DANVILLE -- Local elementary students spend an extra hour a day focused on reading, honing their vocabulary skills and reading comprehension.

It's a commitment teachers say the school district made on its own to ensure no student falls through the cracks to illiteracy.

"We're targeting students before they have a chance to fail," said Jane Kettlewell, first-grader teacher at Mahoning-Cooper Elementary School. "The district took its own initiative to get reading specialists extra training, so we could implement reading recovery programs for the primary grades. These programs are aimed at lower level students on the cusp of falling behind. The specialists work with students an extra 30 minutes every day, getting them to read up to grade level."

Danville, along with Lewisburg, Line Mountain, Midd-West, Mifflinburg, and Selinsgrove school districts, are among the highest achieving districts in the Valley in getting elementary students to read at proficient levels better than other schools across the state.

Last year, each of those districts had at least 74 percent of its tested elementary students reach proficiency. The state average was 69 percent, according to the state Department of Education.

Those results also translate into success at the middle and high school levels, but it all starts in elementary school, according to Kay Poeth, reading specialist at West Beaver Elementary School in the Midd-West School District.

"The standards in reading keep increasing as children are expected to learn more words and read more difficult material at each grade level than in the past," Poeth said." In addition to sight words and phonics, understanding what is being read is crucial. Parents are generally amazed at the content in a first grade reading text book."

Reading will be more of an emphasis in the Valley this week as schools celebrate Read Across America Week in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday with many activities during and after school.

Additionally, students in grades 3rd through 5th, 8th and 11th, will put their reading skills to the test in the coming weeks with the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. Meanwhile, districts have been busy recently working overtime to prepare students for the annual reading and math assessment tests.

Ruby Michetti, Shamokin's supervisor of curriculum and instruction, said reading and writing is fundamental in all subjects.

"Our scores have shown steady and progressive growth as the direct result of our literacy programs being implemented across our school district," said Michetti, also a former reading specialist. "There is much more to literary awareness than learning the basics of reading. Our teachers are continuing (reading and writing) instruction in a variety of methods and strategies."

Michetti said the challenge is ensuring students have the time to master those skills. To do this, she said Shamokin schools have committed to help struggling readers catch up and focus on developing literacy skills in its early childhood curriculum.

"Young students are being introduced to vocabulary, making predictions, and identifying text features like tables of contents, illustrations and author's biographical statements," Michetti said. "Teachers also integrate strategies to include comprehension while students are reading or listening, such as drawing a visual representation and making note of unfamiliar words, concepts, or ideas to discuss."

Incorporating more visuals helps grab the attention of the current generation of readers growing up in a technology-driven world, according to Poeth.

"What I read as a child, many students now watch on video," Poeth said. "Today, students are expecting a faster pace of instruction due to the implosion of television, video games, and new technology"

Poeth said instructional needs can be met through a combination of traditional methods, such as hands-on activities, interaction with peers, and computer lessons."

That's exactly what Danville elementary students have grown accustomed to, according to Kettlewell, adding that having smaller class sizes has been a huge benefit to improving reading skills.

"When we didn't have this committed approach and recovery programs, we still had struggling readers at the end of the year," Kettlewell said. "Now we have students making great strides and really tapping into their potential. We've always had good readers, but now we're not letting students fall through the cracks. We're getting close to 100 percent (students reading at grade level)."

Kettlewell said the hands-on strategies, such as word fishing, have helped motivate students to work through some of their struggles. Additionally, working in groups and in one-on-one situations has enabled struggling students to discover a love for books, according to Susanne Urick, a reading specialist at Mahoning-Cooper.

"It makes them enjoy reading," Urick said. "I'm able to work with them at their level. If they're sitting in class and can't do it, naturally they aren't going to enjoy it. We're giving them an opportunity to have an enjoyable experience of reading, and at the same, improve their skills."

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