Yorba Middle School

Orange, CA

2023 Read Live School of the Year Runner-Up

Submitted by Jackie Vaca, Special Education Teacher

Yorba Middle School has been using Read Live since 2020 as an intervention for students in Special Education. Nominating teacher Jackie Vaca notes that the program has increased confidence and sparked a love of learning for her students. "The students who participate in this Read Live class have all shown solid growth in their reading levels for both fluency and comprehension. Teachers also report observations that students who are in this program are growing in their classroom participation in other classroom settings, so their hard work in the program is translating to more success in their other classes and an overall confidence in themselves," Jackie said. Way to go, Yorba Middle School!

In her nomination, Jackie wrote:

"Yorba Middle School is the oldest of five middle schools in the Orange Unified School District. It was founded in 1958 and is located in the center of the city of Orange. YMS serves 540 students in grades 6-8th grade. Yorba is a Title 1 school with approximately 85% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. About 18% of the population are students with disabilities that require support identified in IEPs or a 504 plan. Read Live is being used as an intervention for students in Special Education and some of these students are dual classified as English Learners. This is a class for students who struggle the most in the areas of reading and writing and are assigned to a Reading Support class in addition to their core English class. This class has a Special Education teacher and an Instructional Assistant facilitating the program.

Students participate in at least 30 minutes of Read Live every day where they are practicing decoding, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Students are required to pass a minimum of one Ready Live Naturally story and one Word Warm Up lesson each week. Classroom bucks are used to reward students on passing a lesson for extra motivation. These bucks are used weekly to buy rewards from the classroom store. The students who participate in this Read Live class have all shown solid growth in their reading levels for both fluency and comprehension not only shown in the program reports, but also in other district assessments given each trimester. Teachers also report observations that students who are in this program are growing in their classroom participation (raising their hand to read aloud/answer questions) in other classroom settings, so their hard work in the program is translating to more success in their other classes and an overall confidence in themselves.

One addition to the program that has helped students succeed is giving students a folder with the printed version of the Read Live Naturally story they are working on with a graphic organizer to help them with the "retell" portion of the program. We found that students struggled to remember and formulate a solid summary and so this has helped to scaffold this part of their comprehension so when they get to the retell part of the program, they already have their summary written out. Their folder also includes their IEP goals printed so they are aware of the skills they are working on towards these goals. This program has helped students to reach their IEP goals in decoding, fluency and comprehension.

Students are motivated in the Read Live Naturally program for two reasons. The stories presented are of high interest to them, and with the read aloud practices they are growing more confident with each read which makes their self-esteem grow. I find my students sharing with other students and with me about what they are reading and sometimes they will begin to google pictures or to find more information about a topic they read that interests them. I am seeing that spark to learn more coming from them.

As a Special Education teacher, it can be challenging trying to find the time to meet all students' needs. I am so grateful to have a program that truly addresses the needs of my students that struggle with basic reading skills. The program is easy to use and to differentiate for each students reading needs. When used with fidelity, this program is a solid tool for students to grow! THANK YOU!"