I am Jimmy D., and I am in Grade 6 at BBA. When I came to the Academy two years ago, I was 2 years behind in my reading (Grade 3. 8 on the WRAT.) I have been working hard to catch up to grade level. One way I have done this is through fluencies. Every day I read Words and Passages. Until last week, these selections were from SRA Corrective Reading Decoding Series. I usually did these fluencies 3 times per day - twice at the Academy, and once for homework with my parents. In November, I decided that I could speed up my reading even more by previewing and understanding all of the new words. As the Chart shows, I succeeded in passing levels quicker.

I have sometimes passed 2 or 3 levels a day. The most I ever passed was 10 levels in 1 night! I passed through the Blue Book (125 levels) in 4 months.

On April 7, I met my Goal of passing out of the Blue Book, and into Jamestown 5(Grade 8.) When I took my year-end test on the WRAT, I scored Grade 7.8 in Reading. Jamestown is a lot harder than the Blue Book, so sometimes it takes me more time to pass. By the end of the school year, I almost finished the book! I am returning to the Middle School in my home town.