Using Trade Books to Teach Reading and Increase Achievement

1. UsingTrade Books to Teach Reading and Increase Achievement

2. Creator and Director of 100 Book Challenge • CEO, President • American Reading Company Jane Hileman • Formerly: • School Reading Specialist (K–8) and Reading Clinician • Adjunct Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education • Staff Developer, School District of Philadelphia • Associate Director, PHILADELPHIA READS • Founder, Executive Director, Literacy Action Project

3. Gaeton Zorzi • Chief Academic Officer 100 Book Challenge / American Reading Company • Formerly: • Principal • Regional Superintendent • School District of Philadelphia

4. Rationale:Rethinking the way we teach reading. • Results: Yes, we can. • 6 Non-Negotiables: Take no prisoners.

5. Rationale: Rethinking the way we teach reading.

6. NAEP: Trends in average reading scale scores Students ages 9, 13, and 17: 1971–2004

7. Closing the Gap There is a huge and inexcusable achievement gap between the higher-income and lower-income students, between white students and students of color.

8. Closing the Gap NAEP Major Findings—2003 Approximately twice as many white and Asian students are performing at proficient levels in reading and math compared with African-American and Hispanic students.

9. Closing the Gap Students in high-income schools who earn mostly A’s score at approximately the 80th percentile in reading on high-stakes tests. Students in high-poverty schools who earn mostly A’s score below the 40th percentile in reading on high-stakes tests.

10. Closing the Gap 15-year-old American white students rank second in the world in reading (out of 32 countries). International Comparisons:

11. Closing the Gap 15-year old African-American and Hispanic students rank 29th in the world in reading (out of 32 countries). International Comparisons:

12. Reality Historically, 1 in 10 First Graders reading below level ever catches up

13. Closing the Gap 51% of Philadelphia 9th graders graduate 4 years later. 37% Latino males 46.6% African American males 52.2% European American males 62.0% Asian American males 79.4% Asian American females John Hopkins University Study 2006:

14. Reality 85% of young people in the Juvenile Justice System are functionally illiterate

15. Reality 60% illiteracy among prison inmates

16. Reality Why are some of the children in the U.S.A. so far behind others in reading? What accounts for the achievement gap?

17. 100 BOOK CHALLENGE Avid Readers Much of the difference between high achievers and low achievers in reading is the result of a huge difference in reading experience. Dr. Richard Allington

18. Reality What is the single best predictor of school success? The bedtime story.

19. Reality Mainstream middle-class children enter kindergarten having been read to for over 1700 hours. High poverty children only 25 hours.

20. Reality Average number of books in high poverty homes is less than 1. Stephen Krashen, Los Angeles Average number of books in middle class homes is 199. (How many books do you have in your home?)

21. Reality On the first day of school, Kindergarten teachers can predict with 95% accuracy The reading group (high, middle, low) that the children will be in 5 years later, in 5th grade.

22. Reality The Achievement Gap happens before students ever get to school. Once they get to school, the reading rich get richer and the reading poor get poorer.

23. Findings 4th Graders and Voluntary Reading Outside School 2 years above level, 85th percentile, 1 hour a day 4 years above level, 98th percentile, 2.5 hours a day 2 years below level, below 50th percentile, NO READING

24. Findings Patterns of Reading Practice Terrance Paul, 1996 Average daily reading time is 7 minutes

25. Findings Patterns of Reading Practice Terrance Paul, 1996 Average daily reading time is 7 minutes. Top achieving 5% read 144 times more than lowest 5%. Quantity of trade book reading is the single best predictor of test score performance and success in school. Students improved 2.66 grade levels per year per 60 minutes per school day they spent reading trade books.

26. Reading is more than a set of skills. It is a lifestyle.

27. Closing the Gap Good readers have spent thousands of hours reading thousands of books for their own reasons. There is no shortcut to proficiency. There is no magic computer program. There is no quick-fix instructional model. You can’t get good at reading by just understanding how it works. You’ve got to put in the practice time, like any other human accomplishment. Anyone who wants to be a good reader has to put in the time.

28. Closing the Gap Reading is like driving a car. You can get the basics, but you’ll never integrate all of the small decisions, perceptions, judgments until you’ve spent enough time behind the wheel.

29. Closing the Gap We’ve been teaching kids how to read, but we’ve left the teaching of the reading habit to families. Kids who don’t learn the reading habit, are at a serious disadvantage academically.

30. 10 Ways to be a Better Reader … A Proven System READRead ReadRead readREAD ReadREAD Readread

31. Avid Reader Survey “Students who are academically successful are students who have developed the habit of independent reading.”

32. Avid Reader Survey

33. Avid Reader Survey • Do you love to read? • Did you bring a book with you today to read if you have time? • In the past month have you spent your own money on a book to read for your own purposes? • If you go out for a doctor’s appointment, or something similar, do you take a book with you?

34. Avid Reader Survey • Do you routinely pack a book with you if you go away overnight? • Do you have reading friendships—people with whom you discuss and swap books; where your reading is a regular part of the relationship? • Have you ever read the same book more than once, just because you wanted to?

35. Avid Reader Survey • On most nights, do you read for 30 minutes or more for pleasure? • Did you read a book last night for pleasure? • Do people give you books or bookstore gift certificates as presents because they know you love to read? • Do you ever read what others might consider to be sub-literature, even junk?

36. Avid Reader Survey If you are an avid reader, where did you learn to love to read?

37. Results: Yes, we can.

38. Avid Reading Culture What do you predict would happen in a school or district in which all students read for at least an hour a day because they were avid readers?

39. Improved Reading - 5th Gr. Kearny Elementary School— Philadelphia, PA PSSA Scores—1994–2003

40. Improved Reading - 2nd Gr. Ocean Acres Elementary School, Stafford Township School District Second grade students reading on or above grade level in the 2001–2002 school season

41. Improved Reading - 2nd Gr. Ocean Acres Elementary School, Stafford Township School District Second grade students reading on or above grade level in the 2001–2002 school season

42. Improved Reading - 2nd Gr. Ocean Acres Elementary School, Stafford Township School District Second grade students reading on or above grade level in the 2001–2002 school season

43. Improved Reading - 1st Gr. Chichester Elementary Schools Percentages of 1st grade students reading Below, On, and Above grade level by school.

44. Improved Reading - 1st Gr. Chichester Elementary Schools Percentages of 1st grade students reading Below, On, and Above grade level by school.

45. Improved Reading - 1st-3rd Gr.

46. 6 Non-negotiables: Take no prisoners.

47. #1 Lots of the right books

48. Essential Factor #1: Access to the Right Books

49. #2 Leveling System for Readers and Books

50. #2 Integrated System Integrated Standards-Based System Aligned to national standards and high-stakes tests, the 100 Book Challenge leveling system makes explicit what readers should know and be able to do at each reading level. Students are color-coded at their independent reading level and empowered to self select books within their personal Reading Zone.