CATCH THEM BEFORE THEY FALL: School provides reading support to children and parents

(This was first published in the March 2021 issue of “Learning Continuity Innovations: AN EMERGING GOOD PRACTICE DIGEST” published by the Department of Education, USAID, and RTI International)

It is important for all children to learn to read –foundational literacy is critical to their future. Children who can’t read usually perform poorly

in school because they cannot understand their lessons in all the other subjects as well. This puts them at risk of falling further and further behind which could eventually lead them to give up on learning.

Like many schools in the Philippines, Tanza Elementary School, a small coastal school in Roxas City, is working hard to ensure that pupils acquire grade-level reading skills and that they continue

to learn despite school closures caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic. Tanza ES is working to ensure that no pupil gets left behind by “catching them before they fall.”

Through the partnership with USAID’s ABC+: AdvancingBasic Education in the Philippines project, the school was able to implement a reading program that addressedachievement gaps and helped the pupils get back on trackafter missing out on months of learning.

 

CHALLENGES

As home-based, distance learning resumed after COVID-related school shutdowns, Tanza Elementary School knew that an important first step was to assess the reading skills of their pupils so that those who needed additional support could be identified and supported. In September 2020, using materials from the ABC+ Project, teachers conducted a Rapid Literacy Assessment (RLA) for pupils in grades 1 to 3.

Results from the assessment confirmed that there were a lot of struggling readers. Twenty-five percent of pupils (30 out of 120 — 8 in Grade 1, 15 in Grade 2 and 7in Grade 3) were assessed to be in need of a “full refresher.”

This meant that they needed a “refresher” or review  of content previously taught as they were not yet able to reach the expected reading level for their age.  They needed additional attention and support.  The teachers learned that several parents  were having reading difficulties as well. As parents now serve as primary teachers in the home-based learning system, the school saw the urgent need to help them read better so that they could effectively teach and help improve the reading skills of their children.

SOLUTION

In order to reverse this trend and address these concerns, the school, led by its former principal Mary Joy G. Gutierez, created the “Catch them Before they Fall” initiative which focused on remedial support for struggling, full refresher pupils and their parents.

Catch Them Before They Fall aims to:

-Develop the reading skills of the pupils and reduce the number of full refresher students to zero

-Enhance the skills of the parents in teaching reading

The initiative has given parents the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to effectively help their children learn to read. As facilitators of learning at home, they were eager to support their children. To prepare them, parents are trained in teaching of fundamental reading skills, including how to write, sound out the letters of the alphabet, and blend the letter sounds to decode words in their Mother Tongue. For this purpose, one of the school’s Kindergarten teachers, Robelyn Artuz, wrote a five-volume storybook titled “Dali na! Basa ‘Ta!” (Come On! Let’s Read!), which focused on five letters at a time. Teachers at Tanza ES who were also reading experts conducted weekly face-to-face training sessions at school (while observing proper health protocols), and through online group chats.

Every week, an online or face-to-face check-up session was held to ensure that children understood and mastered the lessons. During this weekly “read aloud” day, teachers listen to the children read, noting areas of improvement or difficulties.

Another important part of the project is establishing a group chat or setting up home visits to check in with parents to see how things are going.

To make reading fun and enjoyable for both children and their parents, the school gave them ABC+- developed supplemental reading materials specially developed for early grade learners. The children also watched and listened to TV- and radio-based instructional materials from the ABC+ Learning Connects Facebook page on weekends.

 

RESULTS

“Catch Them Before They Fall” started in January 2021. The activity is still ongoing, but teachers in Tanza ES have observed that many students are starting to develop reading skills such as syllabicating and sounding out words. Their grades have also improved. The support of parents to the reading efforts of their children has also increased. Through this intervention, Tanza Elementary School is slowly realizing its target of zero non-readers, a big step towards their goal of completely eradicating illiteracy in the community.

What is going well with the project? There are very good relations between the teachers and parents. It has also been positive to see parents helping each other. One lesson learned was that parents who are not able to read themselves needed more teacher assistance and support. The project underscored the big role parents play in the lives of their children as their first teachers and strongest supporters.

“All I can say is that it is a good program because even if the classes were not face-to-face, the children learned how to read and write. I hope that more children can be taught this way,” said Carla Mae Blanco, mother of a student.

Tanza ES believes that any school can emulate this project. Recommendations for schools that would like to give it a try include:

-Ensure that there are strong relationships between teachers and parents.

-Ensure that teachers themselves are good reading teachers and regularly follow up on parents and children.

-Check the reading levels of pupils!

-Get to know your students

“The children are confident to read, and the parents are excited that their children know how to read. We plan to have incentives for the children for them to be motivated and to recognize the efforts of the parents. So far, I can say that the project is successful. I am happy with the results,” Gutierez said.