currentinitiatives.readingresults.html

READING WELL RESULTS

Reading Well measures the reading levels of grade 1 to 9 students using the GMRT instrument for grade 1 and CAT3 for grades 2 to 9.

Stanine 5 or higher is used as the benchmark to determine if students are reading at or above grade level for CAT3 testing. In order to achieve Stanine 5 students must be within 2 months of the test administration date (or higher). For example, a student in grade 4 writing in the month of April would need to be at 4.5 or higher in order to be considered as reading at or above grade level. While this is a hard-line approach, it does provide accurate data and allows us to determine progress over the years. It is interesting to note that most literature on literacy suggests that approximately 60% of students in North America are at or above grade level. This is reflected in the CAT3 test, as 60% of students writing the test across Canada achieve Stanine 5 or higher.

In order for grade 1 students to be considered reading at grade level they also must achieve Stanine 5 (or higher) on the GMRT test.

These results are based on total enrolment of students in grade 1 to 9 in the Fort Vermilion School Division.

CAT3 & GMRT Combined Results for FVSD Students (Stanine 5)

2006 Baseline Data 50.1%

2007 Results 49.9%

2008 Results 53.8%

2009 Results 54.7%

TOTAL Increase 4.6%

CAT3 Results Only - Grade 2 to 9 Students (Stanine 5)

2006 Baseline Data 47.6%

2007 Results 48.7%

2008 Results 51.3%

2009 Results 51.8%

TOTAL Increase 4.2%

GMRT Results Only - Grade 1 Students (Stanine 5)

2006 Baseline Data	66.8%
2007 Results	57.4%
2008 Results	69.6%
2009 Results	73.7%
TOTAL Increase	5.9%

For comparative purposes we also calculate the number of students achieving Stanine 4 or higher on the CAT3 test. The Stanine 4 benchmark might best be described as students approaching, at, or above grade level in reading. The Canadian norm is 77% for total writing. The results below are total enrolled (total writing results for FVSD students is 70.7%).

CAT3 Results Only - Grade 2 to 9 Students (Stanine 4)

2006 Baseline Data 63.0%

2007 Results 65.4%

2008 Results 68.4%

2009 Results 69.0%

TOTAL Increase 6.0%

Observations

The 3 year trend is encouraging as more students are reading at or above grade level.
When examining the combined GMRT and CAT3 results 4.6% more of our grade 1 to 9 students are reading at or above grade level. This translates into well over 100 more grade 1 to 9 students reading at or above grade level in the Fort Vermilion School Division!
The 6.0% increase in students achieving Stanine 4 or higher suggests more struggling students are approaching grade level in reading.
97.7% of enrolled students wrote the tests in grade 1 to 9.

Additional Indicators of Progress

Students have read a total of 562,745 books since the start of the Amazing Reading Race in 07-08. In a small jurisdiction of approximately 3,400 students, this averages out to more than 80 books per year per student! Grade 1 and 2 students appropriately read the most number of books per student.
Approximately 90 teachers in grade 1 to 6 participated in the first 2 year cycle of an intensive Balanced Literacy PD opportunity.
About 20 junior high language arts teachers participated in six days of PD focused on Best Practice in Reading and Writing.