School Page: Getting better, by the book

Tape recorders and earphones wait on the floor, next to colorful cushions. Flash cards hang from hooks on the walls.

Naples High hopes this room -- known as the "Carbo Lab" -- as well as Read 180, another reading program in place at the school since last year, can boost Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores.

And if those scores rise, so too can the grade ranking the school could receive from the state in 2004.

Last year, Naples High dropped from a C ranking to a D -- a slip it hopes to change. While the school actually increased the number of total points it earned this year, it lost its C ranking because it did not meet the criteria set for the lowest-performing students.

"It wasn't totally unexpected but it was still a real wakeup call," said Gary Brown, Naples High principal, of the ranking. "We feel like we're better than a D, but we understood that we had to concentrate a lot of our efforts this year in improving the level one and level two reading scores." Named for the reading specialist who created it, Marie Carbo, the Carbo Reading Styles Program asks students to listen, read and repeat short stories at different reading levels. Students then read the segments aloud to an instructor before they move on to the next level.

"We're listening for fluidity," said Cynthia Sorrels, Naples High's Carbo Lab coordinator. "We're listening, especially with the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students, are they reading all the words." Lely High School, which earned a C ranking from the state earlier this year, also added a Carbo Lab to its campus this fall. And Immokalee High School has had one since last school year. Immokalee High raised its ranking from an F to a D this year.

"The Carbo Lab had a significant impact on our improvement overall," said Sebastian Torres, Immokalee High principal. "The format of the program is very appropriate for our students, because it involves a lot of repetition." More than just a grade, the ranking can also mean dollars for the school: Schools earning an A ranking or schools moving up at least one letter grade receive a bonus.

Students attend session in Naples High's Carbo Lab twice a week in 40-minute blocks. Some are English-speaking students who simply need to build proficiency and skill; others are ESOL students.

While the room, with its signs and flash cards, is clearly dedicated to strengthening reading skills, the cushions on the floor and lack of traditional classroom trappings also serve to make the place feel cozy, Sorrels said -- a spot where a student wants to go and read.

"That's what the Carbo concept is," she said. "To make it a comfortable, inviting atmosphere." Thanks to the lab, Naples High junior Rony Joseph, 17, feels he is improving. He has noticed an increase in the speed at which he reads, he said.

"It's really helpful," Rony said. "It pushes me more to read more books." Upstairs from the Carbo Lab, students in Read 180 work to build their skills with the help of computers and books.

Read 180 is in its second year at Naples High, and while the students in the program are more proficient readers than Carbo Lab kids, they are still shy of reading at grade level. As part of the effort to boost reading scores, the number of students in the program has doubled this year, Brown said.

Students in Read 180 attend class 86 minutes a day, each school day. Some of that time is devoted to reading passages aloud into a computer microphone.

"The computer is non-judgmental," said Katie Ross, Read 180 teacher. "It's patient. And it allows students to really get into the sound of the English language." Ross can also print out student reading reports from her computer to monitor successes or slips in performance.

Also new this year at the school is "20 on Tuesday," another reading concept borrowed from schools enjoying reading success. In each class -- except for math -- students devote the first 20 minutes of each class to reading some kind of teacher-approved text. It could be something related to the class or FCAT-prep or just for fun, Brown said.