Spanish Immersion student Indy Burke and Principal Gabe Costa look over a report showing Indy’s perfect score on the state’s third-grade reading assessment last spring.
A Spanish Immersion School student described as a “voracious reader” is one of three Mansfield City Schools students who had a perfect score on the state’s third-grade reading assessment test in May.
Indy Burke, now a fourth-grader, posted a perfect 496 on the two-and-one-half-hour reading comprehension test.
Also perfect were Sherman Elementary students Ava Dean and Jayda Hullum. Both have since moved to schools outside the district.
Indy did not expect the 496 score.
“On the previous test I got 436. I was surprised that I got a perfect score,” he said.
“Sixty points. That’s a huge jump,” said Principal Gabe Costa, who was Indy’s third-grade teacher last school year. “The test requires students to read text then answer a series of questions, such as the main ideas conveyed, the sequence of events, things like that.”
Indy is no stranger to books.
“I do read a lot, like in the car when we’re going somewhere. I like mythology. My favorite autor is Rick Riordan,” he said. “Sometimes at home at night when I can’t sleep I write stories.”
“Indy is a great writer,” Costa said. “He is a voracious reader. He has a book in his hand all the time. Volume, volume, volume. The more you read, the better writer you will be.”
Districtwide, 72.4 percent of third-graders scored at proficient or above on the reading test.
Announcement of the scores came, coincidentally, with the recent release of a district video which emphasizes the importance of parents reading to, and with, young children at home.
“That importance can not be overstated,” said Sherman Principal Stephen Rizzo, who was instrumental in producing the video with teachers. Students from Sherman, Prospect and Woodland are featured in the two-minute video.
“Students who read with the parents, grandparents or older siblings each night for at least 20 minutes perform much better academically. Students who do not read well by third grade run a greater risk of not graduating from high school.”