Mission Impossible?

I'm supposed to raise the DRA scores of my kids in about 2 1/2 weeks!! I found out that testing was going to start earlier than I thought. All of the testing has to be completed by the middle of the last week of school. I also found out that those with high DRA scores are tested last so that they can benefit from intervention the most. Those with low scores are tested first, so they have virtually no chance of passing. It all seems to be a farce. We're putting children through a mandatory situation and dangling this carrot that's unobtainable. I don't get it.

BBC

Summer School

It's summer time and I needed a job, so I signed up to work summer school as a paraprofessional. In my city, there is mandatory summer school for those students who are at risk for retention based on their Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) score. I'm working with third graders who are at risk for retention. These students need to reach a certain score on their reading assessment by the end of summer school or they will be repeating third grade. No pressure at all!

This requirement begs the question: Can a student's score be raised in only 4 1/2 weeks? Exactly what kind of miracle are we teachers, tutors and paraprofessionals supposed to pull in that short amount of time? I'm definitely interested in seeing the rate of success for this program.

The children go through intense reading sessions at different stations in the classroom. They practice their fluency, predict what will happen in a story, talk about the different parts of a story, and practice writing essays.

So far, the children have been okay. I have witnessed several children who have found it hard to be in school during the summer. They remind me of the students at my elementary school who had a rough time at the beginning of the year. Summer school starts almost an hour earlier than the regular school day, so these kids are really feeling it. So am I.

BBC