the reading/literacy leadership team

Palm Beach County Schools

The start up or continuation of a Reading Leadership Team supported by administration to create capacity of reading knowledge within the school building.

A Reading Leadership Team is a collaborative system that encourages a literate climate to support effective teaching and learning.

2Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

Positive impact on student learning.

Transfer teacher learning into the classroom.

Catalyst for school-wide literacy change.

3Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

“Probably the most important -- and the most difficult -- job of the school-based reformer is to change the prevailing culture of a school . . . Ultimately, a school’s culture has far more influence on life and learning in the schoolhouse than the state department of education, the superintendent, the school board, or even the principal can ever have.”

Roland Barth, 2001Learning by Heart, p. 7

4Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

Create a shared literacy vision in your school that is clear and shaped by the particularities of your school community.

Work as a school literacy team, with everyone having a role in determining the vision and the implementation plan, and each member bringing specific expertise to building the culture of literacy in the school.

Build in time and opportunities for professional development for the stakeholders who are developing the program.

5Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

Simultaneously supporting learning and teaching for the ENTIRE community-students, teachers, educational leaders.

Enhancing literacy environment.

Building a literacy culture through collegiality and collaboration.

6Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

Educational Leaders (Principal) Literacy Coach/Reading Coach Science/Math/Content-Area Coaches Content Area/Grade Level Teachers Special Area Teachers Elective Teachers Media Specialist RtI Facilitator LTM Facilitator ESE/ESOL Teachers Community Members Parents Students

7Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

8Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

List your Area(s) of Concern based on student need. (Brainstorm extensively and try to narrow to one area of

concern; for example, students are having difficulty with comprehension)

What evidence or data exists to support this student need? How do you know it is a need?

(Example: teacher made-tests, teacher observation, FCAT)

  List other types of evidence (data, information) that your

team could gather to gain a clearer picture of student need in this area?

  What are the implications of the additional data collected?

9Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

 List the resources your team will need to plan

a course of action. (See Appendix B – LLT Resources for Studying and Planning)

  What are the implications of the resources

studied?  

10Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

List the data that will be used to monitor the course of action?

Who will be responsible for collecting the data?

What actions will you take to support your staff in the implementation of the course of action?

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Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

 How has the course of action impacted student learning?

 What, if any, further actions are necessary, such

as continuing, revising, or discontinuing the course of action?

  Is there another related area of concern that your

team might want to target at this time?

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Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

What have individual team members learned from this process?

 How will the insights help them in their

classrooms?  How can this process be shared with the

faculty?

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Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

Data sources that can be easily collected in the classroom and within the school environment such as:

Student work samples Informal assessments (reading running records, writing rubrics) Formal assessments Research journals, logs (records of observational data, formal assessments, and

informal assessments) Videos, photographs, and audiotapes Anecdotal records based on observations Teacher checklists Student interviews and surveys Parent interviews and surveys Teacher interviews and surveys Teacher-generated assessments Report cards Parent interviews and surveys Results from state-wide testing Portfolios

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Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

 Curriculum Resource Teacher Reading CoachMentors/Peer Teachers ColleaguesParentsStudentsProfessional JournalsProfessional BooksInternet SitesWorkshops/Staff DevelopmentConferencesSchool District Resource TeachersUniversity SupportNeighboring or Feeder SchoolsState and Federally Funded Organizations

15Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

 Engaging in peer coaching Videotaping class sessions Conducting mini-workshops throughout the yearForming study groupsVisiting schools who have had success with similar concernsUtilizing coaching sessionsResearching strategies to address the concern Providing materials, resources, assistance to address concernsAttending workshops/conferences on topicCollecting and analyzing additional data on subjectsCreating surveys, portfolios and interviews with school

communityModeling lessons in classroomsAnalyzing and reviewing dataSharing and reporting data

16Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

“Team Work” the team should be made up of stakeholders: principal, teachers, community partners and even students.

“Follow-Through” the action plan is a working document and the team should not stray from its common literacy vision.

“Share the Vision” the team’s work should be honored and shared with ALL stakeholders: parents, faculty and administration.

“Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew” focus on one or two critical areas of literacy.

17Kathy Baich, Instructional Reading Specialist

Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

Understand the theory and research on how literacy develops in young people.

Model and demonstrate literacy strategies to support and encourage developing readers.

Help students to see themselves as successful readers, growing in confidence and competence, and setting goals to increase literacy achievement.

Develop a literacy mandate for the entire school, with teams of teachers engaged in building competent readers and writers.

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Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability

The Literacy Principal: Leading, Supporting, and Assessing Reading and Writing Initiatives, Booth, D., & Rowsell, J. (2007) Second Edition, Pembroke Publishing.

The K-12 Literacy Leadership Fieldbook, Taylor, R.T. & Gunter, G.A. (2005). Corwin Press. 

The Literacy Leadership Team: Sustaining and Expanding Success, Froelich, K.S. & Puig, E.A. (in press 2008). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

The Literacy Coach: Guiding in the right direction. Puig, E.A. & Froelich, K.S. (2007). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Literacy coaching: The essentials. Casey, K. (2006). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

The Literacy Coach's Handbook: A Guide to Research-Based Practice. Walpole, S. & McKenna, M.C. (2004). Guilford Press

Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, K-8, Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S., (2006). Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann.

Reading & Writing in the Middle Years, Booth, D. (2001). Portland, Maine, Stenhouse Publishers.

Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents. Ivey, G. & Fisher, D. (2006). ASCD.

Literacy Learning Communities: A Guided for Creating Sustainable Change in Secondary Schools, Lent, R.C. (2007). Portsmouth, NH. Heinemann.

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Capacity Development and School Reform Accountability