JAMESTOWN READING NAVIGATORREALIZING SUCCESS!
Jamestown Reading Navigator has passed its nationwide pilot tests with flying colors.
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, the leading provider of middle and secondary school solutions, recently piloted
the new comprehensive reading intervention program for students in Grades 6-12 reading two or more
levels below grade level in 50 districts nationwide during the 2005-2006 school year. Jamestown
Reading Navigator met with positive reviews from both teachers and students.
Palm Beach County School District
West Palm Beach, Florida
The Palm Beach County School District implemented a pilot program with more than 50 middle school
students for four months during the 2005-2006 school year. Gina Charla, K-12 Comprehensive
Reading/Learning Team Administrator, said she and fellow educators purposefully involved students
with differing socioeconomic backgrounds.
“The results were the same, disregarding socioeconomics” she said. “Students immediately embraced the
program because it includes real-world information specific to adolescents. Jamestown Reading
Navigator is a curriculum-rich intervention program that highly engages students with motivating
lessons in the five essential areas of reading.”
“The software is the superstar of the program,” Charla said. “It engages students while providing explicit,
direct instruction so kids can make connections between what they’ve just read and with the streaming
video they just watched.
JAMESTOWN READING NAVIAGTORREALIZING SUCCESS- PAGE 2
Any district with a reading intervention program should consider this program. It has made all the
difference for our teachers and students because it has provided them with the keys for unlocking text.
We’ve decided to adopt the program in Grades 6-12 district-wide in fall 2006.”
The Palm Beach County School District serves roughly 172,085 Floridians in 231 schools. The student
population is 43% Caucasian, 43% African American, 21% Hispanic, 5% multi-cultural, 2% Asian
American. Forty-four percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us
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Thomas R. Proctor High School
Utica, New York
Jamestown Reading Navigator was used as a pilot program for six months with 56 students in Grades 912 at Thomas R. Proctor High School in the Utica City School District in New York. English Department
Chairperson Danielle Brain said students were immediately hooked on the program and asked if they
could continue with it once the pilot was completed.
“This program offers enrichment like no other high school reading intervention program,” she said.
“Students weren’t only navigating through reading comprehension. They were navigating through reallife skills.”
Brain said one reason the program was so successful at her high school is because it’s non-threatening
and intriguing to reluctant readers.
“The curriculum, both online and within the printed material, doesn’t insult their intelligence. Instead, it
showcases student diversity, so kids see photographs of students who look like them, which puts them at
ease. The program particularly works well with ESL students because it speaks to young adults, not to
young children.”
Thomas R. Proctor High School serves approximately 2,505 students in Grades 9-12. The student
population is 62% Caucasian, 22% African American, 12% Hispanic, and 4% Asian American. Sixty-three
percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and 10% have limited English proficiency (LEP).
www.proctor.utica.k12.ny.us
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Jefferson County Public Schools
Golden, Colorado
Soon after many students in Grades 6-10 within the Jefferson County Public Schools completed a fivemonth pilot program of Jamestown Reading Navigator, their teachers provided very positive feedback.
English Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator, Dianne Sievers, said teachers specifically noted the
program provided a comparatively high degree of teacher/student interaction compared to other reading
intervention programs.
JAMESTOWN READING NAVIAGTORREALIZING SUCCESS- PAGE 3
“Teachers were able to talk with individual students regarding their thinking during the process and then
follow-up with them later. In addition, there was meaningful work going on in the classroom when
teachers pulled together small groups while other students worked on the computers.”
Sievers said one teacher told her the most significant aspect of Jamestown Reading Navigator is the
consistent practice and immediate feedback the program offers for reading comprehension. “She told me
the students really enjoyed the program. One student even came in before school in order to keep up
when he missed days.”
Jefferson County Public Schools serve about 84,000 students in 167 schools. The student population is
77% Caucasian, 16% Hispanic, 4% Asian American, 2% African American, and 1% Native American.
Twenty percent of the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and 6% are English Language
Learners (ELL).
http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us
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Omaha Public Schools
Omaha, Nebraska
When teachers at Omaha Public Schools piloted Jamestown Reading Navigator during the 2005-2006
school year with students in Grades 7-12, they discovered the program worked especially well with 75
students at an alternative center. These students have a wide range of abilities with the common
denominator being they were all suspended from their home schools for discipline problems.
Reading Services Lead Teacher Patricia Gamble said the program’s true “aha” moment occurred when
students began accessing the online program at home. “Jamestown Reading Navigator really engages
students, but it had a major effect on students who struggle academically, socially, and emotionally,” she
said. “Students get immediate feedback and feel at ease moving through levels at a pace they set
themselves, whether at school or home.”
Gamble said teachers specifically liked the student and teacher communication process.
“It has similar properties to email,” she said. “Students know their teachers are taking time to check in
with them, and teachers know students care enough to get online.”
Serving approximately 46,035 students in 84 schools, the Omaha Public School District’s student
population is 47% Caucasian, 31% African American, 18% Hispanic, 2% Asian American and 1% Native
American. Fifty-five percent of pupils qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and 12% are English
Language Learners (ELL).
www.ops.org
JAMESTOWN READING NAVIAGTORREALIZING SUCCESS- PAGE 4
About Jamestown Reading Navigator
Jamestown Reading Navigator is designed to help teachers improve student performance through its
direct, explicit instruction in reading skills and comprehension strategies. Because it is individualized for
each student, the online learning environment allows teachers to work with a wide range of readers, from
those who still need to master decoding and word recognition skills to those who are struggling with the
comprehension strategies needed for high school reading.
For more information about Jamestown Reading Navigator, please call: Dori Veto at 312-233-7311.
About Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
Glencoe/McGraw-Hill is a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of instructional,
assessment and reference solutions that empower the success of professionals and students of all ages. It
is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, a global information services provider meeting worldwide
needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such
as Standard & Poor’s, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The
Corporation has more than 290 offices in 38 countries. Sales in 2005 were $6.0 billion. Additional
information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.