At the June 8 meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, four school administrators told how they were working to bring up the grades of their students. The basic issue for these reports focused on English Language Arts.
The board was told that reading novels wasn’t working and that they have learned kids need to know how to absorb information from more serious books and know what they read in order to get better scores on standardized tests.
After more discussion on reading, board president Amy Pearce broached the subject of kids from homes that are in need, which is a large percentage of those in the district. These are the students who have lower scores and need more help. She said parents can help by asking their students to tell them what they read that day. In doing so, the students must think about the subject and describe it.
Instructions, for example, are important to read and understand and that’s what the standardized tests show our kids aren’t doing. The board hopes parents will question their students this summer and encourage them to explain to them what they read.
Weather