Fifth grader Frances San Giorgio loves reading.
“It’s my favorite thing to do,” she said.
She especially loves mysteries. She said kids who aren’t big fans of reading now should keep on trying.
“You just need to find the right book, the right genre for you,” she said. “For some people it's adventure, mystery, comedy.”
San Diego Unified School District leaders are pointing to her school, Sequoia Elementary School in Clairemont, as a bright spot in the latest statewide English scores. In 2021-22, just 16% of third graders at Sequoia were meeting the state standard. Now, in fifth grade, more than half are.
District leaders are looking for ways to replicate their success at other schools. Scores went up slightly across the district, but nearly half of students tested still did not meet the state standard. The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests are administered to third through eighth graders and 11th graders.
Sequoia Principal Ryan Kissel said his school rewards time spent reading and provides lots of book options.
“We're really encouraging reading volume and making sure that they have the right book, something that's of high interest to them,” he said.
They give out “dragon tags” when students reach certain milestones. Fifteen minutes of reading equals one step.
“At the end of the year, if you get 600 steps, there's a snow cone truck that comes and you get to have snow cones,” San Giorgio said.
District leaders are looking for tools like dragon tags that could be replicated at other schools. They’re paying especially close attention to middle school, when scores tend to dip.
“There are many factors that affect belonging in middle school,” Sarah Mathews, the district’s literacy program manager, told the school board earlier this month. “From fifth grade to sixth grade, you go from one teacher to four, five, six, seven, depending on what school you go to. That's a lot of relationships and different things to manage.”
Scores dropped more sharply between fifth and sixth grade for Black and Latino students, according to the district.
Interim Superintendent Fabiola Bagula said the district is looking into whether students perform better at K-8 schools than at traditional middle schools.
“We are committed to digging deeper and developing targeted strategies to support these students,” Bagula said.
The school board will get another update on test scores in March.
