Developing a Schoolwide Literacy Model

Ingham County

Kim St. Martin

December 10, 2009

Agenda

• Roadmap for Creating an RtI Framework– Outcomes for upcoming leadership team trainings – Connections to the RtI stages of implementation

• Elements of a Schoolwide Literacy Action Plan– Creating Systems of Support

• Reading Continuum: Elementary & Secondary• Overview of Effective Classroom and Intervention

Practices for Adolescent Literacy• Assessments for Different Purposes

– Assessment Audit

You will leave with…

• Solidified Leadership Team with roles and responsibilities

• Communication/Integration Plan

• Committee audit

• Draft plan to allocate additional time for struggling readers

• Assessment audit

• Assignment to read the IES practice guide

*

Implementation of RtI

• Three stages– **Consensus: continuously working to achieve– **Infrastructure: beginning to think about the

infrastructure necessary for fall implementation

– Implementation: different levels of implementation that will be addressed as we move along

Where are we heading?

Elementary Training January 14th

• I can statements:– …explain to staff who are not here the need

to improve our schoolwide reading model– …explain to staff why fourth through twelfth

grade are included under the umbrella of “adolescent literacy

– explain to staff members what a good research based adolescent literacy model looks like

Elementary Training January 14th

• I can statements:– …explain to staff the types of assessments in a

system of prevention and intervention – ….explain to staff what a universal screener is,

why it is important, and how it is used– …explain to staff the importance and role of the

leadership team– …implement leadership strategies that promote

professional learning communities (PLC’s)

Secondary Training: December 17th

• I can statements:– ….explain to staff members who are not here

why we need to improve our schoolwide adolescent literacy model

– …explain to staff members what a good research based adolescent literacy model looks like

– …explain to staff the types of assessments in a system of prevention and intervention (RtI

Secondary Training: December 17th

• I can statements:– ….explain to staff what a universal screener

is, why it is important, and how it is used– …explain to staff the importance and role of

the leadership team– …implement leadership strategies that

promote professional learning communities (PLC’s)

RtI Blueprints

• The training topics your teams will be learning about will assist them in developing consensus regarding:

Elementary Secondary

•Need to improve the schoolwide literacy model

•Need to improve the schoolwide literacy model

•Research surrounding prevention and early intervention and definition of adolescent literacy

•Research surrounding adolescent literacy

•Definition and uses of universal screening assessments

•Definition and uses of universal screening assessments

RtI Blueprints

• The training topics will also address the infrastructure by discussing:

Elementary Secondary

•Leadership team functions •Leadership team functions

•Capacity building •Capacity building

•Communication & integration plans

•Communication & integration plans

•Functions of “workgroups” •Functions of “workgroups”

•System for data collection and management

•System for data collection and management

How do you make this happen?

Critical Elements of a School-Level Literacy Action Plan

Torgesen, Houston, Rissman (2007) Center on Instruction

Three Areas for Consideration

• Leadership activities

• Data-based decision making

• Use of effective instructional materials

“Strong leadership from both administrators and teachers is an

essential building block in constructing a successful literacy program, but the role

played by the principal is key to determining success or failure of the

program.” (Phillips, 2005, p. 7)

Leadership Activities

• Establish a schoolwide leadership team

• Plan to allocate necessary staffing to meet the needs of all students

• Develop a schedule to meet the needs of all students

• Create a professional development plan

• Provide oversight of activities

• Plan for sustainability from the beginning

Are You Feeling Like This?

Creating Effective Systems

Building Level

Building School ImprovementLeadership Team: Managing

RtI

Funding Visibility PoliticalSupport

Training Coaching Resources Evaluation

Building Level School Improvement Implementation

Building Level School Improvement Infrastructure

Adapted from Horner, Sugai

Establishing or Re-Establishing a STRONG Leadership Team

• The principal plays a crucial role in establishing a leadership team.

• The effectiveness of the team needs to be evaluated and adjusted as necessary

Establishing or Re-Establishing a STRONG Leadership Team

– Defining effectiveness:• Broad representation (individuals who

are respected, influential, hard working, and have content area knowledge/skill)

• Big picture thinkers who understand the connections of RtI/school improvement to initiatives

Leading the Leadership Team

• Establish meeting mechanics

• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities

• Delegate AND establish an accountability framework and communication loop so tasks are completed timely, efficiently, and communicated to all

Leading the Leadership Team

• Plan for team and principal turnover– Build capacity not only within the staff but

even within the team (i.e. data guru should be intentional about teaching others how to understand data)

– Institutionalize systems and practices

Activity: Part I• Think about the composition of your

leadership team.– Is there broad representation?

• Secondary: carefully selected content area teachers, reading specialists, administrator, media specialist

• Elementary: lower elementary and upper elementary representation)

• Influential staff?• “Doers?”• Communicators?• Understand the big picture?

Activity: Part II

• Read through the “Meeting Structure & Roles and Responsibilities” document– Who will fill each of these roles? – How will you engage in this conversation with

the team and/or individual team members?– Are there roles/responsibilities not reflected

on this document? If so, identify what they are and who will meet those responsibilities

ExampleCommunication and Integration Flow Chart

Beh. wk. Group

District SIT

Lit. wk.Group

Math wk.Group

School Improvement Leadership

(incl. members from initiatives work group chairs, etc.)

All Staff GRADE LEVELS/DEPARTMENTS

• SIT provides priorities for action• Work Groups provide monthly data and action reports to SIT.

•SIT provide info, training, and reminds staff ofpriorities.•Staff informs SIT of needs

•SIT identifies and passes along GL issues to appropriate GL.•GL reports back on action taken, results, & needs.

Behavior RTI Team

Behavior Work GroupReading Work Group

MiBLSi/RtI Leadership Team/ SIT Team

Attends MiBLSi trainings to learn how to use/implement practices, understand data sources relevant to PBS and literacy, and how to develop systems at multiple to support the implementation towards SIT literacy goals, objectives and behavior SIT strategies

Meets 1 x per month to look at all schoolwide data, discuss status on action items, next steps

Receives priorities from leadership team. Meets to develop a plan to implement schoolwide PBS strategies in both non-classroom and classroom settings

Receives priorities from leadership team. Meets to develop a plan to carry-out those priorities. This group is also referred to as the “worker bees”

Meets to support staff in using early stage behavioral intervention practices. Team provides systematic support to teachers and students who are non-responsive to early stage interventions in order to create a more comprehensive plan

Role of Workgroups

• The leadership team cannot do everything• Workgroups allow the work to be equally

distributed across staff• The workgroup are in essence the “doers” or

“worker bees”• They carry-out the necessary tasks and report

back to leadership team on needs and status of implementation

Example: DistrictCommunication and Integration Flow Chart

Board of Ed and

Community

District School ImprovementMiBLSi/RtI Management Team

All Staff Individual School Buildings

•District SIT identifies and passes along building issues to appropriate bldg.•Principal and SIT Chairs report back on action taken, results, & needs.

SIT

All Staff

Lit. wk. group.

Math wk. group

Beh. wk. groupGrade Levels/Departments

•Building SIT identifies and passes along GL issues to appropriate GL.•GL reports back on action taken, results, & needs.

Example: Regional (ISD)Communication and Integration Flow Chart

Board of Ed/Community

Regional School Improvement

Leadership: RtI/MiBLSi Management

Local School Districts

• Regional SIT provides priorities for action• Work Groups provide monthly data and action reports to SIT.

•Regional Team is comprised of representation from local districts (i.e. superintendent, curriculum directors, title I)

Literacy & Literacy Coaching Group

Math Consultants and Work Group

PBS Specialists/Family Community Involvement and Coaches Work Group

HS MS 1 Elm. 1 Elm. 2 Elm. 3MS 2

Science Consultants and Work Group

Social Studies Consultants and Work Group

Activity: Part I

• Using the document entitled, “Committee Audit…” identify the various workgroups/committees that exist in your building.

• Identify if any of the workgroups/committees can be combined.

• Are all workgroups connected to student outcomes that can be measured?

• You will be asked to have a content literacy workgroup…what will that look like given your current structure?

Activity: Part II• Complete the document entitled, “All Staff

Training and Communication Schedule”– Identify dates for monthly leadership team meetings– What information needs to be shared with staff from

RtI trainings?– What format will you use to communicate the

necessary information?• Staff meeting• PD day• E-mail• Department meetings

Defining Literacy: Elementary & Secondary

Elementary Distinctions

• Elementary literacy involves the explicit teaching of five essential areas where each contributes to the reading process (NRP, 2000)

– Phonemic awareness– Alphabetic principle– Fluency– Vocabulary– comprehension

Elementary Distinctions• Students in grades K-2 are learning HOW to

read.• Teachers are teaching in K-1 the critical pre-

skills necessary to be successful readers• Text primary levels students are reading

typically:– serves the purpose for application of the

literacy skills being taught – more controlled for practice and mastery of

phonetic skills

Elementary Distinctions

• Elementary schedules lend themselves to teachers adjusting the delivery of the content areas around the literacy block

• Core programs (basal programs) are more prevalent

• Less scheduling and structural barriers exist at the elementary level

Secondary Distinctions• Secondary Literacy: instructional

recommendations for older readers differ slightly from the recommendations for younger readers

• Five general areas:– Word study: more advanced decoding– Fluency– Vocabulary– Comprehension– motivation

Secondary Distinctions

• Secondary Literacy (4th-12th grade)– Emphasis is on “academic literacy” defined

as: “the kind of reading skills students need to be successful in most content area classrooms”

– Why as early as 4th grade?• Instructional needs are most similar to students in

middle and high school• “Fourth Grade Slump”

Activity

• Directions: Assume you cannot read multisyllabic words. Read the passage on the next slide, deleting the underlined, multisyllabic words.

• How much would you gain from reading this social studies passage?

*

Activity

When explorers from Portugal arrived in Brazil in 1500, as many as 5 million Native Americans lived there. During the 1500’s the Portuguese established large sugar cane plantations in northeastern Brazil. At first they enslaved Native Americans to work on the plantations. Soon, however, many Native Americans died of disease. The plantation owners then turned to Africa for labor. Eventually, Brazil brought over more enslaved Africans than any other North or South American country.

*

Elementary & SecondaryStructural Considerations

“When,” “Who,” & “What”

• Over the course of this school year, your systems focus will primarily be on:– Creating the time for intervention to occur – Determining who might be available to

provide the intervention during the times allocated

– Analyzing data to determine what intervention programs to use with struggling readers

• Create a plan for purchase and training of intervention programs

Elementary Level Reading

• 90 minute core reading block• 30 minutes for supplemental instruction for

students not performing on/above grade level

• 30 + 30 (60) minutes for intensive intervention for students performing significantly below grade level norms

• It is easier to find 150+ minutes at the elementary level.

Secondary Literacy

• Time is needed to teach reading*

• Content area literacy strategies are necessary to assist students in the understanding of content

• Additional time needs to be allocated for students who are below average in reading – Two periods for strategic level students– Three periods of “Reading Support” for

intensive level students

Activity• Review the sample schedules for your level

(elementary or secondary).• Notice the allocated time for core, and

intervention reading time for both elementary and secondary levels

• Think about your building. How will you identify additional time for students who are below grade level?

• Please note: we are asking you to do some forward thinking in anticipation of next school year

Effective Instructional Materials

Begin with the End in Mind

Proficient Readers

• Students need to be able to read and learn from content text

• Skill set involves:– Ability to read text fluently (automatically,

accurately)– Sufficient background knowledge and

understanding of critical vocabulary to understand text

Proficient Readers

• Skill set involves:– Understanding of various reading strategies;

knowing when to use specific strategies when comprehension is compromised

– Higher level thinking skills to draw inferences, conclusions about what was read

– Motivation to understand what is being read and desire to learn from content text

Activity

• Refer to the document entitled, “FactSheet: Adolescent Literacy”

• Independently read through the bulleted list

• Identify four-five “facts” that interested you

• Share those facts with your partner

Depressed?

Solution to the Literacy Crisis

• Early prevention and identification of students at-risk for reading failure

• Use of data to make instructional and intervention adjustments

• Explicit and systematic instruction for ALL students

• Strengthen the core reading program to prevent students from falling through the cracks

Solution to the Literacy Crisis

• Provide tiers of interventions for students whose needs are not being met by the core

• Maximize the amount of time students are engaged in reading (miles on the page)

• Allocate additional time for students to “catch-up”

Solution to the Literacy Crisis

• Use content area literacy strategies to enhance students’ reading skills so they can deepen their knowledge of the content area

Why Content Area Literacy?

• Reading ability is a key predictor to math and science achievement

• To succeed in today’s global economy requires our students to have far more advanced literacy skills than those required for previous generations

• Literacy improvements have not kept pace with the increasing demands

Why Content Area Literacy?

• Formal reading instruction decreases as students progress through upper elementary grades

• The type of reading instruction requires students to learn how to use “advanced skills” to support the demands of content texts

Why Content Area Literacy?

• Teachers report feeling unprepared to help their students acquire the necessary skills

• Some teachers do not feel responsible for teaching reading skills in the context of their literacy classes

• Professional development needs are HUGE in content area reading instruction

Activity

• Discuss the current status at your school.

• To what degree do staff feel as though “content literacy” is a 1) need, 2) something they feel jointly responsible for teaching, and 3) something that is impeding student performance in classes

Structural Barriers

• Research found some teachers circumventing the need for students to be able to read text

• Adjustments were made to the assignments and methods of presenting the content in text rather than helping students learning the content-specific strategies needed

Structural Barriers

• The desire to “cover the content” without addressing the content specific literacy strategies will not produce adequate benefits

• Teaching the literacy strategies allow content area teachers to increase the depth and breadth of the content

Structural Barriers

• Programs instituted to help struggling readers are held in the realm of special education and therefore only serve a small portion of students who could benefit

Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom Practices

Recommendations

• Provide explicit vocabulary instruction: Strong Evidence

• Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction: Strong Evidence

Recommendations

• Provide opportunities for extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation: Moderate Evidence

• Increase student motivation and engagement: Moderate Evidence

A “Guide” to the Practice Guides

How Practice Guides are Developed

Expert Panel:•Researchers•Practitioners

Research

Recommendations

Peer Review

Broad Search

Assess Quality

Identify Examples

Levels of Evidence

• Strong: High confidence (multiple rigorous studies in a variety of contexts)

• Moderate: Some evidence (may not work in all settings)

• Low: Hasn’t been proven with rigorous research (but panel still thinks it is important)

Data-Driven Instructional Decisions

What Kinds of Reading Assessments?

• Two kinds of information is required:– Information to guide schoolwide planning and

allocation of resources– Information for teachers to guide instructional

decisions

Torgesen, Houston, Rissman (2005)

Instructional Decisions: Guiding Questions

• What proportion of students are able to meet grade level standards at the end of each grade?

• Are there particular reading skills or standards that present special difficulties for students on the progress monitoring or year-end outcome tests?

Torgesen, Houston, Rissman (2005)

Instructional Decisions: Guiding Questions

• What proportion of students in each classroom and grade level area becoming more proficient readers as the year progresses?

• At the beginning of the year, which students are at special risk of not being able to meet grade-level standards by the end of the year

Torgesen, Houston, Rissman (2005)

Instructional Decisions: Guiding Questions

• Which students are making adequate progress, and which may need additional, or improved instructional support?

Torgesen, Houston, Rissman (2005)

Assessment Audit

Assessments for Different Purposes

• Outcome: provides a “bottom-line” evaluation of the effectiveness of the reading program in relation to established performance levels

• Screening Assessments: Designed as a first step in identifying students who may be at high-risk for delayed development, academic failure and in need of further diagnosis

Assessments for Different Purposes

• Diagnostic Assessments: Help teachers plan instruction by providing in-depth information about students’ skills and instructional needs

• Progress Monitoring Assessments: Determine through frequent measurement if students are making adequate progress or need more intervention to achieve grade level reading outcomes

Screening Assessments

Screening Assessments Are…. Screening Assessments Are NOT….

•Efficient to administer •Difficult to administer

•Readily available •Difficult to gather assessment materials

•Efficient to compile & view data •Time consuming to administer and score

•Reliable •Assessments that have no reliability, validity data in the technical manual

•Reasonably valid •Assessments that measure beyond critical skills

•Measure critical skills

Activity: Part I• List all the assessments your schools administer

on individual post-it notes. • Sort the post-it notes by the types of

assessments and place in the proper quadrant

Outcome Assessments Screening Assessments

Diagnostic Assessments

Progress Monitoring Assessments

Activity Part II

• Look back at the slides entitled, “Guiding Questions for Instructional Decisions” and determine which assessments can be used to answer those questions.