Academic Intervention Program

Academic Intervention Program, PK-8th grade

The Academic Intervention program at Christ Our King-Stella Maris School was established in 2014 and continues to serve all students in PK-8th grade. The goal of the Academic Intervention program is to identify and serve students of average to above average ability with learning differences. The program focuses on two critical components: identifying learning differences and supporting students individually and in the classrooms who have diagnosed learning differences. Student Academic Plans are created to include necessary classroom and testing accommodations for students who qualify with a diagnosed learning disability. The Academic Intervention faculty is staffed with experienced teachers who specialize in identifying and supporting students with learning differences. In both the Lower and Middle School, academic assistance is provided to students in our Learning Lab and within the classroom as a co-teaching model depending on individual student needs.

The Lower School Academic Interventionists (PK-4) focus on working with the teachers to help identify students with possible learning differences through the Response to Intervention process and frequent reading benchmarking. Students who have been identified with struggles in reading or have been diagnosed with a learning difference in the primary grades may attend Learning Lab for remediation using an explicit multisensory instructional method to strengthen phonetic skills.  For enhancing comprehension skills, small group instruction breaks down strategies into smaller steps by modeling and interacting with targeted text.  

The Middle School Academic Interventionist teachers for 5th through 8th grade focus on working with our Middle School students on core subject support and study skills. Students who have been diagnosed with learning differences attend the Learning Lab in addition to having assistance in the classroom through a co-teaching model. A testing center is also available to learning lab students to assist with assessments and test-taking strategies.

Frequent communication between the Academic Interventionist teachers, classroom teachers, and parents creates an effective team approach to supporting our students with learning differences.

CHRIST OUR KING-STELLA MARIS READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM 

Early identification is crucial when it comes to helping children who are struggling with learning to read.  One of the most compelling findings from recent reading research is that children who get off to a poor start in reading rarely catch up.  At Christ Our King-Stella Maris, we strive to provide all our Kindergarten through fourth grade students with a strong literacy foundation. These will ensure future success when continuing on to middle school.

Using standardized literacy assessment tools such as the Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA) and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and collaborating with classroom teachers, the reading intervention team identifies weaknesses in the areas of phonological awareness, phonics, fluency ,and/or comprehension.  From here, research based interventions are provided to help strengthen and grow our students into successful, life long lovers of reading. While maintaining high expectations, we meet students where they are and provide reading instruction to help students reach their individual goals.