September, 2011 Concord, NH Lynn Fielding

1. September, 2011 Concord, NH Lynn Fielding 509.528.6920 From Cradle to College: Predicting and Preventing Reading Failure

2. Kennewick Kennewick Portland

3. Kennewick School District Enrollment: 15,000 Schools: 14 Elementary 4 Middle Schools 3 High Schools 1 Vocational Center 53% Free and Reduced Budget: $152 M • Ethnic Make- up: • Anglo 74% • Hispanic 22% • Asian 2% • African-American 2% • Staff: • Teachers 960 • Classified 774 • Administrators 60

4. The Structure of the Problem

5. Mindy Tony

6. The Most Important Slide in the Presentation NWEA RIT Scale +2 yrs +1 yrs Grade level -1 yrs Cradle to College - 2 yrs -3 yrs 0 1 2 3 4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Birth to Five Grade K - 10

7. 5 Elements of the Solution Goal: 90% 3rd grade reading goal Curriculum Assessment More Direct Reading Instruction Coaches/Training

9. All students need to make a year of academic growth each year. Students who are 1 to 3 years behind in reading need to make an additional year of growth growth until they catch-up.

10. Parent’s Role “Parents pretty well decide where their child starts kindergarten.” --Lynn Fielding

11. Parent’s Role Parent’s role must start at birth, especially with impacted populations

12. How would entering kindergarten knowing very few basic skills affect a child’s success in school?2008 Thrive by Five Washington Survey 64% of parents believe: “Child will catch up to other children within a year or two.” 27% of parents believe: “Child will be behind other children throughout school years.” 9% of parents: “Not sure”. The single most cost effective thing is to change this perception of parents.

13. “Getting your child ready for kindergarten is the indispensable first step in getting him or her ready for college.” --Paul Rosier, Executive Direction, Washington Association of School Administrators 13

14. (and with a slight edge) Adults who consistently do not and can not create double annual growth should not continue to be in charge of creating it for that critical population of students who require it.

15. “…the level of academic achievement that students attain by eighth grade has a larger impact on their college and career readiness by the time they graduate from high school than anything that happens academically in high school.” ACT, Inc: The Forgotten Middle (2009)

16. Students rarely move from the bottom to the top band. 70% of students are in the same band plus or minus a band in 8th grade as they were at the end of 3rd grade. MOVEMENT BETWEEN THE BANDS

17. NWEA RIT Scale +2 yrs +1 yrs Grade level -1 yrs Cradle to College - 2 yrs -3 yrs 0 1 2 3 4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Birth to Five Grade K - 10

18. Reprinted courtesy Larry Wright and The Detroit News.

19. 98% Mindy 63% 44% 25% 12% Tony -0%

20. 54% to 63% of dropouts

21. Odds of Your Child Enrolling in a Four Year University Total number of freshman seats available at four year universities 1,277,700 Number of students at each grade level 3,752,200 Odds at birth of your child enrolling as a freshman in a four-year university one-in-three  

22. Community College Completion Rates • Typical annual enrollment at all community colleges 10,133,874 • Less non-degree/non-certificate-seeking attendees (12%) -1,216,065 • Certificate- or degree-seeking students 8,917,809 • Full-time two-year equivalent students 4,458,904 • Associate degrees awarded annually 486,293/4,458,904 = • Certificates awarded annually: • Less than one year 133,249 • One to two years 94,724 • More than two, less than four 8,026 • Annual certificates awarded 235,999/4,458,904 = • Total AA and certificates awarded annually 722,292 / 4,458,904 = 11% 5% 16%

23. The Power of Prediction Your current structure and resource allocation is perfectly designed for your current results. Maintain your current program and you can predict June student outcomes in September. When you can accurately predict the outcomes, you take responsibility for changing them if you are good, and you give up if you are not.

25. A Working Example Kennewick, WA

29. The 2000 INSIGHT • When we actually said out loud: “We do not know how to do this.” • This was very liberating—because as long as you know what to do, the issue is just working harder at what you have always done. • Telling the truth is always very difficult in this process.

30. Years 2000-2001 (Year 6)

34. Elements of the Solution

35. Monocque-light-weight molded body construction Variable-pitch propeller Radial air cooled engines Name of this plane is reading Retractable landing gear Wing flaps

36. Elements of the Structure Goal: 90% 3rd grade reading goal Curriculum Assessment More Direct Reading Instruction Minutes Coaches/Training Reading Foundations

37. Goal

38. Goal: 90% 3rd grade reading goal Board adopted, school wide Why so early: Because much tougher each later year Kindergarten – first grade research

39. Is there anything more important than teaching students to read? Yes: Safety After safety, why do we use any of a non-reader’s 6 ¼ hrs. a day on anything other than teaching them to read at grade level, given the consequences?

40. Stating the Obvious Reading is our most basic academic skill. 85% of curriculum is delivered by reading, including math--there are far more words than numbers in math textbooks. No other educational success can compensate for failure to teach reading early and well. Change must affect classroom practice.

41. Before 3rd grade, students learn to read. After 3rd grade, they read to learn. • It becomes increasingly more difficult for students to learn to read after 3rd grade. • Far more difficult in middle school than elementary school. Harder still in high school where reading teachers are rare. 41

44. …the generally accepted estimate (is) that reading disability accounts for about 80% of all learning disabilities…Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children Snow, Burns et. al. at page 89

45. Curriculum

46. Curriculum: Imagine It (formerly Open Court) Direct Instruction ( Reading Mastery (K – 5th grade) Because to get to 90%, you have to go through the students who are three years behind It has to work for your lowest readers.

47. Regardless of different parachute styles, materials, and packing, when parachutists jump, they want their chute to open. Our students, like parachutists, take no comfort in something that worked at a different time and place with a different person but does not work for them. The curriculum must work this year with this year’s students, in your school.

48. Roles in Curriculum Adoption Board and Superintendent: If students aren’t learning, its bad curriculum, lack of fidelity to good curriculum, lack of teacher competence, or insufficient time. Administrators: Eliminate unacceptable alternatives from consideration. Criteria: Research, data showing results Clear definition of the student objectives of the curriculum (beyond covering the state standards) Teachers: Get beyond buy-in, sales reps presentations, sales misrepresentations, and political correctness.

49. Assessment

50. You can either fight assessment or embrace it. However, you cannot be a high performance school without embracing assessment. --Dave Montague, Washington Elementary (retired) Kennewick, WA