In the face of COVID-19, some Manatee County third-graders made reading progress

While the Manatee County School District took an overall hit to its third-grade reading score in 2021, more than a dozen local schools overcame the odds and made progress during the pandemic school year.

Students left for spring break and returned to a virtual classroom in March 2020, shortly after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and schools throughout Florida closed in-person learning. Some students never logged on, others struggled with technology issues and many felt disconnected from their teachers or lessons.

When students returned to campus last August, the start of the 2020-2021 school year, they were stunted by the pandemic. Compounding the issue, COVID-19 also shut down summer programs that help students catch up and maintain their progress during the downtime between school years.

And during the past year, regardless of whether students were online or in person, the learning environment was totally new, said Jessica Adams, a teacher at Manatee Charter School.

Adams wore a microphone headset and placed a 360-degree camera at the front of her classroom. She then learned to balance her attention between students in the room and students whose faces were behind a computer screen.

“It was like NASA,” she said. “I had so many computer screens to try and accommodate everybody.”

Facing historic challenges, it was no wonder that districts throughout Florida struggled with the state’s English language arts assessment, a measure of grade-level reading among third-graders.

The percentage of students in Manatee County who scored “satisfactory” or better dropped by 2 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, from 51% to 49%. According to the assessment, that means more than half of the 3,964 local third-graders who took the test were not reading on grade level.

And throughout Florida, the state’s overall score dropped 4 percentage points, from 58% to 54% of students achieving a satisfactory score or better.

A lesser-known fact, however, is that more than a dozen public schools increased their third-grade ELA scores from 2019 to 2021, in spite of the physical and mental barriers created by COVID-19.

According to data from the Florida Department of Education:

• Anna Maria Elementary School rose 17 percentage points, from 69% to 86%.
• Freedom Elementary rose 17 percentage points, from 52% to 69%.
• Tara Elementary rose 16 percentage points, from 56% to 72%.
• Manatee Charter School rose 13 percentage points, from 37% to 50%.
• Annie Lucy Williams Elementary rose 11 percentage points, from 66% to 77%.
• Ida M. Stewart Elementary rose 9 percentage points, from 66% to 75%.
• Blanche H. Daughtrey Elementary rose 6 percentage points, from 18% to 24%.
• Braden River Elementary rose 6 percentage points, from 64% to 70%.
• Sea Breeze Elementary rose 5 percentage points, from 43% to 48%.
• Robert Willis Elementary rose 4 percentage points, from 76% to 80%.
• Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary rose 3 percentage points, from 19% to 22%.
• Palma Sola Elementary School rose 3 percentage points, from 61% to 64%.
• Rowlett Academy for Arts and Communication rose 3 points, from 70% to 73%.
• Gilbert McNeal Elementary rose 2 percentage points, from 75% to 77%.
• Imagine Charter at North Manatee rose 1 percentage point, from 47% to 48%.

The growth led to small, hard-earned celebrations throughout Manatee County. Still, despite the progress at individual schools, 51% of recent third-graders in the county were likely to struggle in the upcoming year, according to the recent ELA results.

To further sharpen their reading skills — the foundation of all K-12 learning — Adams said she planned to continue what worked at Manatee Charter School, which achieved a 13-point increase on its third-grade ELA score.

And with more resources, exploration and hard work, she hopes to support the children who fell behind.

“Yes, we did a great job, but there’s always room for growth and a lot of our students are still struggling,” Adams said.

‘They worked really hard’

The formula at Manatee Charter School involved teamwork, engagement and creativity, Adams said.

When students entered her third-grade class, Adams would talk with their former teachers to learn more about the needs of each child. She also relied on data to learn where each student shines and struggles.

The collaboration helped Manatee Charter School to pin down the right approach for each student, Adams said, noting that every educator has their own teaching style, while every child has their own learning style.

Progress also required buy-in from parents and guardians, she said. The school offered virtual and in-person tutoring throughout the week, along with reading activities for students to complete at home — two opportunities that only worked with support from family members at home.

“The kids and parents, they worked really hard,” Adams said.

And, of course, the recent success would be impossible without dedication from students who faced a global pandemic and sharpened their reading skills at the same time.

When students have a hard time with reading or other topics, that doesn’t mean they have an inability to learn, said Donniel Henriquez, a curriculum resource teacher at Manatee Charter School.

The issue, she said, is often that a lesson fails to interest a student and connect with his or her passions. With that in mind, teachers at Manatee Charter School tailored reading lessons to students needs and interests.

If a child was passionate about sports, for example, the teacher would offer grade-level reading about sports and prominent sports figures.

“They really helped these kids blossom based on their personal needs and goals,” Henriquez said.

This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.