LYNN — An after-school program launched by a group of Lynn elementary schools in March has deemed Connery School’s program the most successful of its kind in the state.
The 10-week program, Springboard, aims to close the literacy gap by closing the gap between the learning lost between home and school, according to its website.
The undertaking at Connery has been so successful that program directors consider it to be the top-performing Springboard program in the state.
“We coach educators and family members to help kids learn to read by fourth grade. Springboard envisions a world in which all children have the requisite literacy skills to access life opportunities,” said the Springboard website.
Connery has about 50 students — between the first and third grade — and seven teachers enrolled in the program. The students meet with the teachers twice a week via Zoom, in small groups of up to five, to practice reading through a phonics-based program.
The students’ families also meet with the teachers every other week for family workshops where the teachers work with the students and parents on reading fundamentals, such as how to break apart words, how to use pictures for support in comprehension, and how to build fluency.
“It’s designed to engage the parents and kind of link them into their child’s learning and give them information that parents don’t necessarily have,” said the Springboard program leader at Connery Cynthia McCleary.
McCleary, a curriculum instruction teacher (CIT) at Connery, said the program has already yielded significant results.
Connery implemented guided reading into its classrooms and took running records in January, and again in April. McCleary said the records show that 74 percent of first graders in the Springboard program increased in guided reading levels. She said some increased by one level while others increased by four or five levels.
“This was a way to really specifically teach reading through a phonics-based program and really help kids that were struggling with reading get better,” McCleary said.
Students in the program are encouraged to read independently and with their family at home, and can log their reading time into an app that Springboard uses. The reading time and number of classes and workshops the students attend all receive points that can result in rewards. The first level of incentives for reading is school supplies and the second level is a new backpack and additional school supplies.
McCleary said the incentive factor is very motivating to the students, who have found the program to be enjoyable. As of Monday, the students at Connery have logged a total of 22,072 minutes since the program began.
McCleary said the program has helped to improve the reading skills for students who were significantly impacted by the pandemic and subsequent shift to remote learning.
“This has been a way for students to still be engaged,” she said. “They like engaging with their friends and the teachers and they love the extra attention that they get in these small groups.”
With students back in school, McCleary said Connery decided to keep the program virtual since the students are now used to it and have become skilled in learning remotely.
School dismissal is at 1:30 p.m. and the program begins at 2:30 p.m., which gives students time to eat lunch at home before joining the 40-minute program sessions, McCleary said.
During a Springboard roundtable discussion on Thursday night, Connery Principal Glenda Colon said she is thankful for the program, describing it as “a gift to our students and our staff.”
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected]
