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A Story of Success where every student CAN and WILL learn… no excuses!

As Livingston Union School District implements the Waterford Early Reading Program™, staff and teachers note results in terms of students’ success, skill growth and motivation. Best Practices they observe are key indicators to the success they are building for their students.

Challenge

In April 2000, Superintendent Henry M. Escobar in his presentation to the School Board states, "Our recent Academic Performance Index (API) Report, in spite of its shortcomings, should be viewed as a wake-up call. Livingston Union School District’s scores are unacceptable and need to improve. Whatever it takes! No excuses!" The challenge emerged…

It is our primary responsibility to ensure that all children are academically successful.

Escobar goes on to say, "If we are going to truly achieve, ‘Success for All Students’, rich and poor, immigrant and ethnically diverse, English and non-English speaking, we must embrace systemic reform and create a culture for achievement throughout Livingston Union School District.

This will require full commitment by all and making the needs of our students our number one priority. That is why we are committed to not only producing high performing students but to assist in creating good citizens, lifelong learners, critical thinkers and graduates who are successful in life. I expect every school in Livingston to become a high performing school."

Solution

The District instructional leaders focused their efforts around three questions which yielded a set of strategies focused on their top priority…student success! These questions were: Who is not achieving?Why not? And what are we going to do about it?

Results

Major strategies for improving student achievement at Livingston included:

Livingston has taken the challenge of success for all students and strived to exceed expectations significantly. The chart below shows gains over a five year period in API scores. During this time the students had the benefit of standards-based instruction as well as the Waterford Early Reading Program, the program that meets the specifications set forth by the instructional leaders. As implemented, it has become a significant contributor toward the overall strategy for success.

Waterford by the Numbers

3 Elementary Schools   1 Middle School   @ One 21 station lab each     @ Two 6 station mini-labs     13 Kindergarten Classes   1 Sixth-Eighth SDC Classes   13 First Grade Classes   1 Sixth Special Resource   14 Second Grade Classes   + 60 After-school intervention students

Over 900 Students Total.

With three years of Waterford instruction implemented in grades K–2, CST reports and District benchmark data show conclusive growth as charted below. Note results for the current second graders are significantly higher and show growth in each cluster area. These students have completed three levels of Waterford Early Reading, in addition to standards-based instruction. CST Cluster 1 Word Analysis & Vocabulary Development Cluster 2 Reading Comprehension Cluster 3 Literary Response Analysis Cluster 4 Written Conversations Cluster 5 Wriing Strategies AYP% Profecient & Advanced Grade 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2nd if possible 21 15 6 14 8   Mean % Correct 68 75 57 68 60 67 71 72 51 69 46 56 3rd if possible 20 15 8 13 9   Mean % Correct 50 61 51 49 64 59 52 57 46 48 22 32 4th if possible 18 15 9 18 15   Mean % Correct 51 61 45 51 48 46 51 58 43 48 24 38 5th if possible 14 16 12 17 16   Mean % Correct 45 47 40 46 50 56 42 56 40 45 10 24

Contact us for additional information on how Pearson Digital Learning can help you achieve results with Waterford Early Reading Program and Waterford Early Math & Science.