Read by Three update presented to Carson City School Board

The Carson City School Board received an informational update on the Read by Grade Three program Tuesday night.

The district recently received nearly $1.3 million from the state for the program, which aims to have all students reading at a third grade level by the third grade.

Empire Elementary reading facilitator Nathan Brigham presented the district’s numbers for students categorized as deficient in the Read by Three program and according to him, the district is successful with its program.

Brigham said district-wide, 173 first through third grade students moved out of the deficient category from the winter assessment in 2016 to the winter of 2017. In 2016, the district had 640 deficient students and only 467 in 2017, nearly a 20 percent decrease, Brigham said.

“That is a huge success,” Brigham said.

However, those numbers don’t reflect what the district has to provide to the state. To the state, the district actually increased its number of deficient students between the two assessments. Brigham said students who entered into the district deficient were counted against the district, even though there was no time to provide the necessary intervention to change their status before the assessment.

“We have moved considerably more students this year than last year and funding came later this year so we actually had a shorter time to reach our goals this year,” Brigham said.

At the end of 2017, 38 percent of Carson City first through third graders are in the deficient category, as opposed to 42 percent in the previous year.

“It is hard to control the massive influx of students who are coming from different districts deficient and immediately are marked against us before we have a chance to work with them,” Brigham said.