BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Reading is opening the school year with the launch of a center to teach others about Reading's award-winning Early Identification program.
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Laura Gill, 6, reviews a writing lesson with her first-grade teacher, Bonita Lewis, at Elmwood Place Elementary.
(Tony Jones photo)
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At Norwood High School, this will be the first year for a block-scheduling format, which keeps students in classrooms studying the same subject for longer periods.
With most local public schools opening this week and next, the '98-'99 school year ushers in many new programs, curricula and administrators.
Students in St. Bernard-Elmwood Place schools and the Oak Hills district in Delhi and Green townships began classes Wednesday, the first public schools in Hamilton County to open.
On Monday, the Reading school board endorsed the idea of creating a Center for Early Identification in a classroom at the district's Hilltop Elementary School. Invited to participate in the center's two-day training programs will be administrators, teachers and volunteers from other districts interested in starting an Early ID program.
Early ID, created 10 years ago in Reading schools, uses tests to identify children entering kindergarten who need tutoring to bring skills up to par.
The skills include knowing basic concepts such as the difference between above and below; fine-motor skills such as tracing pictures, holding a pencil and using scissors; and visual discrimination, which teaches children to notice the difference between such things as letters in the alphabet.
"These skills are the beginning of the reading and writing process," said John Varis, Reading superintendent. "I'm not aware of anyone else doing this program, especially with 10 years worth of collectible data (on results)."
Early ID has won numerous awards, including a 1998 Ohio's BEST Practices Award from BEST -- Building Excellent Schools for Today and the 21st Century -- a non-profit consortium of education, business and community organizations.
President Clinton cited Reading's Early ID in a speech last year as an example of an innovative program to help children read. A school in Daytona Beach, Fla., recently began an Early ID program after its staff was trained in Reading.
First test results show the Florida children responded well to the program, Mr. Varis said.
Sue Roth, who coordinated Reading's Early ID program for eight years, will direct the new center at Hilltop.
"This is a great opportunity for other districts to take a program I've seen work and help their children," Ms. Roth said.
At Norwood High School, under the new "Four by Four Block" schedule, students will take four, 90-minute classes a day, switching subjects at the half-year point.
Previously, Norwood students took seven 50-minute classes for a full school year.
The new format allows students more in-depth concentration in a subject, and more time for class discussion and critical-thinking opportunities, said Barbara Rider, Norwood assistant superintendent for instruction.
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