FALL 2023 Missouri Reader November 2023 | Page 12

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Concurrently, the percentage of students meeting and exceeding standards has declined significantly (See Table 2). Concluding the 2015-2016 school year, 43.84% of students, grades 2-6, met or exceeded standards in language arts. By 2017-2018, the number of students meeting or exceeding standards succumbed to 32% on the state reading assessments. 49% of students met or exceeded standards. The percentage increased slightly the following year, with sixth graders being housed in the Middle High School, rather than the elementary school. The decrease in achievement rates coincided with three administration changes at the elementary school and two at the superintendent level (noted by color changes in Table 2). The number of students meeting and exceeding standards, however, is expected to increase based on the January 2021 Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) administration, against the trend of "learning loss" incumbent with COVID-19 school closures.

Using informal running records with a common grade level text, reading rate data suggested that most students were able to read a page of a grade-level appropriate book between ninety seconds and three minutes. Generally speaking, students at this level should read between 100-200 words per minute (Fountas and Pinnell, 2001) with fifth-graders to the higher side. Students should, reasonably, be able to read a page of grade-level appropriate books within a minute, no longer than ninety seconds. This indicates that a large number of students are limited in their independent reading experiences, potentially nullifying the progress made in reading skills such as decoding, likely bearing a negative impact on achievement and expanded learning opportunities associated with wide and voluminous reading.

Therefore, implementing a “Right to Read” policy would be consistent with a Federal court’s ruling and the steady decline of reading achievement and post-secondary commitments. Further, enacting a “Right to Read” policy could significantly reduce expenditures associated with previously contracted services under the premise of a “Low implementation, High Impact” initiative (Reeves, 2018) which could positively influence the population of Special Education students and the number of students seeking post-secondary studies and/or military services. The investment will most likely provide the catalyst that will help a school department or district “re-envision” a future beyond the success of their “Glory Days.”