THE CORE READING PROGRAMME 2018-2019 PROGRAMME REPORT AMY DA COSTA, MSC., F/AOGPE READING PROGRAMME COORDINATOR GENERAL BASICS OF PROGRAMME STRUCTURE The Reading Clinic offers tutoring for students with a pattern of dyslexia using the Orton-Gillingham approach. This is a multi-sensory approach to reading and spelling. It is a highly structured, phonetic and rule-based programme which has been found to be successful in helping those who struggle to learn the basic skills of reading and/or spelling due to specific learning differences. Students who have had an assessment and who have been identified as having a learning difference consistent with a specific reading disability/dyslexia are eligible for tutoring. Students will usually receive 3 one-hour tutoring sessions per week by an Orton-Gillingham trained tutor. Sessions take place either before or after school, or during the school day when provisions are made within the child’s class schedule. Students are generally enrolled in the programme for approximately 2 years. Students who have been enrolled for either 36 sessions or 4 months or more are tested in April/May each year to ascertain their current academic achievement level and recommendations for supports and continuation are made to the parents based on the child’s results. PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROGRAMME (2018-19) The continued focus of the Core Reading Programme has been on helping students in the early primary years that have a pattern of dyslexia. Students with dyslexia have relative weaknesses in working with the sounds of the language (phonological awareness) and/or with ‘rapid naming’. These weaknesses result in difficulties reading at the single word level and spelling and/or in doing so at an appropriate pace. This year, given the large number of student enrollments, we continued to prioritize allocation of spaces for students with a clear pattern of dyslexia. We continued to include some students who have: weaker verbal abilities paired with exceptional non-verbal abilities (as long as there was a gap between this and their phonological awareness and/or rapid naming); students who despite phonological awareness and rapid naming being similar to that of his/her verbal abilities, have a weak visual discrimination for letters or words. Students who exhibit weaker language skills were referred to Speech and Language Services either concurrently or prior to tutoring depending on their level of language abilities. Care will be taken over time in paying attention to how each of these students with different profiles perform in the programme. The number of students in programme has again exceeded the cap of 90 students, with 101 students receiving services at some point during the school year. The following charts reflect the demographics of the 101 students enrolled (and receiving services) in the programme during the 2018-2019 school year. Student by Type of School The Core Reading Programme served students from 29 different schools: 8 private schools (54 students) 18 government schools (44 students) 2 home schools (2 students) 1 adult (1 student) The ratio of private and public school students has remained relatively consistent with last year’s data. Government School students increased by 1% and Adult students decreased by 1%. Sex of Students The change of one additional male student and two fewer female students has shifted the ratio slightly. However, the numbers are relatively consistent. Grade Level of Students Aligning with our mandate, the Core Reading Programme served mainly Primary School students (72%). This is an increase over last year (71%). The students in Middle School grade levels were continuing students who began tutoring in Primary School. We serviced 73 primary school students, 27 middle school students, 0 high school students and 1 adult. The adult who received services only did so during a time of day when a child could not be seen. Of the 101 students we worked with this year, 50 received financial assistance towards their direct tutoring fees. Since The Reading Clinic is a registered charity, we do not ask parents to pay tutoring fees to cover the approximately $740,000.00 per year that it costs to run the programme, which would amount to approximately $115 per hour. Instead we charge parents fees ranging from $0 per session to no more than $60 per session. This rate remains considerably below market rates. Financial Assistance Level 50.5% of families were able to afford the full cost of tutoring. Cost Per Lesson Full bursary – decrease in need (7-4) Tier 1 – consistent (18-18) Tier 2 – decrease in need (11-6) Tier 3 – increase in need (14-19) Tier 4 – consistent (2-2) Tier 5 – decrease in need (3-1) Full Pay – increase (47-51) This suggests that not only are more people able to pay full rate this year than in the year prior, but fewer people are requiring lower tier bursaries. Allocation of Financial Assistance by School Type 22% of Private School students (12 of 54) were on a bursary (consistent with last year) 80% of Government School students (36 of 45) were on a bursary (reflecting a decrease from 91% last year). The 1 Adult student (1) required on a bursary (consistent with last year). 50% (1 of 2) of Home-schooled children were on a bursary (consistent with last year). Financial Assistance Bursary Tiers by School Type Number on a Bursary The graph suggests that the larger bursaries are more often provided to Government School students, with Private School students qualifying at the middle tiers or paying full rate. 82% of “full-pay” students attend Private School. Cost Per Lesson PROGRAMME OUTPUTS Student/Tutor Management In 2018-2019 6530 one-on-one sessions were delivered to 101 students by 45 tutors. This reflects a 0.5% decrease in the number of sessions held over last year (6561 sessions). Although there was 1 more student than in the prior year, several of the students started late in the school year, pairing with the new tutor trainees. In addition, a greater number of students had 2 sessions per week, resulting in a lower target # sessions. As such, it can be seen that tutors are consistent in meeting their goal number of sessions. Frequency of Lesson per week 1 2 3 4 or 5 # Students 1 20 79 2 7 Professional Development Meetings were held for new and established tutors during the year. Additionally: o Dr. Ray hosted a meeting with established tutors to discuss management of challenging behaviors in tutoring. o Training in the Read Naturally programme was offered by Cynthia Armano to the tutors. She offered full-day workshops to train approximately 20 tutors. There were a total of 26 formal observations this year in addition to informal/drop in observations and ongoing communication with tutors. Family Opportunities and Engagement All parents with students in the programme for the year were contacted at least twice per year. 26 parent meetings were held this year to review End of Year Test results (plus 10 via phone, 11 sent questions via email) and coordinate next year’s tutoring. 1 screening of The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia was held for parents in April. Technical challenges on the day led to a group discussion for parents. 5 referrals for counseling were made to Dr. Jen Lyne regarding concerns about socio-emotional well being. A parent community was created via a social media site. Approximately 30% of families joined the private group where they are able to post questions, share articles/tips/strategies. 1 parent/team meeting was held at the student’s school to support students and ensure accommodations were outlined. Many less formal meetings/discussions were held at parent request via email or in person for the same purposes. Training (outside of tutors) The Experience Dyslexia © Workshop was delivered twice. In September teachers at a Government Middle School took part in the workshop. In March, in partnership with Kim’s List, the workshop was held again for members of the community (most of whom were teachers). In partnership with YouthNet, The Reading Clinic provided a workshop to discuss learning differences. Dyslexia was covered by Amy Da Costa, and Dr. Darrien Ray reviewed Autism Spectrum Disorder, Executive Functioning differences, ADHD and Dysgraphia. In March, an instructor from Bermuda College made arrangements to bring in students to The Reading Clinic to learn more about learning differences and career opportunities in the field. The students were informally addressed by math and reading programme coordinators who shared information and answered questions about learning differences and career opportunities. Participation in Events/Fairs In October 2018, the celebration for The Reading Clinic’s 50th anniversary featured two students from the Core Reading Programme. The Reading Clinic partnered with the Delta Sigma Theta book fair, hosting a booth and answering questions about The Reading Clinic and dyslexia. The Reading Clinic partnered with the Bermuda Book Festival, providing volunteers to take/sell tickets at the entry to the event in exchange for part proceeds. The Reading Clinic partnered with Dutch Pops stall for the 2019 Agricultural Exhibition. Donations A donor who wishes to remain anonymous gifted The Reading Clinic with a $50,000.00 donation towards the growth and development of the Betty Kitson Library. These funds have been utilized to purchase dyslexia-friendly books, resources and library software. The Reading Clinic was selected as a charity to support for the Dollars for Hours programme. The Reading Clinic partnered with Berkley Institute. The students designed and built a custom bookshelf/TV cabinet for our library. Policies/Payments We continued to use the pre-pay method for tuition invoices. Increased oversight on the fees and payment policies saw that parents falling being on payments were contacted to arrange for a payment plan and to consider possibly revisiting the financial assistance application, resulting in a lower accounts receivable amount.