A South Bend schools success story

by Don Wheeler

(since The South Bend Tribune makes its stories unavailable - free anyway - after 7 days, I tend to post more of the text than I might otherwise)

In a recent article by Michael Wanbaugh, The South Bend Tribune notes significant success in reading test scores in three Primary Centers which had introduced a new (to them) reading program. After great success at Hay Primary Center, the program was expanded to Wilson, Harrison and Madison schools.

From an April 4 article, by the same author:

When Kristine Cohn felt the power of Light Bulb Lane here inside Hay Primary Center on Thursday morning, it was a bit overwhelming.

Light Bulb Lane is a special laboratory for struggling readers. Teachers utilize the Wilson/LiPS reading program to help students diagram, hear, visualize and ultimately understand the complex science that is the English language. Cohn, who is a regional representative for U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, was fortunate enough to witness a young boy at Hay beam as reading began to make a little more sense to him.

The occasion sent a surge of pride through the boy and made Cohn cry.

"To see that young boy and the light bulb go on, it was just very emotional for me," Cohn said. "That's what makes us teachers come back year after year, day after day. It's that wonderful of a moment."

Cohn has spent most of the week in the area. She visited Elkhart Community Schools on Tuesday and Mishawaka public schools Wednesday.

Based out of Chicago, Cohn is the top-ranking U.S. education official for Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin...

...From Washington (High School), Cohn went to Hay, which has been a pilot for the Wilson-LiPS reading intervention program since the 2003-04 school year.

Principal Craig Haenes credits the Wilson-LiPS program with making Hay one of the South Bend Community School Corp.'s strongest schools academically.

Hay has some of the highest ISTEP-plus scores in the corporation and has been labeled an exemplary school by the state ranking system four straight years.

The Wilson-LiPS program, which is funded through the Public Education Foundation, has since been expanded to other schools because of its success.

When we were "shopping" for Kindergarten programs, Mr. Haenes gave us a bit of history of how the Wilson/LiPS program came to his school.

He became aware that the Penn system was using Wilson/LiPS and thought it a good program and potentially helpful to his school. He apparently campaigned hard with then Superintendent Joan Raymond and eventually won her approval. The rest (as they say) is history. It gave us a lot of confidence in the people at Hay - which had a lot to do with our selection of that school.

From the article of May 25:

A year ago this month, Susan Warner, executive director of the Public Education Foundation, was gearing up for a major expansion. Warner and the board of the Public Education Foundation wanted to expand the successful Wilson/LiPS reading program at Hay Primary Center into another one of South Bend's schools.

Robert L. Zimmerman, superintendent of the South Bend Community School Corp., had other plans. He told Warner he wanted the program expanded into three more schools -- Wilson, Harrison and Madison primary centers...

...Warner says the preliminary data is very encouraging at the new schools."I'm really happy," she said. "All the students grew quite a bit in their reading levels. We saw at least a year's gain in almost all our students." Warner said she expects to notice a difference in third-grade English/language arts ISTEP scores next year at the three schools.

This year's second-graders will take that test next fall.

The Wilson/LiPS program has been the pride of Hay since its pilot year in 2003-04. Since then, ISTEP passing percentages in English/language arts have increased nearly 10 points...

..."I'm really excited to see the kindergartners come in next year with what they already know," Mary Ellen Grontkowski (a first grade teacher at Madison) said. "It has been a big learning experience. We worked very hard to meet all the needs of all the children as they surfaced."

Warner is thrilled at how well the expansion has gone. When the progress measurements at Wilson, Harrison and Madison started trickling in earlier this year, Warner rushed down to Zimmerman's office.

She just couldn't wait to show him. "We're seeing growth," Warner said, "that we've never seen before."

With news like this, a lot of us are wondering what in the heck is the School Board's gripe with Dr. Zimmerman?

Any theories out there? They sure aren't saying.