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Murphy Elementary School District

Profile

Murphy Elementary School District is located in Phoenix, Arizona. The district has four sites: Hamilton, Kuban, Garcia, and Sullivan. Collectively these schools have 2,550 students in kindergarten through grade eight.

Approximately 95 percent of the student and community population are Hispanic. The remaining ethnic makeup of the community is 2 percent White, 2 percent African American and 1 percent other minorities. The school district serves a population where 95 percent of the families have incomes below the federal poverty guidelines. Equally challenging is district's high mobility rate of 35 percent.

Challenge

Murphy Elementary School District needed to find a program that would improve reading skills and increase scores on statewide achievement tests including phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Murphy also needed this program to work flexibly with the high mobility rate and diverse population needs.

Solution

Murphy Elementary School District was the recipient of a 21st century grant and needed a research-based program that aligned to the Arizona Academic Standards. In November of 2003, the Waterford Early Reading Program was implemented in the three 21 st Century Learning Centers for 140 students. These students were selected for the program based on test scores that fell "far below" the average. During the school year, each student attends an after-school program four days a week for one hour. During the summer, the students receive an additional 90 minute session four days a week for four weeks.

"I substituted for the Waterford After-School Reading Program and I noticed an extreme improvement with a particular student," says Life Skills Teacher at Hamilton School, Kori Stephenson. "I worked with him last year and he could not read at all! Now he is reading and writing and spelling wonderfully."

Results

Murphy Elementary School District has conducted extensive testing to monitor student progress in a variety of areas. At mid-year in 2005, 48 percent of the student population in kindergarten were considered at-risk in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency. At the end of the year, that number was reduced to 20 percent with the help of the Waterford Early Reading Program. In the same category, the percentage of first graders at-risk dropped from 21 percent at the beginning of the year to just 3 percent by the end of the year.

Equally compelling is the increased percentage of students ranked at the 40th percentile or higher in the Retell Fluency category. At the beginning of the year, 4.8 percent of second graders were in the 40th percentile or higher. By year's end, that number increased to 20 percent.

Jessica Williams, a teacher at Sullivan School, credits the Waterford Early Reading Program with helping improve test scores. "As a teacher of students with learning disabilities, I believe that Waterford is a powerful and effective tool for raising the reading level and overall interest of my students."

During the 2005 school year, 66 percent of the Murphy kindergarten students were at-risk in Letter Naming Fluency. At the end of the year, that number decreased to 37 percent. Additionally, the percentage of at-risk students in Nonsense Word Fluency dropped from 39 percent at the beginning of the year to 14 percent by year's end.

Pearson Digital Learning and Murphy Elementary Schools - A Total Solution Partnership

According to Lynne Dulin, the 21st Century Coordinator, "The Waterford customer service help desk is great. They are so patient and their follow-up is wonderful. If they can walk me through a technology issue, they can help anyone! I am never uncomfortable calling them."

Follow-up workshops are conducted by Pearson Digital Learning with the Waterford teachers. Dulin finds great value in the workshops, saying that "teachers leave excited, ready to return to the classroom and implement what they have learned." Additionally, Pearson Digital Learning's Greg Barry, goes above and beyond in his role as a Curriculum Account Executive. According to Ms. Dulin, "Greg's ability to conduct parent meetings in Spanish provides a comfortable environment and engages the parents in dialog about reading. Reading is critical in the early years in whatever language!"

Simply put, this partnership is producing results. "I have seen great improvement in the students' ability to sound out words using their new rules, magic e, two vowels, and using family endings to sound out words. Students who would not read before are now wanting to read," says teacher, Mary Crenshaw.

  
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.