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Success Story: Caverna Independent School District

Diagnostic capability is one reason why educators in the Caverna Independent School District chose the Academy of READING software program as their primary reading intervention. Another is its solid track record for producing better, stronger readers, and, according to one fourth grade teacher, better writers, too.

For many years, Kentucky's State Testing Program had recorded consistently low reading scores among students in the Caverna Independent School District. Knowing that much of this performance testing relied on reading and writing ability, Caverna's Board of Education began to look into various reading intervention programs. The Board discovered many compelling reasons for choosing the Academy of READING software program from AutoSkill International Inc. One of them was the program's diagnostic capability and the ease with which it adjusts itself to suit each individual's needs. Two more were its emphasis on basic skills and its broad scope: the program serves students from grades two to 10. The tracking system and progress reports in the Academy of READING also proved extremely beneficial to educators.

One fourth grade teacher in Caverna noted an unexpected "side effect": as students' reading abilities improved, so too did their writing skills. As Dr. Leland Clack, Caverna's Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, points out, "Improved oral language means improved reading. Improved reading means improved writing performance."

Caverna adopted the Academy of READING specifically for exceptional and at-risk students who were not achieving age-appropriate reading standards. Students use PCs to work on the program. Teaching assistants help by assigning the work, checking progress and printing reports for teachers who have watched students' reading levels climb. Says Dr. Clack: "The Academy of READING software program's continuous assessments are showing that several students have made two-plus grade level improvements since starting the program in October 1999."