Many of Richmond County’s primary grade teachers are getting a new tool to track their students’ progress this year.

Each kindergarten through second grade teacher in the county will use a computer program called mClass Reading 3D to record student responses to reading exercises and determine their strengths and weaknesses.

“By using this technology, our teachers will be able to assess the children easier and diagnose their strengths, which will help them to target their instruction,” said RCS Director of Instructional Technology Mike Williams. “Hopefully, it will make the teacher’s life easier while helping them to meet the learning needs of their students.”

The state incorporated the assessments last year after missing out on the first round of Race to the Top funding. One of the criteria was finding ways to improve tracking student progress in the early grades.

L.J. Bell Elementary was picked as a pilot site for the program during the second half of last year, and this year the devices will be used district-wide in the lower grades.

Each teacher will get a netbook, which displays reading exercises for students to complete. As they give their answers, the teacher takes notes on how the child responds, and the computer records which answers were correct and incorrect.

It then determines what tasks the student does proficiently and which tasks need to be reviewed with the teacher.

Friday, L.J. Bell kindergarten teacher Misty Gibson demonstrated the device with kindergartner Addison Massey, who sounded out letters of the alphabet from a workbook while Gibson recorded her answers on the netbook.

“Using this computer, I can tell what the students know quickly, and start preparing lessons plans around that,” she said.

Gibson explained that students have always received benchmark testing at the beginning, middle and end of the year to determine if they’re on grade level, but she will now know whether they are or not every two weeks.

“Where this will really help is when I break students up into small groups so we can target the students who are at risk,” Gibson continued. “... By having the assessments closer together, we’re able to more quickly diagnose problems and inform our instruction.”

“This is easier on the teacher, and allows them to get the data much more quickly than the old pencil and paper method,” Williams said.

“It also provides activities that teachers can use in the classroom, and a tool for parents to use as activities at home,” Gibson added. “There are selections of reading, fluency exercises, phonics - when we break the children up into small groups it really helps to have hands-on activities like this.”

“From the district-wide perspective, the ultimate goal is to use these assessments to ensure that we’re sending more students to the next grade level proficient,” RCS Elementary Education Director Debbie Wrenn said. “It’s all about getting the right, targeted instruction to the right child at the right time.”

Wrenn explained another new facet is being added to all elementary classes. There will be 15 to 50 minutes a week of either intervention, for those who are below grade level, or enrichment, for those who are above grade level.

Gibson said the computer assessments cut out the “laboring process” of wading through assessments, “but you are always going to use your judgment as a teacher.”

For Principal Bobbie Sue Ormsby, the program allows more insight into how each K-2 student in the building is performing in reading, and thus how her teachers are performing.

“I know exactly what is happening in each classroom,” Ormsby said. “Then, we can use the data at our grade level meetings to discuss how we can improve.”

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.