Reha's Report

Dear Scott School Families,

Do you know what EBLI is? Evidence Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI) consists of a series of instructional strategies to help students develop early literacy skills and provides teachers with tools to deliver effective reading instruction. EBLI is not a curriculum or program, but instead an approach teachers use with students to help them primarily develop basic reading and reading fluency skills but also comprehension and writing skills too. Scott School teachers embed EBLI instruction into lessons each week as one way to help students become more proficient readers. For additional information about what EBLI is, click here. For information about why schools have been adopting EBLI, click here. Also, consider asking your child about EBLI. It's likely you will hear wonderful things about it, since we hear a lot of great feedback from students and staff here at Scott School.

Another instructional strategy that has been implemented at Scott School is the use of Number Talks in weekly math instruction. Through K-5 professional development with Mary Bouck, MSU Mathematics Professor and expert, our teachers have learned the value in implementing this instructional practice because of its large impact on developing students' number sense and automaticity. Research has shown that timed tests can cause anxiety and inhibit students in developing confidence as mathematicians. According to Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University, memorization of math facts through timed tests can not only make students math anxious but also limit real world mathematical thinking and problem solving. Her article, Fluency Without Fear: Research Evidence on the Best Ways to Learn Math Facts is interesting, and I hope you will take some time to read it.

Next week starts our winter NWEA window. Please encourage your child to do his/her best, but it's important that we're all reminded that a test score doesn't define a child. It's simply a snapshot in time of a child's performance on the skills being assessed. Benchmark assessments like all assessments provide useful data that assists with targeting skills that need development and also celebrating growth in various skill areas too. In addition, this data is extremely useful to teachers to help with lesson design and to students (and teachers) for goal setting. Thanks for encouraging your child and having him/her at school and on time on testing days.

All my best,

Linda Reha

Scott School Principal