Creating a School-Wide Literacy Plan

1. Creating a School-Wide Literacy Plan Richmond Public Schools Assistant Principals Meeting September 28, 2011

2. Priority 1: Literacy Leadership Team • Richmond Public Schools will have an active literacy leadership team at each elementary, middle, and high school to foster student achievement and to support the division’s mission of producing students that are highly successful, contributing citizens in a global society. Each school-based literacy leadership team will conduct regularly scheduled meetings to analyze data and discuss research-based instructional strategies, interventions, enrichment, and student strengths and needs relative to reading, writing, and oral communication. Additionally, literacy leadership teams will consist of the following members as appropriate: principal, assistant principal, Title I reading teachers, ESL teachers, special education representative, Voyager coaches, literacy coaches, media specialist, extended core teacher, and/or the English department chairperson.

3. Literacy Leadership Teams (LLT) • Literacy Leadership Team Membership Document • Literacy Leadership Team Meeting Notes

4. Priority 2: Flexible Small Group Direct Instruction and Literacy Work Stations • Flexible small group direct instruction is an extension of whole group instruction that targets the unique needs of individual students based on ongoing assessment. The students are grouped for small group instruction based on needs and may consist of 3 – 6 students. The skills include, but are not limited to: comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and word study. • Literacy Work Stations (LWS) are areas within the classroom where students work alone or interact with one another, using instructional materials to explore and expand their literacy. It is a place where a variety of activities reinforce and/or extend learning (Diller, 2003).

5. Reading Block • Small Group Lesson Plan – Narrative Text • Small Group Lesson Plan - Expository Text • Elementary Literacy Classroom Walkthrough/Observation

6. Priority 3: Response to Intervention • Response to Intervention uses a three-tier framework as a model for instruction. Tier 1 (benchmark) instruction uses a research-based curriculum that has the highest probability of success with most students.

7. Priority 3: Response to Intervention • Tier 2 (strategic) instruction provides each child with intervention, in addition to Tier 1 instruction. The goal of Tier 2 instruction is to move students as quickly as possible back to their regular program and working at a level equal to their grade level peers.

8. Priority 3: Response to Intervention • Tier 3 (intensive) provides additional time, intensity, and focused intervention for students who have not been successful after Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction. Progress monitoring and data analysis drive all instructional decisions at all Tiers.

9. Priority 4: 2010 Standards of Learning • The goals of the English Standards of Learning are to teach students to read, write, and communicate. They should be prepared to participate in society as literate citizens, equipped with the ability to communicate effectively in their communities, in the workplace, and in postsecondary education. As students progress through the school years, they become active and involved listeners and develop a full command of the English language, evidenced by their use of standard English and their rich speaking and writing vocabularies.

10. Priority 4: 2010 Standards of Learning • Students become competent readers of a variety of texts and are encouraged to acquire a lifelong love of reading. • In kindergarten through third grade, the primary goal is to teach all students to read fluently and to comprehend a variety of fiction and nonfiction selections that relate to all areas of the curriculum. • In fourth through twelfth grades, students continue to acquire and refine strategies for comprehending and analyzing selections that encompass all literary genres, exemplify universal themes, and relate to all subjects. Students in high school become familiar with a wide variety of authors and classic literary works.

11. Priority 4: 2010 Standards of Learning • Proficient use of the English language enables students to explore and articulate the complex issues and ideas encountered in public and personal life. Students acquire the ability to make full and effective use of the written language in their future educational, occupational, and personal endeavors.

12. Think about this - Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be. - John Wooden