Poor readers need what good readers need…

1. Poor readers need what good readers need… Dick Allington University of Tennessee

2. Classroom reading lessons really matters… • Both Scanlon (2010) and McGill-Franzen (1999) provide evidence that extensive professional development with K-1 teachers can reduce the numbers of kids retained or referred to special education. • Scanlon found PD more effective than 1-1 expert tutoring at solving the problems of struggling readers. • McGill-Franzen found PD resulted in above national average reading performances, in high-poverty sites.

3. A child who is not reading on grade level by the end of third grade is four times as likely to drop out of school when compared to peers who are reading on grade level. Poor children who are not reading on grade level by the end of third grade are 13 times more likely to drop out than wealthier and proficient peers. Early Intervention is Key See “Double Jeopardy”, Anne E. Casey Foundation and Hernandez, D.J. (2011), paper presented at AERA meeting in New Orleans, LA

4. Roughly 90% of poor children who are reading on grade level by the end of third grade do graduate on time. This rate of graduation does not differ from proficient and wealthier peers. Roughly 90% of all students who fail to graduate failed to be reading on grade level by the end of third grade. Early Intervention is Key See “Double Jeopardy”, Anne E. Casey Foundation and Hernandez, D.J. (2011), paper presented at AERA meeting in New Orleans, LA

5. “There is now considerable evidence, from recent intervention studies, that reading difficulties in most beginning readers may not be caused by biologically based cognitive deficits intrinsic to the child, but may in fact be related to the opportunities provided for children learning to read.” p. 378 Vellutino, F. R., & Fletcher, J. M. (2005). Developmental dyslexia. In M. S. C. Hulme (Ed.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp 362-378). Malden, MA: Blackwell

6. Redesigning reading lessons… • What kids do during reading block predicts what kids learn during reading block. • Let’s try a simple but research-based design.

7. Every day every child… Will read something they have selected. Will read something accurately. Will read something they understand. Will write something that is meaningful. Will talk to peers about their reading and writing. Will listen to a fluent adult read aloud. w

8. Read something they selected. • Choice had a large effect size in the Guthrie and Humenick meta-analysis of research on improving comprehension. • Adults typically read texts they choose, not texts that they were assigned. • When will kids learn how to choose books if we offer only teacher-selected texts?

9. Improved Reading Comprehension Source: John Guthrie and Nicole Humenick (2004). Motivating Students to Read

10. Access precedes self-selection… • Large and multi-level classroom libraries are critical. • All classrooms K-12 need libraries of 500 to 1000 titles in order to provide easy access to lots of books. • In too many schools, there is no budget for building classroom libraries. • But there is a budget for workbooks, photocopying, and computers, none of which have ever provided evidence of improving reading performance. None.

11. Reads something accurately • Much reading at 98%+ accuracy is essential for reading acceleration. • Recently Ehri and her colleagues noted that volume of high-success reading (98%+ accuracy) explained which students exhibited accelerated reading growth. • Same finding in O’Connor and colleague’s study of 6th grade struggling readers. • Adds to 65 years of research on optimal text difficulty (Betts, 1946).

12. CCSS focus on complex texts… • Research indicates that high-success reading is a critical factor in developing reading proficiency. • Complex texts must be enormously supported for kids to benefit from their use. • Do your teachers know how to provide this extensive support?

13. High-success reading is essential to developing oral reading fluency. • It is one reason why rereading texts multiple times has been demonstrated successful at improving fluency. • But extensive high-success reading produces similar fluency gains but greater vocabulary and comprehension improvement (Kuhn, 2006).

14. Reads something they understand. • Reading without comprehension is simply word calling, not reading. • It also produces no reading growth. • Understanding is different from remembering. • Recall of text information is easier than understanding text information. • Do reading lessons assess recall or understanding?

15. CCSS again… • Complexity involves both reading accuracy and understanding while reading. • Do your teachers know how to foster understanding of texts, complex texts? • Or are they more familiar with asking questions during and after reading? • Questions are assessment not instruction.

16. Wonderment… • OK. Not all questions focus on remembering something from the story. • But most questions teacher pose do. • Teachers might ask more “wonderment” questions such as, “I wonder whether anyone in this group has ever had a problem like the one Ezra experienced in this story?” • “Can anyone recall another story we read where one of the characters had a problem with a dog?”

17. Writes about something that is meaningful to them. • Adults rarely write on topics they are assigned. • Writing involves composing (thus the term composition), or creating a text. • Few of us can write well on topics we neither care about or know very little about. • Try writing a 5 paragraph essay on recent discoveries about the Inca empire.

18. Worksheets are not writing. • Writing to a prompt is not the sort of writing adults usually do. • Instead, when we write in the real world we write about things we care about and know about. • So why has so much school writing been about topics we don’t care about or know much about? • Why has school writing been so minimal?

19. CCSS and composition… • CCSS expects far more writing than has been the usual case in schools. • Writing and reading development share a reciprocal relationship. • All good writers are good readers but not all good readers are good writers. • Poor readers are rarely good writers.

20. We can create an instructional plan where reading and writing support each other. • But that will be an enormous shift in instructional plans. • Do your teachers know how to plan reading/writing instruction that is well coordinated?

21. Talks to peers about their reading and writing. • In the real world we talk with others about what we’re reading and what we are writing. • In school we turn in our papers and get a grade. • Research shows the power of conversation with peers (Applebee, et al, 2003; Nystrand, 2006). • Better outcomes when kids talk to a peer than when kids spend the same amount of time highlighting important information after reading (Fall, et al, 2000).

22. Literate conversation is powerful but little used… • Nystrand (2006) summarizes the research on engaging kids in literate conversations. • Notes even small amounts of literate conversation (10 mins.) a day improves standardized test comprehension outcomes. • But in too many classrooms (K-12) no literate conversation is observed. • Finding holds regardless of family SES or kids reading levels.

23. Literate conversation… • Literate conversations are powerful in developing both better readers and better writers, but it is rarely used. • Almost 90% of 8th and 9th grade English and Science classrooms provided no opportunities for students to engage each other in literate conversation. 90%! • Low-achievement students had the fewest minutes of literate conversation.

24. We can develop the proficiencies teachers need to insert opportunities for literate conversation into their classroom lessons. • We could, but few schools have had such a focus in their professional development plans for teachers. • Few schools evaluate teachers based on the literate conversations in their classrooms.

25. A little talk goes a long way… • With little guidance comes few classrooms with opportunities to engage in literate conversation with peers. • Applebee, Langer, Nystrand & Gamoran (2003) demonstrated that simply adding a few minutes of daily literate conversation produced strong impacts on learning. • Even 4 minute opportunities daily produced such effects.

26. Listens to a fluent adult read aloud • Read-alouds develop: • Vocabulary • World knowledge • Sense of story • Awareness of genres But few teachers above grade 2 read aloud every day. Thus, few teachers take advantage of the power of read-alouds. Is reading aloud a part of every day in your classrooms?

27. Finding the time every day… • Teachers often tell us they don’t have time during the school day to allow students to self-select books or listen to a read aloud. • Perhaps that is true if much time is spent on activities research has shown are ineffective/ • Worksheets, test preparation, interrogation, and round robin oral reading.

28. Where to find the time… • Eliminate worksheets, test prep, round robin reading and interrogation from daily lessons. • Replace this time with • Literate conversations • Read-alouds • Self-selected reading • Self-selected writing The outcome is improved reading and writing and the development of real readers and real writers.

29. It isn’t time that is the problem… • It is the design of lessons where changes need to be made. • It is teacher beliefs that need to change. • It is the nature of the work that needs improvement. • WE can make these changes, kids cannot.

30. It isn’t money that is the problem… • Schools spend enormous amounts of money on things that have never been demonstrated to improve reading or writing achievement. • These expenditures include funds for workbooks, test prep, computer-based activities, and core reading/language arts anthologies. • It’s not the lack of funding that is the problem.

31. We could… teach every child to read and write and also create real readers and writers. • But achieving both goals will mean we will change how students spend time in our schools.

32. Are we up to it? • The students are waiting.

33. My website • www.teachersread.net