Understanding How Poverty Impacts Students’ Reading Achievement

1. Understanding How Poverty Impacts Students’ Reading Achievement Jo Hartmann, TIE Technology and Innovation in Education jhartmann@tie.net 605-394-1876

2. The heartbreak of ostrich dyslexia Jo Hartmann TIE

3. Studies indicate that children are frequently placed in special education because of their low reading level. Jo Hartmann TIE

4. OK, so nobody’s perfect! • Many factors exist that affect the degree of success or failure. • Some are beyond the control of the teacher and the school staff Jo Hartmann TIE

5. National Reading Panel • Phonemic awareness • Phonics • Fluency • Vocabulary • Comprehension Jo Hartmann TIE

6. OK! So What Does That Mean? • Phonemic Awareness – The ability to hear and manipulate sounds • Phonics – The ability to sound out words • Fluency – Automatic recall of how the printed words sound Jo Hartmann TIE

7. Vocabulary – Knowledge of a variety of words’ meanings and correct placement in sentences • Comprehension – Understanding the text; bringing meaning to the author’s words Jo Hartmann TIE

8. What’s missing from the picture? • Experiential background the student brings • Motivation Jo Hartmann TIE

9. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Children in America Hart-Risley’s study selected 42 families from professional, working class and poverty level homes Each had a 6-month old child Tracked every word spoken to the infants Jo Hartmann TIE

10. Every word classified n-v-adj. Etc. Every communication classified as a question, affirmation or negative 23 million bytes of information in all Jo Hartmann TIE

11. By the age of 4: • Children of professionals exposed to 45 million words • Children of working class families 22 million words • Children in the poverty class 13 million words Jo Hartmann TIE

12. Factors that make a difference in achievement • Socioeconomic status • Teacher capability • Instructional leadership • A foundation of initial success in any endeavor • Language/vocabulary/concept development Jo Hartmann TIE

13. Variance in test scores is explained by: • Home and family factors – 49% • Teacher qualifications – 43% • Class size – 8% Jo Hartmann TIE

14. USA Today says… • If a child comes from an economically deprived home with a mom who has a poor vocabulary, by age 3 his fate just may be sealed. He will possible never catch up in school and have lifelong struggles with learning, a new study shows. Jo Hartmann TIE

15. The most accurate predictors of school success are the level of vocabulary a kindergartner has and … guess what else … Jo Hartmann TIE

16. Hickory, dickory dock • Experts believe that in order for a child to reach school ready to learn to read, he or she should have had 1,000 books read to them by the time they are 5 years old. Jo Hartmann TIE

17. Chatter.. chatter • Good readers learn words by hundreds and thousands. Many students who are five to six years of age know between 2,500 to 5,000 words. Jo Hartmann TIE

18. Do not pass go, do not collect… • Many states estimate the number of prison cells they will need in ten years by looking at the number of fourth grade students who are poor readers. Jo Hartmann TIE

19. During the primary or early school years, students are estimated to learn around 3,000 words every year. Jo Hartmann TIE

20. In order to accomplish that, every day, students must learn what eight new words mean. In grades 3-9, there are more than 88,000 distinct word families in the printed English materials students will encounter. Jo Hartmann TIE

21. Do the differences last? Princeton study of SAT scores compared against income One formula holds true $5,000 = 20 points This is a longitudinal 60 year study Very few exceptions Jo Hartmann TIE

22. Another significant study 1986 University of Illinois 155 fifth grade readers Same superintendent Same principal Same teachers Same 900 hours in school Jo Hartmann TIE

23. Reading outside schools Readers in 90th percentile read 37 minutes per day Readers in 50th percentile read 11 minutes per day Lowest readers averaged 1 minute per day Jo Hartmann TIE

24. Differences in reading times 36 minutes difference x 365 days Which equals 219 hours Which equals 2 ¼ million words Thus, the Matthew effect Jo Hartmann TIE

25. How about summer school? 120 hours long 30 hours devoted to reading Jo Hartmann TIE

26. How about South Dakota? • 27,352 poor children • 6,197 adults and children receive $483 per month for a family of 3 from TANF • 25,910 children receive food stamps • 82% children under 6 have all parents in the work force Jo Hartmann TIE

27. Does experiential background make a difference? • Does the teacher make a difference? Jo Hartmann TIE

28. K Higher S.E.S. Low S.E.S. Jo Hartmann TIE

29. IT’S THE CLIMATE!!! Jo Hartmann TIE

30. The Four Basics of Re-learning to Read • Modeling • Activating Prior Knowledge • Vocabulary • Visualizing Jo Hartmann TIE

31. Modeling • Read aloud to students EVERY day • Books on tape • Neurological impress • Paired reading • Reader’s Theatre • SSR and DEAR time Jo Hartmann TIE

32. Modeling with Technology • Kurzweil 3000-http://www.kurzweiledu.com/proof.asp Jo Hartmann TIE

33. Readers’ Theater sites Readers’ Theater Scripts and Plays http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm Internet Resources for Conducting Readers’ Theatre http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/carrick Scripts for Schools http://scriptsforschools.com/ Jo Hartmann TIE

34. Activating Prior Knowledge • Connecting the new information in the text to previously learned information in the students’ heads • KWL • Anticipation Guide • Predicting Jo Hartmann TIE

35. Activating prior knowledge with technology • The Power of Visual Learning • http://www.inspiration.com/vlearning/index.cfm • KWHL template - http://www.usd305.com/staffdev/tech%20vision/Inspiration/kwhl.htm Jo Hartmann TIE

36. Vocabulary • The connection between reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge has been clear for many years • Looking up the meanings of words on a list is the least effective vocabulary strategy Jo Hartmann TIE

37. I’ve Always Done It That Way • Try these strategies instead… • Multiple exposures to words • Exposure to words in meaningful contexts • Rich, varied information about each word • Establishment of ties between words and students’ prior knowledge • An active student role in the process Jo Hartmann TIE

38. Teaching vocabulary • Use interesting words yourself in the class • Provide multiple opportunities for your students to discuss content • Read aloud to your students every day • Provide time for students to read in class Jo Hartmann TIE

39. Vocabulary contd • Provide students with technical words in your subject area • Word walls, word sorts • Have students keep a vocabulary box, file, or notebook • Use film clips and videotapes in class Jo Hartmann TIE

40. 8-10 words per week • Spiraling learning • Teach words the students will encounter • Teach prefixes, suffixes and roots • Analogies, comparison and contrast Jo Hartmann TIE

41. Technology to Help Vocabulary Growth • What’s in the Bag? http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=17 • http://www.wordsmith.org Jo Hartmann TIE

42. Don’t forget that math is language, too. • http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html • And science… and social studies… and … you get the picture! Jo Hartmann TIE

43. Visualizing • Marzano’s work states that non-linguistic representation of words and concepts helps students learn • Pictorial representations • MO-MA-MU … movement, manipulatives, and music • Think alouds Jo Hartmann TIE

44. Technology to help visualization • Doodle Splash • http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=22 • Literary Graffiti • http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=23 • Comic Creator • http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=21 Jo Hartmann TIE

45. Why Read Anyway? • To cope with complexity • To cope with leisure time • To communicate over time • To communicate over space • For pleasure and enjoyment • To make sense of life’s experiences Jo Hartmann TIE

46. Pedagogy of poverty • Low level tasks • Giving information • Asking recall questions • Giving directions • Making assignments • Monitoring seat work • Reviewing assinments Jo Hartmann TIE

47. Giving tests • Reviewing tests • Assigning homework • Settling disputes • Publishing noncompliance • Correcting papers • Giving grades Jo Hartmann TIE

48. In high achieving schools, whether affluent of 100% free and reduced lunch, teachers spend at least half of their time in Instruction!!!! Jo Hartmann TIE

49. What does that look like? • Teachers explain the task • Teachers model the task • Teachers think aloud while modeling the task • Teachers coach students attempting the task • Students accomplish the task independently Jo Hartmann TIE

50. While we’re leaving no child behind, don’t forget the late bloomers Jo Hartmann TIE