1. Advocating for Change:
Improving Student Reading Comprehension Skills
by Tracy Buaron

2. There is a critical need to improve the reading
comprehension of our students because they enter school
with limited experiences and poor vocabulary.
Components for
reading success

3. In 2011, only 41% of the sixth grade students in North
Plainfield were proficient on the NJ ASK language arts
literacy assessment.
Sixth-Grade Standardized Test Score Results for North Plainfield, NJ
(GreatSchools Inc., 2011)

4. Improving student reading comprehension a goal of our
state and our school.
(Click on the green links to see
documents in Word format.)
Common Core State Standards
(Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2011)
Somerset School Objectives (Somerset Objectives, n.d.)

5. Causes of the issue  Changing demographics:
In 1978, the district was:
99% White. (Personal Communication, March 12, 2012)
In 2000, the district was:
63% White,
27 % Hispanic,
13% Black,
and 5% Asian. (U.S. Census Bureau 2011)
How does this relate to reading
comprehension?

6. An increase in cultural diversity
brings children with different
experiences, achievement levels,
languages, and cultures, into the
classroom.

7. Causes of the issue  A transient population:
•Students in our district move often due to uncontrollable
family issues.
•Therefore, the students who enter the kindergarten program
are not the same group of students who enter the sixth grade.
•Resources spent on students leave when students move out of
district, and we gain students who may not have equivalent
experiences and/or ability level as their peers who have been
educated in the district.
•Our school district must extend more finances and resources
if these students require supplemental support to succeed in
school. (Personal Communication, March 12, 2012)

8. Causes of the issue  Low socio-economic status:
Socio-economic status is a factor in English literacy. Poverty influences learning style and mental focus.
Students living in poverty do not benefit from experiences that are available to those who are in a better financial
position, such as family outings to parks and museums, internet availability. In addition, many times older
students are responsible for younger siblings and help with domestic chores when parents work long hours.
Their parents are often unavailable to help them with their academic studies and many times, parents are not
educated beyond high school. Also, these students may come to school hungry and sleep-deprived. All these
factors contribute to a lack of background knowledge, a deficiency in expressive language, and affect student
learning. It is not a cognitive deficit, but students with these deficits need to be taught metacognitive skills of
questioning, hypothesizing, and drawing conclusions in order to engage them actively in the learning process
(Price, 2010). To address these issues, the teachers in our school need professional development focused on
using these teaching strategies.

9. Causes of the issue  Non-English speaking families:

10. Causes of the issue  Low levels of parental education:

15. References
GreatSchools, Inc. (2011). Somerset Elementary School. Retrieved from
http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/nj/1423#toc
Somerset Objectives. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nplainfield.org/Domain/498
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2011). The Standards: English Language Arts
Standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-
language-arts-standards
U.S. Census Bureau. (2011). State and County quickfacts: North Plainfield (borough), New
Jersey. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34/3453280.html