Schools That Successfully Serve Diverse Student Populations

1. Schools That Successfully Serve Diverse Student Populations Debra S. Peterson Minnesota Center for Reading Research University of Minnesota www.cehd.umn.edu/reading/

2. Characteristics of Effective SchoolsTaylor, Pressley, & Pearson (2002)

3. Collaboration Collaboration on reading instruction across the school: • Grade-level teams • Grade-level teachers and specialists • Across-grade levels • There is a sense that everyone is responsible for every child

4. Assessments • Data on students are collected weekly and used to inform instruction on a daily basis. • Data are regularly analyzed by grade-level teams including the specialists (i.e. ELL, Special Education, Title I) that work with those students.

5. Parents As Partners • Schools intentionally work to create an inviting environment for parents and the community. • Teachers think of parents as partners in the students’ education and communicate weekly/monthly with them (i.e. phone calls, websites, newsletters, home visits).

6. Leadership • Shared leadership between administration and teacher leaders in decisions about school-wide reading instruction • Many schools have a leadership team that includes administrators, reading coaches, representatives from each grade level and specialists

7. Collective Efficacy • School personnel believe that everyone is working together to support students and that this coordinated team effort will result in students’ increased growth and achievement in reading and writing.

8. Building Teachers’ Knowledge and Application of Scientifically-Based Reading Research • Common understanding across the grades and across schools of the scope and sequence of skills/strategies, the district framework for instruction, consistent language and terminology • On-going, job embedded, collaborative professional development • Mentors or coaches to model, observe, provide feedback on instruction for reflection on and refinement of practice • Time to use student assessment data to inform instructional decisions as grade level teams and across grades in each school

9. Discussion Question Talk with a partner about the elements of effective schools that you have experienced: • Collaboration • School-wide Use of Assessment Data • Parent Partnerships • Leadership • Collective Efficacy

10. Characteristics of Accomplished Teachers: A National View from Taylor, Pressley, Pearson (2000)

11. Things to Consider When Designing Balanced Literacy Instruction • Balance of whole group/small group • Balance of grade-level/ instructional-level materials • Balance of heterogeneous/ homogenous groups • Balance of skills/strategies

12. Balance of Whole Group and Small Group • Research does not specify an exact percentage (50-50, 60-40??) • Too much whole group instruction means there is less differentiation of instruction occurring for students who struggle or who need challenge • Too much small group instruction means students are working on their own for long periods of time (i.e. off task behavior, not enough explicit instruction and modeling from the teacher)

13. Balanced Instruction • Provide many opportunities for explicit instruction in the 5 main areas of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics/word recognition strategies, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension) in both whole group and small group situations • Provide many opportunities for guided practice in small groups • Provide many opportunities for independent practice with feedback from the teacher

14. Consider Reading Levels • Frustration Level- Reads with less than 90% accuracy • Instructional Level- Reads with 93-95% accuracy • Independent Level- Reads with more than 95% accuracy

15. What Do You Do When Grade Level Material is At Students’ Frustration Level? • Make text more accessible to the students who cannot read it on their own (i.e. listen to text read on tape, read an easier form of the same material) • Provide more support (i.e. small group instruction with teacher, partner reading, choral reading) • Access prior knowledge for the story or topic • Have the ELL or Title teachers pre-teach the story or topic before it is introduced in the classroom

16. Schools That “Beat the Odds” • 120 minutes of reading instruction for all students (not including: spelling, grammar, handwriting, Writers’ Workshop) • Time used differently based on the developmental needs of the students (i.e. Grade 3 students should read independently for 20-30 minutes a day in school and can do it in one sitting—Kindergarten students may be able to read independently for 15-20 minutes a day in 2 or 3 sittings)

17. “Beat the Odds” continued • Interventions were done in addition to the 120 minutes of core reading instruction. • Interventions matched students’ needs. • Intervention teachers collaborated with classroom teachers to have a cohesive reading program.

18. Mean Times Spent on Reading in REA Schools (Taylor & Peterson, 2006) K - 91(114) min. Reading, 55 min. L Arts - 169 Min. Literacy Gr. 1 -106 (125) min. Reading, 37 min. L Arts - 162 Min. Literacy Gr. 2 - 102 (124)min. Reading, 37 min. L Arts - 161 Min. Literacy GR. 3 - 95 (120) min. Reading, 46 min. L Arts - 166 Min. Literacy

19. Elements of Effective Instruction (National Reading Panel Report, 2000) • Phonemic awareness • Explicit, systematic Phonics/Word Recognition Strategies • Fluency • Vocabulary • Comprehension

20. Elements of Effective Instruction Not Addressed by the NRP Report • Higher Level Thinking • Motivation • Culturally Responsive Instruction • School/Parent Partnerships • Time Spent Reading • Delivery Model • Using student assessment data to differentiate instruction

21. A Model of Reading Instruction that Maximizes Students’ Cognitive Engagement in Literacy Learning(Taylor, Pearson, Peterson, & Rodriguez, 2003) Focusing on higher level thinking Teaching word recognition and comprehension as strategies, not simply as skills Using a student support stance towards instruction in addition to a teacher directed stance Having students engaged in active vs. passive responding to literacy activities

22. Percent of High Vs. Low Questioning Teachers Observed Using Particular Type of Questioning

23. Percent of High Vs. Low Questioning Teachers Observed Using Particular Type of Activity

24. Higher Level Questions to Stretch Children’s Thinking If you were the main character, what would you have done the same as the main character? What might you have done differently? Why? How did the character change? Can you compare anything in this story to something that has happened in your life? What is the author trying to tell us? What is the theme? What do you think were 3 main ideas (or most important ideas) in this article (for non-fiction)?

25. High Comprehension Skill Teachers Have students make predictions, but with no discussion as to why this is being done or why this is helpful. Do a picture walk as a group. Often the teacher does much of the talking. Have students retell a story or complete a story map, but with no discussion as to why this is being done or why this is helpful. Talk about what a main idea is, what a supporting detail is. Talk about problem/solution, fiction/nonfiction, etc.

26. High Comprehension Strategy Teachers Remind students to do a picture walk on their own before they read, predict as they read, do a story map after they read. Review with them why this is important, how it will help them. Review steps of a reading strategy, such as Reciprocal Teaching, SAIL, etc. and remind students to do this as they are reading. After they have read, ask them what strategies they used.

27. Teacher Directed vs. Student Support • Balancing teacher talk and student action • Giving constructive feedback during guided practice (i.e. coaching) • Gradually releasing responsibility to students (i.e. How can you get them to do more and you to do less?)

28. Active Responding • Think-pair-share instead or oral turn-taking • Every single child writing on a whiteboard, clipboard, journal, etc. instead of watching one child or the teacher write • Every single child reading instead of reading turn-taking. This can be done through silent reading, whisper reading, partner reading, choral reading, etc.

29. Discussion Questions: • How can the core reading instruction in our school be even more effective in meeting the needs of diverse learners? • How are all students being challenged with rigorous, motivating reading instruction? • How can we maximize students’ cognitive engagement during every moment of reading instruction?