[ti:Teacher Tries to Narrow Pandemic Reading Gaps]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-05-24]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning across the world.
[00:05.00]As students are back in class, some are much more behind than others.
[00:11.69]In the United States, teachers are working hard to help students make up for missed learning. 
[00:19.13]Many schools are judging individual students' knowledge and making lesson plans especially for them.
[00:26.86]Richard Evans is a third-grade teacher in Niagara Falls, New York.
[00:34.97]Most of his students were sent home as kindergartners in March 2020. 
[00:41.46]Many spent all of first grade learning from home.
[00:46.98]Problems did not end when schools reopened for second grade. 
[00:52.88]There were face covering and social distancing requirements. 
[00:57.96]And many were not used to spending full weeks of study in school.
[01:04.80]"I had kids ask me, 'Why do I have to be in school for five days?'" Evans said.
[01:12.25]The pandemic affected each of Evans' 24 students differently. 
[01:18.45]So, he changed his instruction depending on individual students' needs.
[01:24.61]The students in his class who had fallen behind learn to read by moving their fingers slowly beneath words.
[01:35.17]They sound the words out one syllable at a time.
[01:40.56]They are practicing skills usually learned in first grade like sounding out "ch" and "sh" sounds.
[01:49.85]As the students read, Evans notes their understanding and speaking ability.
[01:56.99]He also writes down words that students have difficulty with.
[02:02.48]And after a year of doing this and following the results, he says it appears to be working.
[02:10.74]At the start of this school year, tests showed that 15 of Evans' students were reading below grade level.  those, nine were considered severely behind.
[02:27.77]In October, six students sat around Evans at a table. Each was reading a first-grade book about baseball star Willie Mays.
[02:40.50]"What sound does '-er' make?'" Evans asked one 9-year-old student.
[02:46.94]She put "hit" and "ter" together to make "hitter."
[02:51.29]Next to her, a boy said the word "high" as "hig."
[02:56.68]There was no time to waste. 
[03:00.66]Third-grade students are under urgent pressure to progress from "learning to read" to "reading to learn."
[03:09.35]Studies show those who do not learn to read with ease by the end of third grade are more likely to drop out or finish high school late.
[03:21.38]One who fell behind is Ke'Arrah.
[03:25.87]She spent more than a year learning remotely early in the pandemic.
[03:31.35]Her mother, Ashley Martin, wanted her to be safe but saw how it was affecting her daughter's education.
[03:40.21]So, when Ke'Arrah went to a new school this year, she had her repeat third grade.
[03:47.38]Midway through her second time in third grade, the decision appeared to be working.
[03:55.26]Mother and daughter are now reading together at bedtime. And even small moments become reading lessons, too.
[04:04.80]"She's on the phone, I'm like: 'Read that to me. Tell me, what does that say?' We're out somewhere: 'Read this to me. What does it say?'" Martin said.
[04:18.01]While many students are behind, Evans also sent more students than ever to the school's honors program because of their high test scores.
[04:30.18]Those students sometimes work independently or with each other to give Evans extra time with those who need more help.
[04:41.43]Evans invested his own time in one of the neediest students.
[04:47.22]He kept a boy after school once a week for more reading.
[04:52.76]In one exercise, Evans asked the boy to close his eyes, think about the first sound of each word and sound it out. 
[05:03.35]After a few weeks, the boy went from knowing just 11 common words to 66 on the third-grade reading list.
[05:13.68]Halfway through the school year, a new set of tests suggests Evans' plan is working.
[05:21.68]Fifteen of his students had met or went beyond their goals.
[05:27.78]And Ke'Arrah went from the bottom level of the class to the upper middle.
[05:34.43]I'm Dan Novak.