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A Close Look At Literacy Dollars, And Literacy Demographics

Idaho Ed News

While Idaho distributes most of its K-12 dollars based on student population, its literacy dollars are an exception.

The state uses Idaho Reading Indicator test scores to determine where to spend its $11.25 million in literacy money.

In other words, districts and charter schools with more at-risk readers receive a bigger share of the money. And that means the dollar figures offer some insight into the schools that struggle with low reading scores — and the demographics that coincide with these low scores.

Let’s walk through the math and the demographics, in three steps.

STEP ONE: TALLYING THE AT-RISK READERS

The state tallies its at-risk reader numbers by looking at three years of results on the IRI, a standardized test given each year in kindergarten through third grade. The state looks at the number of students who scored below grade level on the fall IRI, and then computes a three-year average for each district and charter school.

That’s the source of a number that came up throughout the debate over the 2016 literacy initiative. Based on the past three years of IRI scores, 36,904 K-3 students showed up for school without the skills they need to read at grade level.

From here, the state parceled out its 2016-17 literacy budget, using some simple division. The state took the $11.25 million and divided it against 36,904, that statewide three-year average. That comes out to $304.85 for every at-risk reader.

 

Districts and charters then received their share based on the three-year averages. For instance, a district or charter with 100 at-risk readers would receive $30,485.

Click here to read the entire story from Idaho Ed News.

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