Clark-Pleasant piloting new reading program

Students at Clark-Pleasant schools who are falling behind in reading lessons are using a new computer program to catch up.

The program, called BURST, is designed to take data from reading assessments teachers use every two weeks and create specific reading lessons for students.

Teachers can use the program to find more tailored lessons for groups of students struggling with reading. The program contains a bank of lessons other teachers have created.

For example, when a teacher at Sawmill Woods sees that a group of five students are having problems remembering the details of a story, a teacher can have them go through a lesson on the computer that focuses primarily on that skill, instructional coach Beth Dafforn said.

Before now, if a student were falling behind in reading comprehension or recognizing letters and sounds, teachers could give the students extra lessons, but the work wasn’t specific to that student’s needs. Those materials might review how to recognize all letters and sounds, not just those the student had problems with.

She said that if teachers wanted to tailor lessons for students they had to do that on their own.

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