Infusing Literacy Across the Curriculum: A Key to Raising Student Achievement

1. Infusing Literacy Across the Curriculum: A Key to Raising Student Achievement Sue Szachowicz Senior Fellow, ICLE Principal Brockton High

2. Agenda for the session • WHO we are and what we faced • HOW we did this: • Empowering a Team • Focusing on Literacy • Implementing with Fidelity • Monitoring Like Crazy • Results: Changing the Culture • For What It’s Worth: Leadership advice

3. Transforming a Culture through Literacy A.K.A. - It’s COOL to be smart at Brockton High!!! As we say in Boxer Country, we are WICKED AWESOME!!! Our Turn Around Story… We did it our way!

4. Our “School of Champions” Brockton High SchoolBrockton, Massachusetts (For the entire PBS piece: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/uncategorized/brockton-high-proves-that-big-schools-can-be-good-schools/6959/

5. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/uncategorized/brockton-high-proves-that-big-schools-can-be-good-schools/6959/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/uncategorized/brockton-high-proves-that-big-schools-can-be-good-schools/6959/

6. Who are We??? Our Demographics • Comprehensive 9 – 12 • Enrollment: 4,181 • Poverty Level: 75% • Minority population: 73% • 50 different languages • 50% speak another • language in the home • Approximately 12% in • Transitional Bilingual Ed. • Approximately 11% receive • Special Education Services

7. 57% Black - includes African American, Cape Verdean, Haitian, Jamaican, and others 26% White 14% Hispanic 2.5% Asian .5% Native American Meet our Students

8. \The Problem: (actually we had many…) • Mass. implemented a high stakes test (MCAS) • Three-quarters of our students would not be earning a diploma • Culture of low expectations – “Students have a right to fail” • Negative image in our city, in the state • Yet we were living in DENIAL!!!! • Who is responsible???? We had silos (My kids, your kids, not OUR kids) • Success by chance – depended on who your teacher was – are you lucky???

9. State Mandates…We faced: MCAS 1998 Failure ELA – 44% (Sped – 78%) MATH – 75% (Sped – 98%) MCAS 1998 Advanced+Proficient ELA – 22% MATH – 7%

10. Remember, they MUST pass to graduate – NO exceptions! MCAS??? So you think it’s easy???

11. Burial at Thebes from Sophocles’ Antigone Shakespearean Sonnet # 73 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3 page excerpt) Making Humus by Composting by Liz Ball Proof (four page play excerpt by David Auburn) ELA MCAS SELECTIONS: (and remember, they are sophomores!)

12. In the formula, h and t are defined as follows: • t = the time, in seconds, that has elapsed since the rocket was launched • h = the height, in feet, of the rocket above the ground at time t Use the formula to answer the following questions. a. What was the height, in feet, of the rocket 1 second after it was launched? Show your work. b. What was the height, in feet, of the rocket 6 seconds after it was launched? Show your work. c. The value of h was 0 when the rocket hit the ground. How many seconds after the rocket was launched did it hit the ground? Show your work. d. How many seconds after the rocket was launched was the height of the rocket 160 feet? Show your work. SAMPLE MCAS MATH QUESTION: Jason launched a model rocket from the ground. The formula below can be used to determine the height of the rocket above the ground at any time during the rocket’s flight. h = 16t(7 – t) 12

13. SAMPLE MCAS BIOLOGY QUESTION: • Corn snakes show variety in their skin color pattern. While the complete genetics of corn snake color are complex, the most common colors on normal corn snakes—red and black—are each coded by one gene. For the red gene, the allele for the presence of red pigment (R) is dominant and the allele for the absence of red pigment (r) is recessive. Likewise, for the black gene, the allele for the presence of black pigment (B) is dominant and the allele for the absence of black pigment (b) is recessive. • Draw the Punnett square for the cross of a snake that is homozygous dominant for the red color with a snake that is heterozygous for the red color. What percentage of the offspring is expected to have red pigment in their skin? b. Draw the Punnett square for the cross of two snakes that are heterozygous for the black color. What percentage of the offspring are expected to have black pigment in their skin? c. The parent snakes in part (b) that are heterozygous for black color are both homozygous recessive for the red gene. Each parent has genotype rr for the red gene. Based on this information, what percentage of their offspring are expected to lack both the red and black pigments in their skin? Explain your reasoning.

15. Can you believe this??? But even worse… We faced a flawed belief system: “Students have a right to fail.” Former BHS Principal

16. Success at Brockton High then ???

17. That’s where we were… Here’s a preview of where we are now… Then, at the end some WICKED AWESOME stuff!…

18. THEN NOW MCAS 2012 Advanced+Proficient ELA – 83.3% MATH –70.3 % MCAS 1998 Advanced+Proficient ELA – 22 % MATH – 7 %

19. THEN NOW MCAS 1998 Failure ELA – 44% MATH – 75% MCAS 2012 Failure ELA – 1.9% MATH – 8.7%

20. It’s cool and fun to be smart 1998 859 STUDENTS (4400 students) 19% Honor Roll Statistics 2012 1561 STUDENTS ( (4100 students) 38%

22. Turnaround at Brockton High Emphasis on literacy brings big MCAS improvement Principal Susan Szachowicz, shown chatting at lunch with Yiriam Lopez, is in many ways the school’s biggest cheerleader. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) By James Vaznis Globe Staff / October 12, 2009 BROCKTON - Brockton High School has every excuse for failure, serving a city plagued by crime, poverty, housing foreclosures, and homelessness. Almost two-thirds of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and 14 percent are learning to speak English. More than two-thirds are African-American or Latino - groups that have lagged behind their peers across the state on standardized tests. But Brockton High, by far the state’s largest public high school with 4,200 students, has found a success in recent years that has eluded many of the state’s urban schools: MCAS scores are soaring, earning the school state recognition as a symbol of urban hope.

23. Brockton and ICLE philosophy Rigor Relevance Relationships ALL students-and ALL means ALL!!! So, that’s who we are… What did we do?

24. Our Literacy Initiative reflects BOTH RIGOR and RELEVANCE The content provides the CONTEXT for teaching the Literacy Skills The electives engage the students and provide the real life application Literacy for ALL – NO exceptions!!! Schoolwide Literacy Skills (we all do it THIS way!) Schoolwide rubrics for assessment Review of student work

25. So, what did we do??? Our turnaround: 4 Steps • Empowered a Team • Focused on Literacy – Literacy for ALL, no exceptions- all means all • Implemented with fidelity and according to a plan • Monitored like crazy!

26. Step ONE: Empowering a Leadership Team Restructuring Committee – our “think tank” • Every department represented with a mix of teachers and administrators • Balance of new teachers and veterans, new voices and voices of experience • Challenge for Change funding

27. We looked at the data And, our first plan: Let’s figure out the test The result of that: The Great Shakespearean Fiasco

28. Questions about our instructional practices • WHAT are we teaching? • HOW are we teaching it? • HOW do we know our students are learning it?

29. Questions about making change • WHAT can we control, what can’t we control? • WHAT resources do we have that we can use more effectively? And our most important question: • Is this the BEST we can be?

30. After our Shakespearean disaster, a better approach: We asked what should we be teaching??? I Our solution: LITERACY!!! And it helped us become one of the 100 Best!

31. INSERT VIDEO from America’s Promise 100 Best

32. Brockton High’s turnaround FOUR STEPS: • Empowered a team • Focused on Literacy for ALL, NO exceptions • Implemented with fidelity and according to a plan • Monitored like crazy!

33. The “WHAT”: LITERACY for ALL: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Reasoning Step TWO: Focused on Literacy for ALL

34. How did we determine our focus? Literacy Skills Drafted: 34

36. ALWAYS REMEMBER The PROCESS of involving everyone was critical to our success. We did not have buy-in, but we did have our faculty engaged in the process. I

37. ENGAGING THE FACULTY: • Interdisciplinary discussion groups on the drafts using 3 guiding questions: • In each of the four areas of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Reasoning, have we included what is required for students to be successful in your class/your content area? (What did we miss???) • Is the skill stated clearly so that all teachers and students can understand it? • Is the skill applicable to ALL content areas?

38. “Lessons Learned the Hard Way” Tip: Put all your negative folks together in a group so they don’t spread their toxic fumes.

40. So now what… We had cool looking charts on the walls… SO WHAT… The KEY to our implementation is HOW we trained teachers to teach these Literacy skills to our students.

41. It’s All About Instruction “…the single greatest determinant of learning is not socioeconomic factors or funding levels. It is instruction.” Results Now by Mike Schmoker “The single most influential component of an effective school is the individual teachers within the school.”Robert Marzano

42. Says Mike Schmoker in Results Now It’s about teaching, stupid…

43. Step THREE: Implemented with fidelity and a plan Faculty Meetings became Literacy Workshops KEY = Adult Learning Teachers teaching teachers – GOOD stuff!

44. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS We started with writing! Writing is thinking

46. BUT…. Don’t think for a moment that everyone was happy… BUT, if we waited for buy-in, we’d still be waiting. SO, what did we do?? Meet Sharon and Penny

47. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/uncategorized/brockton-high-proves-that-big-schools-can-be-good-schools/6959/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/uncategorized/brockton-high-proves-that-big-schools-can-be-good-schools/6959/ Insert PBS Need to know video on Penny and Sharon

48. Brockton High’s turnaround FOUR STEPS: • Empowered a team • Focused on Literacy – Literacy for ALL, NO exceptions • Implemented with fidelity and according to a plan • Monitored like crazy!

49. Restructuring Committee process: • Targets the Literacy Skill • Smaller subgroup drafts training script, brings draft to the full committee, revisions made • Roll out to faculty – step one: Interdisciplinary group training • Follow up in depts – how to implement in content area

50. Our First Training: Open Response OPEN RESPONSE STEPS TO FOLLOW 1. READ QUESTION CAREFULLY. 2. CIRCLE OR UNDERLINE KEY WORDS. 3. RESTATE QUESTION AS THESIS (LEAVE BLANKS) 4. READ PASSAGE CAREFULLY. 5. TAKE NOTES THAT RESPOND TO THE QUESTION. BRAINSTORM & MAP OUT YOUR ANSWER. 6. COMPLETE YOUR THESIS. 7. WRITE YOUR RESPONSE CAREFULLY,USING YOUR MAP AS A GUIDE. 8. STATEGICALLY REPEAT KEY WORDS FROM THESIS IN YOUR BODY AND IN YOUR END SENTENCE. 9. PARAGRAPH YOUR RESPONSE. 10. REREAD AND EDIT YOUR RESPONSE.