Carla Kessler Email and Phone Number

I wanted, more than anything, to give my middle schools students who struggled with reading, a fighting chance. I studied the research on vocabulary acquisition, it's effect on reading fluency, fictional and non-fictional reading, and self-efficacy. I gathered information on the tools and strategies for effectively building word banks. My MA in Curriculum and Instruction guided me in designing our computer-based program. As a busy teacher, I knew we had to also make it easier for teachers to build student word banks and comprehension skills quickly. The urgency to improve reading skills is at its peak in middle school. Fourteen years in the making, applying action research and making informed adjustments, Word Lab Web has been able to dramatically speed up the authentic learning of new words while improving basic reading comprehension skills for middle school students. We designed it to be as simple and accessible to students and teachers as possible while keeping costs down. The end result is not another a drill and practice vocabulary website, but a true reading curriculum that gets the same positive results as well known comprehensive, multi-purpose and expensive reading curriculums without all the training and costs.

Students stayed after school 2 days a week for an extra hour. Adult volunteers rotated taking turns reading aloud with each student. When students were not with a volunteer they were working on vocabulary using Word Lab Web. This combination turned out to be a winner. Regular attendees made an average gain of 1 year in a 4 month period. The personalized attention they got from our wonderful volunteers (mostly retired teachers or willing subs) plus the challenge and fun of growing their word banks on Word Lab Web, kept most of them coming regularly and all participants who were non-readers at home, started enjoying independent reading.

My role was two fold: 1. To guide both my own students and the entire staff in improving reading comprehension and math skills for ALL students. 2. I was also responsible for setting up intervention programs for struggling (Title I) students. I designed a double-dipping schedule, provided teacher support and training, and selected effective RTI intervention programs to fit our students' needs, We dramatically improved test scores!"Carla is the commensurate professional working with her teaching colleagues and administration to seek out and analyze student data to determine the most effective way to intervene with students who struggle and professional development for staff that will lead to all levels of increased student achievement." - Craig Barry, Principal, Kingston Middle School