Small classes -- and Gus -- help boost reading scores

Small classes and plenty of one-on-one and small group instruction help young students learn to read, say officials at two charter schools that saw dramatic increases this year in third-grade reading scores.

And then there’s Gus, the reading dog.

“It’s less intimidating for a child to read out loud to a dog than to an adult,” said Kelly Teigen, a third-grade teacher at GLOBE Charter School in Colorado Springs School District 11. “Some kids won’t ever read out loud. But they’ll read to her.”

Teigen started bringing Gus, a certified therapy dog, to her class last school year to entice pupils to read more.

The dog lays quietly on a big cushion while the children read aloud to her.
“She’s been a huge benefit,” Teigen said. “The kids love it. They’re convinced that ‘The Polar Express’ is her favorite book.”

GLOBE education director Jan Songer said the school also has a reading rabbit, hamster and rat and a second therapy dog is in training.

“We’ll put in anything we can to get kids reading,” she said. “Third grade is a pivotal point for students to be reading at grade level.”

Last year, 50 percent of GLOBE’s third-graders were proficient or advanced in reading. The score jumped to 75 percent this year.

James Madison Charter School in Widefield School District 3 had a similar increase, going from 53 percent proficient or advanced to 80 percent this year.

Classes at GLOBE are capped at 17 students, and James Madison had 20 students in its third-grade class.

James Madison Principal Anne Shearer-Shineman said a highly structured reading program called Imagine It that was started two years ago in kindergarten to third grade is making a huge difference.

Songer said letting kids read at the level where they come in and highly individualized instruction has boosted reading skills at GLOBE.

She also credits the school’s new environment, the former Longfellow Elementary School. The 15-year-old charter school had moved several times and had never been in an actual school building.

“We have a sense of community here that we’ve never had before,” Songer said.

Gazette reporter Carol McGraw contributed to this report.