INSIGHTS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Nancy Ichinaga is the principal of Bennett-Kew Elementary School in the Inglewood Unified School District, and served on a task force that helped draft Gov. Gray Davis’ education agenda.

Accountability is the name of the game in the education reform movement. But accountability must be more than the scores on the Stanford 9 exam at the end of the school year. Children and teachers must be held accountable throughout the year for learning and teaching if the reform movement is going to be successful.

During an information meeting last spring on the new state testing program, a parent asked if students would be passed or retained on the basis of Stanford 9 test results. My response was that if any child was going to be retained, his or her parents would have known about it long before the Stanford 9 was administered. The Stanford 9 results should hold no surprises for any parents if a school does its job of keeping them apprised of their children’s academic progress throughout the year.

The Stanford 9 should not be the only testing that is done in school. Interim testing should be going on in every school throughout the year to see how well teachers are teaching and how well children are learning the school’s curriculum.

In the Inglewood Unified School District, we use the Open Court reading program in kindergarten through grade three. The program is organized so that tests are administered every six to eight weeks to monitor progress in each classroom. The results of these tests are turned in to Open Court “coaches”--expert reading teachers from the district--who chart scores in different skill areas for each classroom. By charting test results, principals, coaches and teachers can tell at a glance where weaknesses are in every classroom, and interventions can be planned immediately.

Teachers use their test data at weekly grade level meetings to plan strategies for their next unit of instruction, with special emphasis on areas of need. At these meetings struggling readers and their specific weaknesses are identified, and out-of-class interventions may be planned. These interventions include reading labs that cover special lessons, tutoring during and after school, and participation in small group instruction in the afternoon.

Typically there is good improvement in most classrooms as the year progresses. For example, in the eighth week of school, 32% of first-graders read fluently as measured by the Open Court fluency test. In the 26th week of school, 68% of the first-graders passed the fluency benchmark.

Similarly, 48% of third-graders passed the vocabulary benchmark in the sixth week, while 69% passed that mark in the 18th week. Other grade levels have made similar gains in reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. The periodic testing is most effective in keeping teachers and children accountable. It is a way to ensure that children do well on the Stanford 9 at the end of the year.

BOOK EVENTS

* Monday in Los Angeles: “The Spring Fling” story time at the Robert Louis Stevenson Branch Library will include stories about spring and egg decorating for children and their parents. 803 Spence St., 6:30 p.m. (323) 268-4710.

* Tuesday in Pasadena: Tales for Tots at Barnes & Noble bookstore will include readings of “If You Give a Pig a Pancake,” “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” and “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” all by L. Numeroff. 111 W. Colorado Blvd., 10 a.m. (626) 585-0362.

* Thursday in Los Angeles: Story time at Washington Irving Branch Library will be a celebration of spring. 1803 S. Arlington Ave., 3 p.m. (323) 734-6303.

* Saturday in Culver City: Story time at Bookstar bookstore for children of all ages. 11000 W. Jefferson Blvd., 11 a.m. (310) 391-0818.