A little after noon, Monday through Friday, a small group of second graders at Durham Elementary in Tigard head to the library armed with their iPads.
Each student grabs a pair of headphones and checks their microphone before logging onto a Zoom meeting with a tutor.
Before students get to reading, they check in with each tutor, filling them in on their weekend and talking about how they’re feeling that day. One student reads off of the screen, “I am good enough, I am smart enough, I am always doing my best.”
Then, the tutoring starts. Students move through the 15-minute session, each at their own pace. Every screen shows something different. A list of words students are reading through, a blank page to practice writing words or a couple of sentences to read. In the corner of the screen, there’s a student in one box and a tutor in another.
By 12:30 p.m., the students are gone, back in their classrooms.
This year, 16 Durham second graders are part of a pilot for a virtual tutoring program called Ignite! Reading. Now in its second year, the program has grown its pilot to more than 20 schools and districts across the country, including in Durham and seven schools in Eastern Oregon.
As state and national data show the severe impact of the pandemic on students’ reading and math, programs like Ignite! Reading represent targeted efforts to help students catch up on reading using differentiated, one-on-one instruction.
Durham principal Cleann Brewer helped bring the program to her school this year. She likes the one-on-one aspect of the tutoring, something she wouldn’t be able to otherwise offer students.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to have … one-on-one, folks reading with kids that are guided by a team of folks making sure they’re teaching kids how to read in a way that is research-based and impactful,” Brewer said. “I’ve never had the opportunity to do one-on-one tutoring, and I really believe in it.”
At Durham, students are behind in reading, Brewer said. Some of the second graders are starting at a kindergarten level, others are reading at a first-grade level. The goal of the program is to get students to where they need to be in second grade, making progress in learning to read by third grade, a pivotal year for students. That’s when students start reading to learn new things.
Recent state and national assessments have shown students are behind in math and reading, but federal funding has been allocated to make improvements. With the Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund III, Oregon received $1.1 billion. At least 20% of district spending of those dollars has to be on addressing learning loss.
Tigard-Tualatin is funding the Ignite! pilot with district funds, but not specifically from ESSER.
Eastern Oregon University has partnered with the company to help train and provide tutors for students. Most of the program’s tutors are college students, who are trained and paid.
Earlier this month, Ignite! hosted a presentation of the program at Durham Elementary, with presentations from founder Sliwerski.
The program works to build students’ word recognition skills through phonological awareness, helping students break down words. Sliwerski, a former teacher and founder of Ignite!, said the skills students need to learn are foundational for their education.
“It’s bigger than reading. It’s also mathematics, it’s also science, it’s also social studies,” Sliwerski said. “Reading is the operating system of a school, and if you cannot read, you cannot learn.”
Both elementary and middle schools are a part of the program’s expansion this school year, serving more than 1,000 students. A company-issued report on progress for 551 students participating last year found students made 2.4 weeks of progress in reading for every week they were in the program.
In Tigard, Brewer saw the program as one “change idea” to help close gaps for readers. It’s just one part of a concerted effort to improve reading among her students.
The program has been at Durham since the beginning of October. Brewer said there have been “pretty significant gains” for at least 10 of the 16 students in the pilot. She said other students have been absent and their progress is still being monitored.
“Four weeks in, we are seeing positive impact,” Brewer said. “And we’re hoping that that only grows across time, and we have successful readers in classrooms.”
She plans to expand the program to third graders that need to catch up later this year.
At first, Brewer wasn’t sure about giving students more “screen time” during the day, or after months of Zoom during distance learning.
“I would prefer face-to-face,” she said. “However, what I’m realizing is that the digital world is something that is part of our norm now with kids, and I’m seeing kids just get really focused in with their tutors online. And it’s just like a normal everyday experience.”
She wasn’t sure whether students would engage at first, but with the individualized attention and focus, they have. She said students in the program are developing self-esteem in their reading.
“They’re not giving up right away, they’re trying to do really hard things, and they’re persisting. We’re there to just see them build those confidence skills that are leading to increasing reading,” Brewer said.
Districtwide, Tigard-Tualatin assistant superintendent Lisa McCall said she’ll be monitoring the pilot to see whether the students become confident readers and make up 1.5 years of reading growth.
“We have not yet discussed scaling out to other elementary schools. However, other TTSD schools will have an opportunity to explore what Ignite could do for them.” McCall said in a message to OPB.
Brewer said she’s grateful for district funds to try something new and learn from it.
“What a wonderful opportunity it is for leadership to see if this is something that is really going to impact our kids at Durham,” Brewer said.
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