Posts
A recommendation for your book stack from one of Lead Your School's readers:
You have to read this one soon. It is the hot book in politician offices right now.
“The Global Achievement Gap,” by Tony Wagner
ISBN 978-0-465-00229-0
When you get it, read closely pages 43 through 48 for his discussion of what is (in effect) the R4 Foundation Trinity.
Thanks reader, I'll order it this week.
Your turn...
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Blog Post: Public Schools Out Perform Private Schools (It's All About Instruction)
This post was inspired by:
Study: Teachers, curricula help public schools outscore private peers
Certified math teachers with ongoing professional development and more modern curricula help public-school students do better than their private-school counterparts in math, according to a new study. "Schools that hired more certified teachers and had a curriculum that de-emphasized learning by rote tended to do better on standardized math tests," said University of Illinois education professor Sarah Lubienski, a study co-author. "And public schools had more of both." ScienceDaily (2/25) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226093423.htm
I for one am not surprised by this. I have long held this opinion and actually have related evidence (somewhat validated by the study mentioned above) that justifies my belief. Here’s my case. In the past eight years, I have personally visited well over a thousand campuses and have observed thousands classrooms. I also have access to the data collected from over 40,000 R4 Hyper-monitoring observations. Here is what is painfully obvious from all this information:
Across settings, campuses, districts and regions, the quality of instruction in classrooms is very consistent. Unfortunately, it is consistently mediocre. The variable is the academic foundation of the students in the school. High SES students that receive mediocre instruction do OK on achievement tests and pass most of their classes. Low SES students that receive mediocre instruction generally do poorly on achievement tests and struggle in most of their classes.
What is powerful about this fact is that it makes improving schools very do-able. Just improve the overall quality of instruction in every class. When this occurs, low SES students do better on achievement tests and pass more of their courses. High SES students simply blow the roof off achievement tests. Or as one principal I work with stated with glee, “we destroyed the curve.”
So how does this relate to private schools? Well, we learned about the power of changing instruction, not at the high SES schools, but at the low SES schools. The high SES schools were comfortable doing the same things they had always done. On the other hand, increasing accountability standards are forcing low SES schools to change just to survive. In this case, the staffs of low SES campuses have taken the lead in illuminating best instructional practices that can no longer be ignored.
Who are the only schools with higher SES students than a high SES public school? The answer,of course, is private schools. Take high SES students, parents who are OK with paying for private tuition and tutors, small class sizes and non-certified teachers and what you have is the recipe for 1950’s quality instruction.
For all the flack that public schools and their staff face, I would blind draw a teacher from a “good” urban public school over a teacher from a “great” private school to join the staff on my campus any day of the week.
Your turn…
Study: Teachers, curricula help public schools outscore private peers
Certified math teachers with ongoing professional development and more modern curricula help public-school students do better than their private-school counterparts in math, according to a new study. "Schools that hired more certified teachers and had a curriculum that de-emphasized learning by rote tended to do better on standardized math tests," said University of Illinois education professor Sarah Lubienski, a study co-author. "And public schools had more of both." ScienceDaily (2/25) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226093423.htm
I for one am not surprised by this. I have long held this opinion and actually have related evidence (somewhat validated by the study mentioned above) that justifies my belief. Here’s my case. In the past eight years, I have personally visited well over a thousand campuses and have observed thousands classrooms. I also have access to the data collected from over 40,000 R4 Hyper-monitoring observations. Here is what is painfully obvious from all this information:
Across settings, campuses, districts and regions, the quality of instruction in classrooms is very consistent. Unfortunately, it is consistently mediocre. The variable is the academic foundation of the students in the school. High SES students that receive mediocre instruction do OK on achievement tests and pass most of their classes. Low SES students that receive mediocre instruction generally do poorly on achievement tests and struggle in most of their classes.
What is powerful about this fact is that it makes improving schools very do-able. Just improve the overall quality of instruction in every class. When this occurs, low SES students do better on achievement tests and pass more of their courses. High SES students simply blow the roof off achievement tests. Or as one principal I work with stated with glee, “we destroyed the curve.”
So how does this relate to private schools? Well, we learned about the power of changing instruction, not at the high SES schools, but at the low SES schools. The high SES schools were comfortable doing the same things they had always done. On the other hand, increasing accountability standards are forcing low SES schools to change just to survive. In this case, the staffs of low SES campuses have taken the lead in illuminating best instructional practices that can no longer be ignored.
Who are the only schools with higher SES students than a high SES public school? The answer,of course, is private schools. Take high SES students, parents who are OK with paying for private tuition and tutors, small class sizes and non-certified teachers and what you have is the recipe for 1950’s quality instruction.
For all the flack that public schools and their staff face, I would blind draw a teacher from a “good” urban public school over a teacher from a “great” private school to join the staff on my campus any day of the week.
Your turn…
Blog Post: School Reform – Fact or Fiction?
Having fought in the trenches of the school improvement battle for a number of years now, I have observed that there is a formula for both success and failure in the effort to reform schools.
First, the basic formula for failure:
1. Be overly concerned with politics.
2. Spend a lot of time coming up with the perfect plan.
3. Have lots of moving parts in your perfect plan.
4. Have a long time window (at least 3 years).
5. Go slow.
6. Ignore the fundamental of quality instruction.
7. Pay attention to morale
8. Don’t upset anyone, if you do, immediately stop what you are doing.
9. Rely on plug and play programs to fix “those” kids.
These are the most common elements of failure and they doom most improvement initiatives. They are insidious because each element seems to either represent a logical, prudent and/or easy path to take. But in each case, the path of least resistance leads to ruin.
Fortunately, there is also a basic formula for success:
1. Do the opposite of the Failure Formula.
2. Train staff in the fundamentals of quality instruction, classroom management and school operations. Continuously review, revisit and re-train.
3. Hold everyone accountable for executing the fundamentals.
4. Provide a common scope and sequence.
5. Provide short-term common assessments.
6. Hyper-monitor instruction.
7. Provide external coaching.
That’s it, the executive summary of any successful school improvement plan. E-mail me if you want to discuss adapting this plan to your school or district.
So the answer to the title question, “school reform – fact or fiction,” is “yes”, depending on which formula you use.
Your turn…
First, the basic formula for failure:
1. Be overly concerned with politics.
2. Spend a lot of time coming up with the perfect plan.
3. Have lots of moving parts in your perfect plan.
4. Have a long time window (at least 3 years).
5. Go slow.
6. Ignore the fundamental of quality instruction.
7. Pay attention to morale
8. Don’t upset anyone, if you do, immediately stop what you are doing.
9. Rely on plug and play programs to fix “those” kids.
These are the most common elements of failure and they doom most improvement initiatives. They are insidious because each element seems to either represent a logical, prudent and/or easy path to take. But in each case, the path of least resistance leads to ruin.
Fortunately, there is also a basic formula for success:
1. Do the opposite of the Failure Formula.
2. Train staff in the fundamentals of quality instruction, classroom management and school operations. Continuously review, revisit and re-train.
3. Hold everyone accountable for executing the fundamentals.
4. Provide a common scope and sequence.
5. Provide short-term common assessments.
6. Hyper-monitor instruction.
7. Provide external coaching.
That’s it, the executive summary of any successful school improvement plan. E-mail me if you want to discuss adapting this plan to your school or district.
So the answer to the title question, “school reform – fact or fiction,” is “yes”, depending on which formula you use.
Your turn…
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Rules For The First Year Principal
I was recently at a small, rural elementary school. The school serves approximately 300 PK – 3rd grader. I was meeting with the principal to work on some district initiatives, but the conversation soon moved to another topic all together.
The principal is in her first year and she finds that she struggling with herself. Like most first year principals she has promised herself that she will be different. She won’t turn into the stereotypical, me-versus-you, autocrat. I asked her how that was working for her and she admitted not well. I listened to her for a bit and what she is going through is typical for the majority of first year principals.
So I gave her my “What your professors and bosses didn’t tell you about being a principal” rules. If you are asking why I would know the rules and not professors and bosses, the answer is experience. Most education professors haven’t been principals and most bosses don’t remember what they went through during their first year as a principal (after all, it generally was a long time ago). I on the other hand, spend a lot of time with first year principals on their campuses trying to speed up their learning curve.
Here are the rules:
1. The first year of being a principal is the steepest learning curve you will face in your entire career. This is primarily due to the fact that you are now accountable for everything. This forces you to consider every decision in light of this fact. It slows you down right when you are starting a job that moves faster than any position you have ever had before. Don’t worry though; Year 2 will be much easier.
2. The more dysfunctional the campus, the more autocratic you must be. This is tough, because this is not who you want to be and not what you signed up for. But your first priority is to lead the campus. Set the vision, set the expectation and enforce both. As the staff builds capacity and understanding, you will be able to become more collaborative.
3. Don’t worry about morale. Don’t even get in this fight. You’re new, you represent change. New and change is the recipe for a dip in morale. Instead focus on student performance, especially short-term measures. As the staff sees student performance improve, their morale will bounce back. Performance Leads Morale!
4. You have a honeymoon, use it. As soon as you get on the job, make the changes that need to be made. Don’t wait to assess the situation for a semester, do it now. The staff may not like it, but they all expect something different to happen. And the best time to make a mistake is when your boss expects one or doesn’t yet care.
5. If you want a friend get a dog. The Principal’s job is to lead. If you do it right, someone is always upset with you. Your job is to ensure that student needs are being met and the school is improving. You can aspire to being respected and admired, but don’t fret over whether or not you are liked.
Your turn…
The principal is in her first year and she finds that she struggling with herself. Like most first year principals she has promised herself that she will be different. She won’t turn into the stereotypical, me-versus-you, autocrat. I asked her how that was working for her and she admitted not well. I listened to her for a bit and what she is going through is typical for the majority of first year principals.
So I gave her my “What your professors and bosses didn’t tell you about being a principal” rules. If you are asking why I would know the rules and not professors and bosses, the answer is experience. Most education professors haven’t been principals and most bosses don’t remember what they went through during their first year as a principal (after all, it generally was a long time ago). I on the other hand, spend a lot of time with first year principals on their campuses trying to speed up their learning curve.
Here are the rules:
1. The first year of being a principal is the steepest learning curve you will face in your entire career. This is primarily due to the fact that you are now accountable for everything. This forces you to consider every decision in light of this fact. It slows you down right when you are starting a job that moves faster than any position you have ever had before. Don’t worry though; Year 2 will be much easier.
2. The more dysfunctional the campus, the more autocratic you must be. This is tough, because this is not who you want to be and not what you signed up for. But your first priority is to lead the campus. Set the vision, set the expectation and enforce both. As the staff builds capacity and understanding, you will be able to become more collaborative.
3. Don’t worry about morale. Don’t even get in this fight. You’re new, you represent change. New and change is the recipe for a dip in morale. Instead focus on student performance, especially short-term measures. As the staff sees student performance improve, their morale will bounce back. Performance Leads Morale!
4. You have a honeymoon, use it. As soon as you get on the job, make the changes that need to be made. Don’t wait to assess the situation for a semester, do it now. The staff may not like it, but they all expect something different to happen. And the best time to make a mistake is when your boss expects one or doesn’t yet care.
5. If you want a friend get a dog. The Principal’s job is to lead. If you do it right, someone is always upset with you. Your job is to ensure that student needs are being met and the school is improving. You can aspire to being respected and admired, but don’t fret over whether or not you are liked.
Your turn…
What's In My Reading Stack
Here’s the list of books that I have finished in the past month and a brief review for each:
The Five Temptations of a CEO, by Patrick Lencioni
A good, quick read. Put it on your list.
The Dip, by Seth Godin
Skip this one unless you are a fan of the author (I am). Cotton candy reading.
George Washington: First in War, First in Peace, by James Crutchfield
Skip this one unless you are a huge George Washington fan (I am). There are better Washington biographies, such as “His Excellency”. I only learned one interesting fact – the British Navy flew their flags at half mast when Washington died.
Blogging for Dummies, by Susannah Garner and Shane Birley
Read only if you want to start a blog.
Here’s the list of books that I’m currently reading:
Small is the New Big, by Seth Godwin
Interesting.
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Awesome.
Revolutionary Management, by Alan Axlerod
Good, but dry.
The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Interesting, but dry.
Send me your list.
The Five Temptations of a CEO, by Patrick Lencioni
A good, quick read. Put it on your list.
The Dip, by Seth Godin
Skip this one unless you are a fan of the author (I am). Cotton candy reading.
George Washington: First in War, First in Peace, by James Crutchfield
Skip this one unless you are a huge George Washington fan (I am). There are better Washington biographies, such as “His Excellency”. I only learned one interesting fact – the British Navy flew their flags at half mast when Washington died.
Blogging for Dummies, by Susannah Garner and Shane Birley
Read only if you want to start a blog.
Here’s the list of books that I’m currently reading:
Small is the New Big, by Seth Godwin
Interesting.
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Awesome.
Revolutionary Management, by Alan Axlerod
Good, but dry.
The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Interesting, but dry.
Send me your list.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Professional Reading: The Must List
Larry Winget writes in his 2007 book, It’s Called Work for a Reason, that if you don’t read at least five professional books a year, you are a sorry leader.
Now I wouldn’t go that far, but if you don’t make a conscious effort to read one or two books a semester, you run the very real risk of becoming complacent and being left behind by our field.
As an example, last summer I was speaking to over 70 administrators in a struggling district. As I was talking, I noticed that the audience seemed lost so I stopped. I asked them to raise their hand if they had read anything by the following authors, Schmoker, Fullan, DuFour, or Marzano. Not more than 10 hands were raised for any one author. So I followed the teachable moment and we created a practical must read list for school leaders. Here’s the list:
Good to Great, by Jim Collins (the modern classic)
Results Now, by Mike Schmoker (the blueprint for rapid change)
Corp Business, by David H. Freedman (a handbook for action based leadership)
The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, by Michael Fullan (our big picture)
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell (little changes for big effects)
What books would you add?
Now I wouldn’t go that far, but if you don’t make a conscious effort to read one or two books a semester, you run the very real risk of becoming complacent and being left behind by our field.
As an example, last summer I was speaking to over 70 administrators in a struggling district. As I was talking, I noticed that the audience seemed lost so I stopped. I asked them to raise their hand if they had read anything by the following authors, Schmoker, Fullan, DuFour, or Marzano. Not more than 10 hands were raised for any one author. So I followed the teachable moment and we created a practical must read list for school leaders. Here’s the list:
Good to Great, by Jim Collins (the modern classic)
Results Now, by Mike Schmoker (the blueprint for rapid change)
Corp Business, by David H. Freedman (a handbook for action based leadership)
The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, by Michael Fullan (our big picture)
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell (little changes for big effects)
What books would you add?
Data Use
There are two basic types of data to work with in a school, student data and teacher data. Using student data is the first stage of data analysis and if you aren’t using data on your campus this is where to start. Student data will indicate where the low hanging fruit can be found. For example, I was working with a campus and in the midst of doing some item analysis, we discovered that students were overwhelmingly missing science questions that dealt with application. That problem was solved by getting students in the lab for more hands-on activities.
However, student data will only take you so far. The next stage of data use revolves around teacher data. It is the team analysis of this data that is the foundation of a truly vibrant professional learning community. To begin this process, leadership must provide teachers with three tools. The first is a common scope and sequence, the second is short-term, common assessments and the third is hyper-monitoring data. These three tools allow teachers to identify which teachers make the biggest and most consistent gains with the campus’ most academically fragile students and which components of pedagogy seems to make the biggest impact in the classrooms.
Armed with this information and time to plan, learn and adapt, an instructional staff can go from sub-par to extraordinary in less than a year.
Your turn…
However, student data will only take you so far. The next stage of data use revolves around teacher data. It is the team analysis of this data that is the foundation of a truly vibrant professional learning community. To begin this process, leadership must provide teachers with three tools. The first is a common scope and sequence, the second is short-term, common assessments and the third is hyper-monitoring data. These three tools allow teachers to identify which teachers make the biggest and most consistent gains with the campus’ most academically fragile students and which components of pedagogy seems to make the biggest impact in the classrooms.
Armed with this information and time to plan, learn and adapt, an instructional staff can go from sub-par to extraordinary in less than a year.
Your turn…
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Teacher Nests
This post inspired by the article:
Glendale schools ban teachers' personal coffeepots and fridges
By Raja Abdulrahim March 3, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-appliances3-2009mar03,0,3863348.story
"District officials say removing appliances such as microwaves and coffee makers will save $60,000 a year. The ban has upset some teachers who depend on the items to get through their day…"
"Sharon Schara, a teacher at Roosevelt Middle School in Glendale, poses with the fridge, microwave and stereo she keeps in her classroom…"
Those who have known me for a while have invariably heard me talk about the subject of “teacher nests”. What exactly is a “teacher nest”?
A "teacher nest" is where the teacher has created a comfortable haven for just her in the classroom. The classic nest generally includes a “wall” made up of the desk, computer and stacks of books and paper; lots of non-instructionally related knic-knacks; a comfortable chair brought from home; and a coffee pot, refrigerator and microwave. The teacher has created a home away from home, or in other words, a nest.
Are nests comfortable? Yes. Do nests make a long day more bearable? Yes. Are nests good for instruction? No.
Fooled you on that one, didn’t I? Stay with me on this, because I'm going to make my case.
This is why “teacher nests” are bad for instruction. The nest is comfortable and as humans we are drawn to comfort. Don’t believe me, what would you rather do? Run five miles or sit and watch your favorite TV show while eating your favorite dessert? The problem with having a comfortable spot in the classroom is that the teacher is drawn to it instead of being drawn to the teaching zone. As time in the teaching zone decreases, student on-task behavior decreases, engagement decreases and retention decreases. All instructionally bad things, just for the sake of teacher comfort. Remove the nest and teachers spend more time in the teaching zone and on-task behavior, engagement and retention all increase.
Still skeptical, analysis of over 30,000 R4 Hyper-Monitoring observations show a strong inverse correlation between teacher nests and time spent in the teaching zone. Despite initial teacher protests to the contrary, actions do speak louder than words.
Teacher nest were already expensive instructionally, now throw in the energy cost and case to actively seek them out and remove them gets even stronger.
And to Ms. Schara, the teacher in the article, in the short run your room will seem less hospitable to you, but quickly you will notice the improvement in your students and it will all be worth it.
Your turn…
Glendale schools ban teachers' personal coffeepots and fridges
By Raja Abdulrahim March 3, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-appliances3-2009mar03,0,3863348.story
"District officials say removing appliances such as microwaves and coffee makers will save $60,000 a year. The ban has upset some teachers who depend on the items to get through their day…"
"Sharon Schara, a teacher at Roosevelt Middle School in Glendale, poses with the fridge, microwave and stereo she keeps in her classroom…"
Those who have known me for a while have invariably heard me talk about the subject of “teacher nests”. What exactly is a “teacher nest”?
A "teacher nest" is where the teacher has created a comfortable haven for just her in the classroom. The classic nest generally includes a “wall” made up of the desk, computer and stacks of books and paper; lots of non-instructionally related knic-knacks; a comfortable chair brought from home; and a coffee pot, refrigerator and microwave. The teacher has created a home away from home, or in other words, a nest.
Are nests comfortable? Yes. Do nests make a long day more bearable? Yes. Are nests good for instruction? No.
Fooled you on that one, didn’t I? Stay with me on this, because I'm going to make my case.
This is why “teacher nests” are bad for instruction. The nest is comfortable and as humans we are drawn to comfort. Don’t believe me, what would you rather do? Run five miles or sit and watch your favorite TV show while eating your favorite dessert? The problem with having a comfortable spot in the classroom is that the teacher is drawn to it instead of being drawn to the teaching zone. As time in the teaching zone decreases, student on-task behavior decreases, engagement decreases and retention decreases. All instructionally bad things, just for the sake of teacher comfort. Remove the nest and teachers spend more time in the teaching zone and on-task behavior, engagement and retention all increase.
Still skeptical, analysis of over 30,000 R4 Hyper-Monitoring observations show a strong inverse correlation between teacher nests and time spent in the teaching zone. Despite initial teacher protests to the contrary, actions do speak louder than words.
Teacher nest were already expensive instructionally, now throw in the energy cost and case to actively seek them out and remove them gets even stronger.
And to Ms. Schara, the teacher in the article, in the short run your room will seem less hospitable to you, but quickly you will notice the improvement in your students and it will all be worth it.
Your turn…
Today Is "T" Day
To all my friends in Texas schools,
Good luck on the TAKS today and the rest of the week!
Drop me a line and share your craziest TAKS story.
Good luck on the TAKS today and the rest of the week!
Drop me a line and share your craziest TAKS story.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Adolescent Literacy: An Action Summary
I was on a campus recently and I was asked for some ideas on strengthening their literacy instruction across the content areas. That conversation reminded me that I had created a crib sheet concerning adolescent literacy when I was working for the State of Texas. It's a summary crafted from 3 or 4 source documents. I don't recall the documents, so any plagiarism is completely inadvertent. Let me know if you find this useful.
· Provide appropriate and on-going professional development.
· Assess reading instruction on a regular, on-going basis. Make literacy a cornerstone of every course.
1. Direct, Explicit Comprehension Instruction
a. Includes teaching strategies to help students understand what they read, how they understood it, summarizing, activating prior knowledge, looking for information, self-monitoring, etc.
b. Includes teacher modeling, where the teacher reads the text aloud, making her own use of strategies and practices apparent to the student.
c. Includes scaffolding, where the teacher gives high support for students practicing new skills and then decreases support as the student becomes more confident.
d. Includes apprentice models, where students support other students in content centered learning relationships.
e. Includes comprehension monitoring, where the reader decides if she is understanding the text. If not, she uses “fix-up” strategies like re-stating, looking back and looking ahead in the text for context clues.
f. Teaching story structure to aid in comprehension: Setting, initiating events, internal reactions, goals, attempts and outcomes.
g. Teaching question answering: Where the student are taught that questions can be answered using both the text and prior knowledge.
h. Teaching question generating: Where student are taught to create their own questions about a text.
2. Effective Instructional Principles Embedded In Content
a. Includes instruction and practice in reading and writing skills specific to the subject area.
b. The content teacher must emphasize the reading and writing practices specific to the subject. Teach students to read and write like historians, scientists, mathematicians, etc.
c. Use tools to help struggling readers with comprehension. Examples include: graphic organizers, prompted outlines, structured reviews, guided instruction, etc.
3. Motivation And Self-Directed Learning
a. Includes support for independent learning.
b. Help promote relevancy in what the student reads and learns. Relevancy can be as easy as letting the student see how current learning will impact learning latter in the course (connectedness) or letting a student re-teach the material to another student.
c. Provide motivation and incentives for independent reading.
4. Text-Based Collaborative Learning
a. Small groups of students discussing and using information from a variety of texts. One example is to have students read different texts on the same topic, and then let them teach the group what they learned.
5. Strategic Tutoring
a. Teach the specific skills of decoding, comprehension, fluency and writing.
b. Teach learning strategies that will allow the student to complete independent tasks in the future.
6. Diverse Texts
a. High interest material that will help transition students to more rigorous material.
b. Have a variety of levels across a variety of topics.
7. Intensive Writing
a. Writing is thinking. All courses must have an intensive writing component.
b. Direct instruction should be connected to the kinds of writing tasks students will have to perform in specific subject areas.
c. As students progress through the grades, the quantity and quality of writing assignments must be increased.
d. Writing skills that directly support literacy: Grammar and spelling.
8. A Technology Component
a. Provides opportunities for reinforcement and guided practice.
9. On-Going Formative Assessment Of Students
a. Often informal, daily assessments on how students are progressing under current instructional practices.
10. Extended Time For Literacy
a. Double-dose English/Language Arts.
b. Provide a course in reading strategies and comprehension.
c. Students behind in skills need 2 to 4 hours a day in reading related activities to catch up. This does not have to be in one specific class. In fact, there must be reading and writing activities in every course.
11. Professional Development
a. Have training with an emphasis on reading techniques appropriate to content based courses.
b. Have reading coaches who are able to model support strategies for content based teachers and provide some in-class support.
c. Training must be long-term and on-going.
d. Include information on adult learning and classroom conditions needed to effect sustained change.
12. On-Going Summative Assessment Of Students And Programs
a. Formal data for evaluation and accountability.
13. Teacher Teams
a. Interdisciplinary teams that meet regularly to discuss students and align instruction
b. Create reading instruction teams. Have them read and research on effective practices, share them with the campus and model for teachers.
14. Leadership
a. Must make literacy a foundation of the school. Inspect and enforce expectations.
b. Must attend the same professional development as the instructional staff.
15. A Comprehensive And Coordinated Literacy Program
a. Includes cross-curricular and in and out of school activities.
Specific Problems
For students who are struggling with word identification, use:
· Systematic, explicit and direct instruction.
· High-frequency sound-spelling relationships and words should be the focus of instruction.
· Opportunities to practice identification of words in context should be frequent.
· Connections among word analysis, word recognition and semantic access should be emphasized.
For student who are struggling with fluency (the ability to read quickly, accurately and with appropriate expression), use:
· Repeated reading
· Guided reading practice
· Guided oral reading instruction
There is a close relationship between fluency and comprehension.
Vocabulary: Vocabulary is strongly related to general reading achievement. Why, is still unanswered. However, to teach vocabulary:
· Repetition and support are essential. Teach vocabulary from context and in an organized fashion. Do not teach vocabulary in isolation. Learning vocabulary should be an active process.
· Teach the words that fall between the words they already know and the words no one ever uses. Teaching vocabulary in context in content courses is appropriate and useful.
Adolescent Literacy: Action Summary
Introduction
Why do adolescent readers struggle? The problem is generally not illiteracy, but comprehension. The student can read but he does not understand what he has read. As such, adolescent literacy remediation does not involve re-teaching elementary school level materials. Instead it must be grounded in teaching problem solving processes.
Elementary Literacy = Recall
Adolescent Literacy = Comprehension
Secondary education must continue to focus on literacy, because the skill set needed to succeed academically continues to get more advanced as the student progresses through the grades.
Effective Practices
These practices work best in combinations. Do not rely on just one strategy. Keep data so you can make effective and productive changes. Remember, effective adolescent literacy interventions must address comprehension.
Keys
· With instruction: Be overt. Explicitly explain to students how and when to use certain strategies. Have the students employ these strategies in multiple contexts with multiple texts.
Introduction
Why do adolescent readers struggle? The problem is generally not illiteracy, but comprehension. The student can read but he does not understand what he has read. As such, adolescent literacy remediation does not involve re-teaching elementary school level materials. Instead it must be grounded in teaching problem solving processes.
Elementary Literacy = Recall
Adolescent Literacy = Comprehension
Secondary education must continue to focus on literacy, because the skill set needed to succeed academically continues to get more advanced as the student progresses through the grades.
Effective Practices
These practices work best in combinations. Do not rely on just one strategy. Keep data so you can make effective and productive changes. Remember, effective adolescent literacy interventions must address comprehension.
Keys
· With instruction: Be overt. Explicitly explain to students how and when to use certain strategies. Have the students employ these strategies in multiple contexts with multiple texts.
· Provide appropriate and on-going professional development.
· Assess reading instruction on a regular, on-going basis. Make literacy a cornerstone of every course.
1. Direct, Explicit Comprehension Instruction
a. Includes teaching strategies to help students understand what they read, how they understood it, summarizing, activating prior knowledge, looking for information, self-monitoring, etc.
b. Includes teacher modeling, where the teacher reads the text aloud, making her own use of strategies and practices apparent to the student.
c. Includes scaffolding, where the teacher gives high support for students practicing new skills and then decreases support as the student becomes more confident.
d. Includes apprentice models, where students support other students in content centered learning relationships.
e. Includes comprehension monitoring, where the reader decides if she is understanding the text. If not, she uses “fix-up” strategies like re-stating, looking back and looking ahead in the text for context clues.
f. Teaching story structure to aid in comprehension: Setting, initiating events, internal reactions, goals, attempts and outcomes.
g. Teaching question answering: Where the student are taught that questions can be answered using both the text and prior knowledge.
h. Teaching question generating: Where student are taught to create their own questions about a text.
2. Effective Instructional Principles Embedded In Content
a. Includes instruction and practice in reading and writing skills specific to the subject area.
b. The content teacher must emphasize the reading and writing practices specific to the subject. Teach students to read and write like historians, scientists, mathematicians, etc.
c. Use tools to help struggling readers with comprehension. Examples include: graphic organizers, prompted outlines, structured reviews, guided instruction, etc.
3. Motivation And Self-Directed Learning
a. Includes support for independent learning.
b. Help promote relevancy in what the student reads and learns. Relevancy can be as easy as letting the student see how current learning will impact learning latter in the course (connectedness) or letting a student re-teach the material to another student.
c. Provide motivation and incentives for independent reading.
4. Text-Based Collaborative Learning
a. Small groups of students discussing and using information from a variety of texts. One example is to have students read different texts on the same topic, and then let them teach the group what they learned.
5. Strategic Tutoring
a. Teach the specific skills of decoding, comprehension, fluency and writing.
b. Teach learning strategies that will allow the student to complete independent tasks in the future.
6. Diverse Texts
a. High interest material that will help transition students to more rigorous material.
b. Have a variety of levels across a variety of topics.
7. Intensive Writing
a. Writing is thinking. All courses must have an intensive writing component.
b. Direct instruction should be connected to the kinds of writing tasks students will have to perform in specific subject areas.
c. As students progress through the grades, the quantity and quality of writing assignments must be increased.
d. Writing skills that directly support literacy: Grammar and spelling.
8. A Technology Component
a. Provides opportunities for reinforcement and guided practice.
9. On-Going Formative Assessment Of Students
a. Often informal, daily assessments on how students are progressing under current instructional practices.
10. Extended Time For Literacy
a. Double-dose English/Language Arts.
b. Provide a course in reading strategies and comprehension.
c. Students behind in skills need 2 to 4 hours a day in reading related activities to catch up. This does not have to be in one specific class. In fact, there must be reading and writing activities in every course.
11. Professional Development
a. Have training with an emphasis on reading techniques appropriate to content based courses.
b. Have reading coaches who are able to model support strategies for content based teachers and provide some in-class support.
c. Training must be long-term and on-going.
d. Include information on adult learning and classroom conditions needed to effect sustained change.
12. On-Going Summative Assessment Of Students And Programs
a. Formal data for evaluation and accountability.
13. Teacher Teams
a. Interdisciplinary teams that meet regularly to discuss students and align instruction
b. Create reading instruction teams. Have them read and research on effective practices, share them with the campus and model for teachers.
14. Leadership
a. Must make literacy a foundation of the school. Inspect and enforce expectations.
b. Must attend the same professional development as the instructional staff.
15. A Comprehensive And Coordinated Literacy Program
a. Includes cross-curricular and in and out of school activities.
Specific Problems
For students who are struggling with word identification, use:
· Systematic, explicit and direct instruction.
· High-frequency sound-spelling relationships and words should be the focus of instruction.
· Opportunities to practice identification of words in context should be frequent.
· Connections among word analysis, word recognition and semantic access should be emphasized.
For student who are struggling with fluency (the ability to read quickly, accurately and with appropriate expression), use:
· Repeated reading
· Guided reading practice
· Guided oral reading instruction
There is a close relationship between fluency and comprehension.
Vocabulary: Vocabulary is strongly related to general reading achievement. Why, is still unanswered. However, to teach vocabulary:
· Repetition and support are essential. Teach vocabulary from context and in an organized fashion. Do not teach vocabulary in isolation. Learning vocabulary should be an active process.
· Teach the words that fall between the words they already know and the words no one ever uses. Teaching vocabulary in context in content courses is appropriate and useful.
The Power of a Common Scope and Sequence
For over four years, it was my responsibility to provide field based support and resources for failing schools in Texas. During that time, I worked with numerous districts and schools and was able to visits thousands of classrooms. There were a lot of things that we learned, but most telling was that the schools that struggled the most were the ones that did not make a state aligned curriculum available for teachers. Individual teachers, responsible for multiple preps, can not keep up with ever changing curriculum requirements, no matter how hard they work. They have to have tools and support.
As such, one of my first tasks was to determine if the district provided a common scope and sequence. If it did, ensuring the consistent use in the classroom became the focus. If a common scope and sequence was not provided, then securing one became paramount. This has become easier over time. Six years ago, there were few options available and they were expensive. Fortunately, Aldine ISD stepped forward have gave access to their scope and sequence to a group of failing small and rural schools, for free. The near immediate success that those schools had in improving student performance created a ripple effect that has been a benefit to both teachers and students.
The first benefit was that the use of a common scope and sequence went from being a good idea, to becoming a recognized best practice. The second benefit was that the regional service centers in Texas banded together to create some curriculum collaboratives, thus providing all districts with access to affordable, aligned and ever evolving curriculum resources. The third benefit was that we learned that an outsourced scope and sequence can reap immediate rewards. Finally, and most importantly, the fourth benefit was that student performance improved.
The days of individual teachers deciding what to teach and when to teach it has to end. Collectively we are always smarter as a whole, that as an individual. Instead of expecting teachers to be experts in all facets of content, let’s give them the tools they need so they can focus their attention on becoming experts in content delivery.
Your turn….
As such, one of my first tasks was to determine if the district provided a common scope and sequence. If it did, ensuring the consistent use in the classroom became the focus. If a common scope and sequence was not provided, then securing one became paramount. This has become easier over time. Six years ago, there were few options available and they were expensive. Fortunately, Aldine ISD stepped forward have gave access to their scope and sequence to a group of failing small and rural schools, for free. The near immediate success that those schools had in improving student performance created a ripple effect that has been a benefit to both teachers and students.
The first benefit was that the use of a common scope and sequence went from being a good idea, to becoming a recognized best practice. The second benefit was that the regional service centers in Texas banded together to create some curriculum collaboratives, thus providing all districts with access to affordable, aligned and ever evolving curriculum resources. The third benefit was that we learned that an outsourced scope and sequence can reap immediate rewards. Finally, and most importantly, the fourth benefit was that student performance improved.
The days of individual teachers deciding what to teach and when to teach it has to end. Collectively we are always smarter as a whole, that as an individual. Instead of expecting teachers to be experts in all facets of content, let’s give them the tools they need so they can focus their attention on becoming experts in content delivery.
Your turn….
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Recommended Article
The Case for National Standards
By Randi Weingarten
Monday, February 16, 2009; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021501257.html
This is a good article. Ms. Weingarten makes numerous valid points and I concur with her call to create a national model.
Your turn…
By Randi Weingarten
Monday, February 16, 2009; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/15/AR2009021501257.html
This is a good article. Ms. Weingarten makes numerous valid points and I concur with her call to create a national model.
Your turn…
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