SRC! Success at Luther Burbank Elementary

Luther Burbank Elementary is a school in the heart of Long Beach Unified School District. For the majority of the students, English is their second language. Ninety-five percent of the school's population is eligible for the free and reduced lunch program, which places the student demographic at a lower socio-economic level. Students alike struggle with many abounding issues that arise from living in an urban area. Yet, despite the challenges that students must face outside of school, the highly qualified teachers at Burbank provide students with the best that education has to offer. Reading instruction in particular is incredibly intense, as each teacher provides students with effective strategies for becoming good readers through cooperative learning and explicit teaching of comprehension strategies and skills. With the use of the Scholastic Reading Counts! program, coupled with the district mandated reading series, reading achievement has been rampant, especially for struggling readers.

Scholastic Reading Counts! is the fuel that has lit a desire for reading in each of my students. Before my students entered my classroom, it was apparent that many of them loathed picking up a chapter book. Many students were reading below grade level and lacked the enthusiasm to read. I let the students know the first day of school how passionate I was about reading and how Scholastic Reading Counts! would be the answer to their reluctance. I spiced up the program introduction by sharing with them the points and goals system that would earn them incentives. Each student is required to set reading goals where they must track the data that Scholastic Reading Counts! provides. Students track their points and Lexile levels and set goals each month to enhance their reading experience. Instantly, students rushed to jump on Scholastic Reading Counts! Students have become independent readers because they are tracking their own progress and analyzing their own reading data.

Scholastic Reading Counts! is a designated time in our school day. It is a coveted time in which one could hear a pin drop. Every student is engrossed in their world, a world enhanced because of Scholastic Reading Counts!

With time, the use of Scholastic Reading Counts! has completely turned these frustrated readers into complete reading machines. My 5th grade scholars are highly motivated and dedicated readers because Scholastic Reading Counts! has instilled in them an intense desire to read. Students breeze through chapter book after chapter book and pass quiz after quiz. Each student creates reading goals and achieves their goals with ease because of the Scholastic Reading Counts! program. Scholastic Reading Counts! provides students with accountability and teachers with a powerful means of assessment. There is a definite power in the Scholastic Reading Counts! program in that it has fostered a true love of reading for each of my students. Scholastic Reading Counts! is indeed a valuable asset to my classroom and should be a welcomed addition to any classroom with struggling readers.