Sonnesyn Elementary in New Hope Celebrates Gains in Reading Proficiency
A New Hope elementary school is helping more students conquer reading through a relatively new teaching curriculum.
About three years ago, Sonnesyn Elementary School adopted a program called Bridge2Read.
It’s a free program that offers coaching and support for teachers in the classroom, according to Principal Mary Jane Adams.
That curriculum and coaching has helped to improve student outcomes.
“It’s a tool that helps teachers teach kids how to read,” Adams said. “What we’re seeing is huge improvements in our children’s ability, not only to read but to understand the patterns of reading. So their knowledge is beyond being able to read the words, but when they come to word they don’t know, they have the tool to decode that word.”
A student at Sonnesyn Elementary School uses the Bridge2Read curriculum in a classroom. The system has helped improve reading proficiency at the school.
Improved Reading Proficiency at New Hope School
Adams said the first batch of students using the program has seen a 15 percent increase in proficiency in the past two years.
“Coming out of third grade, we had 39 percent of our students proficient,” she said. “Those same students going into fifth grade, 54 percent proficiency.”
The elementary school hosted Willie Jett, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education to showcase the program’s successes. He said the benefits extend beyond the students.
“Today I also paid attention to the impact on the teaching staff within the building, the adults in the building, in terms of the profound effect, and the joy that they’re sensing and that they’re experiencing,” he said. “They join this profession to see the impact they have on young people. And this program is one of those things that helps remind them, and is a tool that they can use for the longevity within their program.”
Jett said the program has also had positive impacts in other schools in Minnesota.
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