(The original publication of the following piece appeared in April 2001 Canadian Treehouse magazine. Reprinted here with permission)

by Andrew Nikiforuk

Fort Fraser Elementary School in northern British Columbia sits on the edge
of an expansive wildernes. Its students come mainly from farming, logging
or mining families, but almost one-third are proud First Nations residents
of the Nadleh Reserve.

Seven years ago just about everyone was concerned about the students'
reading and discipline problems. In fact, more than half of Fort Fraser's
120 students needed extra help with reading.

So, in 1994, the school took its reading-challenged pupils in hand with a
radical pilot program, Reading Mastery. It takes a direct step-by-step,
phonetic approach to reading that get kids regardless of race or family
background, hooked on the printed word. Principal July Six, her staff and
the school board liked the results so much they decided to apply the
program throughout the school. This major shift required some intesive
teacher training at Seattle's Morningside Academy, a labratory school that
specializes in effective pedagogic practices and smart teacher training. An ongoing relationship with Morningside put in motion a huge cultural change at Fort Fraser that just keeps on rolling. "I get shivers down my spine when I consider how far Fort Fraser has come," noted Dr. Kent Johnson, Morningside's director. "It's absolutely incredible what the teachers have been able to achieve."

And Johnson is not exaggerating. Before Six and her teachers began using
the new programs that got all of Fraser's students learning, the school
scored at the 30th percentile in reading on the Canadian Test of Basic
Skills. That meant 70 percent of Canada's elementary students did better
than Fort Fraser's students.

But now, the majority of the school's pupils score at or above the national
norm of 50 percent.

As for math, the school switched to the excellent "Saxon Math Series", a
step-by-step system that develops a student's skills incrementally. The
move resulted in similar dramatic gains. Fort Fraser's Grades 5 & 7
students now have math percentile rankings in the 70s or higher.

These formidable achievements-the educational equivalent of scaling Mt. Everest
without oxygen-have come with a host of exciting side benefits. The number
of students needing special programming has declined from 60 percent to a mere
15 percent over seven years. And the behaviour problems? "I rarely see
anyone in my office anymore," admits Six. "The culture of the school is
that it's cool to be good."

Even those hardest to teach have done well. One student with fetal alcohol
syndrome displayed violent behaviour in Grade 1 and required a full-time
attendant. Now the pupil is in an intermediate class with no attendant and
is reading at the proper grade level.

The secret to Fort Fraser's achievement includes grouping children not by
age but by ability and using scripted lessons that take the guesswork out
of teaching. It also consists of offering timed activities so kids don't
get bogged down and bored, and having them do plenty of reading out
loud-all practices considered very controversial by many contemporary
educators.

Fort Fraser is now expanding its focus to include a fine arts and a choir
program.

"At first all the energy went into reading, writing and math. Now we have
time to do other things," says Six.
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SCIENTIA EST POTENTIA
Knowledge is power