Annual Growth For All Students

Kennewick School district (15,000 students) established a 90% 3rd grade reading goal, moving from 57% of students at standard in 1996 to 89.6% in 2006 and 89.3% in 2007. This title describes Kennewick¿s core process of ¿Targeted Accelerated Growth¿ of initial assessment, proportional increase in direct instructional time, use of time to teach to the deficiency, and re-testing. The process has scaled to middle and high school as well. It describes the layered roles of the board, superintendent and principals in the decade long process including mistakes, set-backs and dead ends. Innovation programs developed include instructional conferences, a community outreach program called The Reading Foundation, and the targets for birth to five parent training program called READY! For Kindergarten. After adjustment for socio-economics and other effects of student and school characteristics, half of Kennewick¿s elementary schools and one of its high schools scored in the top 5% of the state assessment in 2005.