By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Riley Elementary Principal Beth Rein gets an 'A' for creativity. She turned the interactive web-based game Kahoot! into her presentation before the USD 428 Great Bend Board of Education during Wednesday's luncheon. The answer to her first question demonstrated how two problematic areas for Riley staff are how academic data can be defeating, and figuring out which data points to focus on.
"There is just so much data," Rein said. "We can look at attendance; we can look at discipline. We give FastBridge benchmarking tests to preschool four-year-olds all the way through sixth grade. Those kids who don't do well, we do progress monitoring."
The benchmarking tests show teachers where students need more work. Riley instructors use state assessments and state assessment interim tests completed in September, December, and February to chart progress.
One giant goal of USD 428 is to get more kids reading. Fourteen Riley educators, including nine classroom teachers, are participating in the Science of Reading LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) program. The group met a ninth time this year Wednesday to learn how to become literacy and language experts in the science of reading. Assistant Superintendent Tricia Reiser commended the group.
"This is a great initiative," she said. "I'm really proud of Riley teachers for embracing this because it's work. All of the cohort that is participating will do volume two next year, and we're starting another cohort for our district as well. Our focus at 428 is to empower our teachers to be teachers of reading."
Rein had plenty of good news to report. Riley boasts a 95-percent K-6 attendance record. Eighteen students recently passed the Kansas English Language Proficiency Assessment, part of the federal elementary and secondary legislation for English learners that measures language proficiency in listening, reading, writing, and speaking. With a passing mark, those students will never have to take the assessment again. And Riley is the home of the Barton County Spelling Bee Champion Christian Garcia. The fifth-grader recently placed 37th out of 86 competitors at the state competition in Wichita.
Rein did express concern about the state of the school's playground equipment. Some of the equipment is 25-plus years old, and competitive soccer games during recess are played on sand.