Students at Salmon Bay and Adams elementary schools who came close to passing the Washington Assessment of Student Learning last spring are enrolled in a new after school program aimed at boosting their test scores.

The district's chief academic officer, Carla Santorno, initiated the program to assist fourth and seventh-graders who scored just below standard in math and or reading, said Joanne Testa-Cross, who helped develop the districts' pilot program.

There are already a number of programs to help high school and primary school students who need remedial help in meeting state standards, but students close to passing are often overlooked for additional intervention, said Testa-Cross.

Targeted help for math and literacy at theses grade levels became more important as results from the 2006 Washington Assessment of Student Learning showed drops in seventh-grade reading and math scores and fourth-grade math scores.

The program, Extended Classes for Extended Learning, is funded through a statewide initiative meant to boost academic standards through smaller class sizes. It's designed to assist students through "explicit, targeted instruction at their level of need," Testa-Cross said.

District-wide, 37 schools have volunteered to participate and more than 800 students are taking advantage of the extra help. The classes are formal instruction hours taught by certified teachers and conducted beyond the school day.

Testa-Cross was quick to clarify that it's not a tutoring program, but an extension of the student's regular curriculum specifically geared towards meeting math and literacy standards.

The instruction includes tackling common problems students have with those subjects.

For example, many students fail to answer all parts of multi-part questions simply because they don't read the question carefully enough. Part of the classes focus on teaching students to mark off questions as they are answered.

"We're trying to get students to become more dexterous in taking tests in general," said Testa-Cross. "It teaches them to pay attention and you can do this."

Sometimes students will give examples from their own life when the question asks for an example from the text. Or they don't properly label times and dates. As minor as those errors may seem, they can mean the difference of passing the test or not, said Testa-Cross.

About 140 teachers were recruited from schools and trained in the curriculum that was developed in house. They meet regularly to discuss and assess student work and progress.

"That's really important that it's not just speculative," said Testa-Cross. "It's key because it gives (teachers) an accurate look."

If the program is successful, the district hopes to expand it to other kindergarten-through-eighth grade classes.

The classes are small, only about six to nine students in each. That's a huge advantage for the students and the teachers, said Sue Clauson, a parent volunteer who assists with teaching a math class of nine Salmon Bay elementary students.

"It's so fun to teach a small group," said Clauson, a certified teacher. "They are getting the help they need that they can't get in a class the size of 28."

Clauson said the program so far has "absolutely" made a difference.

"The students are feeling the success and learning how to attack problems," she said. "This is how education should look."

Teachers say students are "engaged," "enthusiastic to share ideas" and seem to be "understanding their inner voice," said Testa-Cross.

"Out biggest frustration is time," she said. "We wish there were more time."

Research has shown to support this type of targeted instruction, said Testa-Cross.

"It can be very successful especially if you do frequent assessment's along the way," she said.

Santorno referred Testa-Cross to a former colleague in Colorado who designed a similar program there. The results were a dramatic increase in the school test data, Testa-Cross said, and she's confident Seattle will see similar outcomes.

"It seems to be gaining momentum," she said.

Salmon Bay holds two, hour-and-a-half classes each week after school. Students are learning how to solve complex math problems using tables and graphs, not just computational fluency, said Clauson.

"We're teaching them how to use their math brain, everyone has one," said Clauson. "A big part of the WASL is being able to express your thinking."

Clauson said this type of program should be a part of the regular school day, but limited resources and funding have made that difficult.

As education leaders fight to change the state's bleak education funding statistics, which rank Washington as 46th in the nation in class size and 42nd in per-pupil spending, the pressure on students to meet state standards isn't letting up.

"I think if we are going to hold students to a certain standard we should give them the tools and the opportunity to live up to it," Clauson said.

Less than 8 percent of Salmon Bay students come from poor families, one of the biggest predictors of test scores. Last year, nearly 98 percent of fourth-graders met the state's standards for reading and about 75 percent passed the math portion.

Most seventh-graders passed reading and math, about 83 percent and 70 percent respectively, surpassing the district's average of 60 percent for reading and 47 percent for math.

But math continues to stand as a higher barrier for many students.

A strong proponent of math education, Clauson said there are a lot of strategies to help students with literacy, but not so much for math. It's not as well understood as to why some people don't grasp the subject as well as others, so there aren't as many interventions to help students.

"Our culture is a culture of literacy, not math," she said. "We have libraries and author nights... It's OK for someone to say I'm not good at math, but does anyone ever admit they're not good at reading?"

The district's program is a good start in dealing with the challenges of math education, she said.

"The curriculum is great and the training is great," Clauson said. "Math education is really in its infancy and it can only improve."

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@ballardnewstribune.com.