TABUK CITY, Kalinga– Noting some weaknesses in existing reading programs, the Northern Tabuk District I (NTD I) here launched a reading program which, among other changes, tracks reading progress to ensure the continuity of reading interventions.
Henry Alunday, NTD I public schools district supervisor (PSDS), said during the launching of the Tabuk City Central School (TCCS) Reading Program on June 25 is a consolidation of the various reading program proposals of TCCS teachers which was polished and enriched through a series of brainstorming, learning action cell and in-service training sessions.
Alunday pointed out that the current reading programs do not specify the reading difficulties the students are experiencing, a weakness the new program fixes by organizing the reading difficulties into levels to enable “a unified direction in conducting the reading intervention program.”
The PSDS said the TCCS Reading Program aims to provide the school with the profiles of the reading laggards “based on reading difficulties” using the designed toolkit and reading progress tracer.
He explained that the reading profiles will be attached to the cards of the learners to properly guide the future advisers on how to address their respective reading needs.
The official said that apart from addressing the case of the reading laggards from Grade 2 onwards, the program also answers the need to establish the reading progress of current Kindergarten and Grade 1 pupils so that when face to face classes will resume, their teachers will know where to start.
Alunday said that with the pandemic, it is hard to know the reading status of the Kindergarten and Grade 1 pupils.
The program will also assess the performance of teachers in its implementation.
The program also provides appropriate reading materials for the reading difficulties. The materials which were prepared and collected by TCCS teachers are housed in a room designated as a reading hub in the TCCS.
Alunday said that the reading hub is intended to serve as a centralized repository of reading materials “to minimize the time of teachers in preparing materials for reading intervention.”
Alunday declared that the ultimate goal of the TCCS Reading Program is to decrease the number of non-readers in the district even as he had expressed dismay that presently, even with the declaration of non-readers as having learned to read at the end of the school year, in the next school year, “there are again reports of increasing number of non-readers.”
Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Feliciano Agsaoay encouraged teachers in other districts of the division to follow suit.**By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
