must be a better and faster way of getting special

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education services to students who need them than simply waiting for
children's skills to fall so far behind

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that the kids are actually failing.

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Here is your challenge...