A brand-new effort to raise reading levels and, with it, everything else, is really about connection.
It’s called Y.E.S. and stands for Young Engaged Scholars.
The effort began Saturday at the Killeen ISD Career Center with 30 third-graders and 30 seventh-graders carefully chosen through application, lottery and test criteria to receive a very impressive, well-rounded academic boost. They come from 15 different KISD schools.
The 60 chosen students will receive a wide range of reading, math, science and technology instruction, as well as fine arts, in monthly sessions on a Saturday the rest of the school year and continue into the summer.
Assistant Superintendent Jo-Lynette Crayton expressed excitement at a program she said is going to make a significant difference for students and for parents.
While students learned from first-rate KISD teachers, parents heard from Crayton and other administrators details of what their children will learn and experience the next few months and ways they can lend support.
“We integrated reading language arts instruction through the lens of STEM,” she said. Following a morning of projects that combined reading with science and technology, students ate lunch, then resumed instruction in fine arts.
“We are working on teaching them balance between what they do in their academic lives and how they pursue their interests.”
KISD is providing transportation from their home campus to the Career Center, as well as lunch and even an iPad for the YES students. “We want to remove any barrier there could be,” said Crayton.
“It’s great to see KISD make such a significant commitment to students who excel,” said Joseph Stanley, whose third-grade son Colton is part of the cohort. “They are making a significant investment in the future.”
The active-duty soldier and dad said he is most excited for the planned field trips, as well as high expectations for behavior and appearance – the intentional effort to treat students as scholars.
The YES students are scheduled to attend a multi-media production on the University of Texas campus and will likely have two other outings by the end of the school year.
The overall experience connects academics and fine arts. Studies have long confirmed that students who read well can do math and science well and can excel in theater, visual art, band and choir. It all goes together.
“The project-based learning will have a STEM emphasis, but we will also utilize reading and language arts concepts,” said Crayton.
“Their opportunities will bolster reading comprehension, inferencing, problem solving and analysis fields because we know if they are good readers they can also be good in science, engineering, technology, math and the arts.”
Erika Juarez said her seventh-grade son Chantz has never been big on reading. He gets excited about technology and likes to play the trumpet in his middle school band.
“I’m excited about the reading part,” said Juarez. “I’m excited to see his confidence increase. I know he’s excited about the technology part, and he plays an instrument and he’s excited to learn the violin.”
In addition to the math, science, technology and reading projects the 60 students receive instruction in one of three areas of fine arts. One of those is orchestra and includes receiving a violin for the year and private instruction.
Fine Arts Director Karen Marshall expressed excitement at exposing students to a more comprehensive understanding of available career fields that connect technology and creativity.
“We’re looking for field trips that integrate the arts with STEM concepts,” she said. “Students will see animation, science, graphic design and putting all those together to create. Hopefully, that will expand students’ vision of what careers look like.”
Many careers in today’s workforce, she said, are not as siloed as they once were, going beyond the analytical to combine traditional career fields with creativity.
Seventh-grader Leonel Rodriguez Morales showed off the smart lamp he and his peers made with a speaker and LED lights, using coding to produce desired sounds.
“We put it all together to make it work,” he said. “We also made a light bulb shine with a battery. We’re just doing technology the whole time. I think it was pretty fun. I liked it. This is more fun than school.”
Third-grader Becky Harper was also happy with the engaged learning and was perfectly OK with doing it on a Saturday.
“We get to build stuff,” she said, explaining the lamp she made and the colors she could make with it. “They tell us the steps and we get to do it. It’s more fun than school.”
Collaboration has been at the forefront of the effort, beginning in the summer. Students at the Career Center designed a logo for YES. On Saturday, the Chaparral High School cheerleaders welcomed the students and parents into the building.
For many, it was the first time they had seen the sprawling specialized high school on Stagecoach Road that includes a hair salon, welding bays, agriculture barn, robotics lab, TV studio and numerous other career-focused settings.
The new YES effort is funded through a grant KISD received from the MacKenzie Scott Foundation. School district leaders anticipate continuing it with the current cohort and expanding it to additional grade levels in future years.
Photo gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/killeenisd/albums/72177720321534373
