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ALABAMA SCHOOL JOURNAL OCTOBER 2021
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Montgomery principal increases reading scores using Amira
Jaclyn Brown Wright jokingly
considers herself one of the "pandemic
principals." As an educator for over 19 years, she became principal of Brewbaker Primary School (BPS) in July 2020 - a time when Alabama
schools were grappling to adjust during
the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Before accepting the role of Brewbaker Primary's principal, Wright previously worked as a district-level supervisor in
Conecuh, Dallas, and Montgomery
counties. "I knew my first year would be met with great trepidation because of the pandemic, but I used my leadership skills from prior positions and wanted
to come in with an open mind to innovation and being accessible for
parents and my staff," Wright said. She began to meet with staff to understand
their needs and concerns. "I didn't
want to come in telling them what to
do," Wright said. "I wanted to hear
what was amazing about them and how
I could help them be successful. For
the students to be amazing and excel,
it has to start with their teachers and
everyone at BPS."
Wright also asked staff about the
school's parental involvement and met
with parents. "From the surveys and meetings, teachers were concerned
about how to connect with parents and the parents were concerned about how their kids will be able to learn," Wright said. As a result, she created "Brilliance Blocks," a 36-week program of aligned reading and math lessons for parents to use as an additional resource. Wright said the program was well received by
parents and that it caused a shift in
the community's perception regarding
how things operate at the school. Parental involvement also increased
tremendously.
Wright has also been successful in
improving literacy rates at her school. "When I started at Brewbaker Primary, which is a pre-K through second-grade school, the literacy rates were low," she said. "I knew I had to figure out a way to boost reading scores - considering Alabama now has in place that students
can be held back if they are not at a certain reading level by third grade." Wright then took an unconventional
approach. She introduced an artificial
intelligence (AI) reading program
called Amira - which aims to improve
a child's reading ability by providing
them with a personal literacy assistant
and tutor. Only a handful of schools
in Alabama use Amira, and Brewbaker
Primary is the first in Montgomery Public Schools to use it. The AI
program listens to children as they read
short stories aloud and tracks several
literacy skills, including how well they recognize sight words, their ability to
decode words and their vocabulary. Students are then given practice
activities that target skills they need to work on. The program also encourages children to try re-reading certain parts
of sentences, sounds out challenging
words, provides directions for practice tasks, and congratulates children when they finish. Within two months of using Amira,
Brewbaker Primary's second-grade students doubled the number of words they could correctly read aloud per minute. "When we started using Amira in January of 2020, our
reading proficiency was 18%," Wright
stated. "By March, not even a year,
our reading scores increased by 15%.
I have never seen reading gains like
that, and we were able to achieve this during a pandemic." Wright credits the involvement of parents and her staff for the accomplishment. "The only thing
I did was make sure teachers saw the
usage data, and if there was a student not participating or having trouble, we
would contact the parent," she said. "We make sure to have an ongoing
connection with the parents of all 700 students."
With an increase in parent participation, reading scores, and other accomplishments, Wright feels
confident that her staff and school will continue to excel like they have in the past two years. "I always tell everyone
that Brewbaker Primary is the school 'where amazing happens for kids',"
she said. "This is what this community believes us to be and we want to make sure we live up to their expectation."
Jaclyn Brown Wright, Brewbaker Primary School Principal Montgomery Public Schools
Gadsden High School Special Olympics coach
Behind every child who believes in
themselves is a teacher who believed
in them first.
For 29 years, Christine Lowery, a
Gadsden High School paraprofessional,
has coached kids with disabilities
through the Special Olympics program.
According to Alabama's Special Olympics website, the Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual
disabilities. Those activities give them
continuing opportunities to develop
physical fitness, demonstrate courage,
experience joy and participate in a
sharing of gifts, skills and friendship.
Lowery began working with the Special Olympics at Emma Samson High School before the school was
combined with Gadsden High School. "The love for the kids and wanting
to see them succeed made me get involved," Lowery says. "Once I got in the water with the kids [coaching
swimming] and saw they enjoyed it, I just wanted to keep going."
As a Special Olympics coach,
Lowery helps students with disabilities
overcome and build confidence
through sports. Five years ago, Anthony Bell started
at Gadsden High School. When he
first came to school his learning ability was low, he didn't like school and his
attendance was poor. After getting involved in the Special Olympics
program led by Lowery and receiving
one-on-one academic help Anthony
made major improvement in multiple facets of his life.
"In the five years I had him, he went from not knowing how to read
to reading basic words, wanting to be at school, wanting to be clean, and his attendance improved," says Lowery.
Anthony's hard work and
commitment to improve his academic,
athletic and life skills made Lowery want to recognize him for his
accomplishments. She said, "I always
recommend a graduating senior [for
state Athlete of the Year for the Special Olympics], if I feel like they are worthy of it. I recommended him because of where he had been and how far he had come."
A surprise small school assembly
was held to honor Anthony for being named the state Athlete of the Year for the Special Olympics. At the assembly,
he received his award, a plaque with
gold, silver and bronze medals.
While the state Special Olympics
have not been held in two years because
of COVID, Gadsden High School Special Olympics played basketball
games in house this year. "The kids felt like they were a part of the school and a part of a team. They aren't just sitting in a classroom, but are a part of an activity," Lowery remarked. Lowery continues to work to get the state competitions back off the ground so the kids can continue to benefit from
the experiences gained by attending
the state games. In 2007, Lowery was named Special Olympics Coach of the Year and served as assistant coach at the 2008 National
Special Olympic Games in Iowa.
Wherever Lowery goes former students
still greet her with, "Hey Coach!" As
the saying goes - once a coach, always a coach.
Christine Lowery and Anthony Bell after Bell received the state Athlete of the Year Award. Anthony Bell playing basketball.
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