“The U.S. Department of Education released data showing that from 2020 to 2022, average reading scores for 9-year-olds slid 5 points—to 215 out of a possible 500 in the sharpest decline since 1990. Average math scores fell 7 points to 234, the first statistically significant decline in math scores since the long-term trend assessments began in the 1970s.” Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2022. Earlier, on August 8, the Washoe County School District (WCSD) shared via the Reno Gazette-Journal, “approximately 34% of WCSD students met or exceeded grade level standards in math.” While IES scores came in higher than the district at 39% (5% lower than pre-Covid numbers), there in still much work to be done. 

We at the Incline Education Fund believe that with your help, the Incline Schools can reverse the learning loss of the past two years and increase reading and math scores across the board through our year-long literacy focus. Last spring, the Incline Education Fund piloted a First Grade Reading Intervention Program led by Retired National Board-Certified Teacher Kathleen McInnis-Martens to support reading success. McInnis-Martens worked with the Incline Elementary School (IES) teachers to target those students most in need of assistance. With only a partial year of tutoring, these students tested in the high growth category on the Measured Academic Progress (MAP) Report for Reading last Spring and many of those students ‘words per minute’ reading scores doubled. This targeted intervention reflects what Bianca Vasquez Torres found in the August 30, 2022 Associated Press article on education. After interviewing John King, Jr., former U.S. Secretary of Education and president of Education Trust, she wrote that studies show “…If done well, tutoring has a greater impact than most other interventions”. (**Kathleen McInnis-Marten, an IVCBA member, is the owner of Glasses Wine Bar in Incline Village**)

The Incline Education Fund is building on McInnis-Marten’s success last year and is now adding math intervention as well. We need your help to roll these programs up through the rest of the school grade by grade. This year, especially, it is imperative to support those students who’ve lost critical learning time. Vasquez-Torres added that studies show “Third graders are at a particularly delicate moment. This is the year when they must master reading or risk school failure. Everything after third grade will require reading comprehension to learn math, social studies and science. Students who don’t read fluently by the end of third grade are more likely to struggle in the future, or even drop out.”

Please help Incline students succeed across the board with targeted tutoring for those who need it most. With you, they can.