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Leadership is Crucial to “Beating the Odds” in Reading First

This article emphasizes the importance of leadership in improving instructional practices and performance in schools. It discusses distributed leadership, the role of principals in successful schools, and highlights examples of flagship schools in Texas.

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Leadership is Crucial to “Beating the Odds” in Reading First

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  1. Leadership is Crucial to “Beating the Odds” in Reading First Barbara Foorman, Ph.D. Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research www.FCRR.org

  2. Leadership • The CEO model of leadership • A leader is best when people barely know that he exists (The Way of Life According to Laotzu) • The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on…The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully (Walter Lippmann, “Roosevelt Has Gone,” April 14, 1945)

  3. Distributed Leadership (Elmore) • Purpose of leadership is improvement of instructional practice & performance. • Instructional improvement requires continuous learning. • Learning requires modeling. • Role/activities of leadership flow from expertise required for learning & improvement, not from institutional dictates • Exercise of authority requires reciprocity of accountability and capacity.

  4. Reciprocal accountability… “My authority to require you to do something you might not otherwise do depends on my capacity to create the opportunity for you to learn how to do it, and to educate me on the process of learning how to do it, so that I become better at enabling you to do it the next time.” (Elmore, 2004, p. 69)

  5. Principals in Beat the Odds Schools • Have a relentless focus on instruction, coherent curriculum, and teacher development plan that supports curriculum • Clear vision of what students are supposed to know and do; don’t blame the students • Distribute leadership very consciously • Celebrate every success • Don’t overdo “test prep” • Have skills & knowledge, not necessarily charisma Chenoweth, 2007

  6. “Flagship Schools” in Texas were selected according to the following: • TEA Accountability Ratings • Evidence of an effective early reading intervention program • Willingness to use TPRI and SAT/ITBS in G2. • Support of the superintendent and campus site-based decision-making committee • Serve as a demonstration site and mentor other schools • Commitment to maintain the reading program for a minimum of two years

  7. Cortez Elementary (634) • Low Income: 60% TAAS Gr. Reading: 99% • Ethnic Distribution: • African American 3.5% • Hispanic 68% • Caucasian 29% • Core Reading Program: • Project Read (Decodable text, Basal literature) • Reading/Language Arts Block (1½ hours) • LEP Instruction • Intervention Plan for At-Risk 2nd Graders

  8. Cortez Elementary • Reading Intervention Plan: • Project Read strategies in groups of 4-6 • 2nd Period of Reading Lesson (45 min.) • Evaluation each six-weeks to for progress “Intensive Care” – tutoring before school, after school, and during recess • RAH (Reading at Home) – English and Spanish literature provided on cassettes

  9. Townsend Elementary(698 enrollment) • Low Income: 43% TAAS Gr. Reading: 94.2% • Ethnic Distribution: • African American 27.8% • Hispanic 28.2% • Caucasian 41.4% • Core Reading Program: • Guided Reading K-5 • Literature Circles 3-5 • PhonoGraphix PK-5

  10. Townsend Elementary • Reading Intervention Plan: Clinic with 3 small groups of 4 • ESL instruction • Reading Recovery with PhonoGraphix • Lindamood-Bell - VV-Visualization/Verbalization for Comprehension - LIPS – Phonemic awareness for severely impaired - Students

  11. Ashton Elementary (enrollment of 523) • Low Income: 87% TAAS Gr. Reading: 92.5% • Ethnic Distribution: • African American 21% • Hispanic 72% • Caucasian 6% • Core Reading Program: • Success for All – English • Success for All – Spanish (Bilingual Education) • Two Language Arts Blocks • Intervention Plan for At-Risk 2nd Graders

  12. Ashton Elementary • Reading Intervention Plan: • SFA Tutorial (1:1 – 20 minute intervention) • Reading Intervention teacher works with 1st graders who performed poorly the previous year (uses decodable text and word-attack strategies) • Flexible groups of 6 for an additional 90 minutes of instruction. Assessed at 8-week intervals • After-school tutorial for 2nd and above (Lakeshore materials, oral language & vocabulary development)

  13. Willow Bend Elementary(499 enrollment) • Low Income: 79% TAAS Grade Reading • Ethnic Distribution: 1998: 53.7% • African American 94% 1999: 69.8% • Hispanic 3% 2000: 89.7% • Caucasian 3% • Core Reading Program: • Reading Mastery PK-5 • Acceleration by advancing students based on progress on mastery tests, daily lessons, rate and accuracy checks, etc. • Small group instruction • Two reading lessons presented daily

  14. Willow Bend Elementary Reading Intervention Plan • Reading Mastery • Reading Lab—small groups • At-risk students pulled out to work with 3 intervention teachers • 1:1 tutoring during social studies/science

  15. Key to Implementation in Flagship Schools • Screening for secondary intervention is integrated with ongoing assessment of core reading instruction • Consequently, there are few special education students

  16. Characteristics of Districts/Schools with Outstanding Reading Improvement • Strong instructional leadership; positive climate • Increased amount of time available for reading instruction (90 min. is a minimum) • Strong accountability • On-going professional development based on demonstrably effective reading strategies • Continuous monitoring of student achievement • Integral parent involvement • Strong boards of education & school-based decision-making teams

  17. Instructional Supports Needed • Structural support: Mentors, specialists. • Sensible curricula: those that scaffold work of novice teachers, while giving more skilled teachers latitude. • Adequate PD: onsite, focus on new practices • Ongoing teacher engagement: mentors help with assessment-driven instruction; management • Appropriate incentives

  18. Why Reading Matters? • Reading is the language of learning and must be acquired in the primary grades if grade level content in 4-12 is to be learned. • 36% perform below basic on 4th grade NAEP; 17.5% of students nationally are RD. Trends are flat and states’ proficiency levels vary. • A global economy has higher literacy demands

  19. What Does It Mean to be Proficient? • W score cutpoints on NAEP and state tests communicate grade-level proficiency or benchmark performance. • State curriculum standards need to be aligned with benchmarks/proficiency levels. • Are states’ proficiency levels comparable to NAEP’s?

  20. % Proficient on State vs NAEP Reading 2005 [Porter, 2007]

  21. Most state testing systems do not assess college and work readiness • 26 states require students to pass an exam before they graduate high school.* • Yet most states have testing systems that do not measure college and work readiness.** *Source: Center on Education Policy, State High School Exit Exams: States Try Harder, But Gaps Persist, August 2005. **Source: Achieve Survey/Research, 2006.

  22. Graduation exams in 26 states establish the performance “floor” Figure reads: Alaska has a mandatory exit exam in 2005 and is withholding diplomas from students based on exam performance. Arizona is phasing in a mandatory exit exam and plans to begin withholding diplomas based on this exam in 2006. Connecticut does not have an exit exam, nor is it scheduled to implement one. Source: Center on Education Policy, based on information collected from state departments of education, July 2005.

  23. How challenging are state exit exams? • Achieve conducted a study of graduation exams in six states to determine how high a bar the tests set for students. • The results show that these tests tend to measure only 8th, 9th or 10th grade content, rather than the skills students needs to succeed in college and the workplace.

  24. The tests Achieve analyzed Source: Achieve, Inc., Do Graduation Tests Measure Up? A Closer Look at State High School Exit Exams, 2004.

  25. Students can pass state English tests with skills ACT expects of 8th & 9th graders ACT (11th/12th) ACT PLAN (10th) ACT EXPLORE (8th/9th) FL MD MA NJ OH TX Source: Achieve, Inc., Do Graduation Tests Measure Up? A Closer Look at State High School Exit Exams, 2004.

  26. % Students Proficient on FCAT(Level 3 and above)

  27. Is 10th Grade FCAT Too Hard? • The St. Petersburg Times article (4/15/07) concluded correctly that the 10th Grade FCAT is harder than the 10th grade NRT. • Conclusion based on fact that Level 3 (proficient) performance is 56th %ile nationally at Gr 7; 80th %ile at Gr 10 • Or “Why wait until high school to implement world class standards?”

  28. Absolute level of reading proficiency nationally 10 Grade level standard on the FCAT 9 8 7 Absolute level of reading proficiency 6 5 4 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

  29. Passage Length in Words

  30. % of Passage Types

  31. FCAT Test Design • Cognitive Complexity (Webb’s Depth of Knowledge) • Content Categories for Reading - Words & phrases in context - Main idea, plot, & author’s purpose - Comparison; cause/effect - Reference & Research – locate, organize, interpret, synthesize, & evaluate information Are these categories really independent?

  32. To Make Proficiency Standards Meaningful and Fair • Agree on target for proficiency (e.g., college readiness) • Align elementary, middle, and high school targets • Align curriculum standards • Evaluate dimensionality of tests and prepare instruction accordingly • Equate state tests with NAEP to guarantee comparability and equity

  33. The Kennewick Success Story In Spring, 1995, the Kennewick, WA school board set goal that 90% of third graders would read at or above grade level in 3 yrs. In 2006 they made it! Fielding, L., Kerr, N., & Rosier, P. (2007). Annual Growth for all students, Catch-UP Growth for those who are behind. Kennewick, WA: The New Foundation Press, Inc.

  34. About Kennewick • Located in southeastern Washington State. • Urban area has 185,000; Kennewick School District serves 15,000 students. • Kennewick has 13 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 3 high schools, and a regional vocational skill center. • 25% of students are ethnic minorities; 48% of elementary students are eligible for FRL. • Operating budget of $119 million.

  35. In Kennewick, Reading Improvement Requires: • Data: good assessments—benchmark and normative—and expert use of the data • Increased direct instructional time; additional time for those behind • Quality instruction in small, fluid, skill groups • TAG processes; knowledgeable reading specialists

  36. Targeted Accelerated Growth (TAG) Loop • Diagnostic testing to determine deficient sub-skills of those behind • Proportional increases in direct instructional time • Teaching to the deficient sub-skill • Retesting to assure that adequate catch-up growth actually occurred Kennewick, WA School District Strategic Plan

  37. Catch-up Growth • “Students who are behind do not learn more in the same amount of time as students who are ahead. • Catch-up growth is driven by proportional increases in direct instructional time. • Catch-up growth is so difficult to achieve that it can be the product only of quality instruction in great quantity.” [p. 62, Fielding, Kerr, & Rosier (2007)]

  38. Example Roughly each unit of 13 %ile pts from the 50th %ile equals a year of growth: State standard in percentiles: 50th %ile Student X’s G2 status in percentiles: 12th %ile The difference (in %ile) is: 38 pts Percentile pt. diff. divided by 13: 2.9 yrs.

  39. Daily Instructional Minutes • Daily min required for annual G3 growth: 80 • Daily min required for annual G4 growth: 80 • Additional daily min to make 3 yrs of additional growth: 240 Total G3 and G4 daily minutes: 400 So, 200 min of direct reading instruction in G3 and in G4 is needed to reach the 50th %ile by the end of G4.

  40. Remediation is NOT the solution If a student in the 1st to 40th percentile is two years behind on average, and districts spend $5,000 per student per year to create catch-up growth, then the cost of each year of catch-up growth is $32,000 (extra cost per year of $5,000 per student per year times twelve years divided by the two years of catch-up growth equals $30,000) [Fielding et al., 2007, p. 210]

  41. “To achieve 90% at or above standard, elementary schools must create a growth pattern where the majority of students’ achieve annual growth and nearly all students in the lowest quintiles make double annual growth or more….A systemic response requires making assessment and reporting systems available in classrooms that allow teachers to identify initial achievement levels, set growth targets, and measure students’ growth three to four times a year.” (Fielding, Kerr, & Rosier, 2007, pp. 188-189)

  42. Instructional leadership at Kennewick • Instructional conferences for all administrators (viewing videotaped lessons) • Learning walks (to observe lesson purpose and rigor and student engagement; debrief) • The two-ten goal (administrators spend 2 hrs/day or 10 hrs/week on instructionally focused activities) • Literacy coaches at middle and high school (meet weekly with principal to plan instruction & PD; confer regularly with teachers)

  43. Examples of Effective Schedules in FL Reading First Schools Reading Blocks • All grades have reading at the same time • Interventions offered mostly outside the block • The principal uses “special area” teachers to assist during reading instruction. • The reading blocks are staggered • The principal rotates his intervention teachers to provide interventions both in and outside the reading block • The reading coach is able to observe and model lessons in more classrooms during the reading block

  44. Intervention Schedules in Effective FL Reading First Schools Intensive Interventions The 2 most popular ways of scheduling intensive interventions at the successful schools were: • A 90 minute reading block and then 30-45 minutes of time scheduled outside of that block to deliver the interventions. In almost all these cases, the interventions were provided by support personnel other than the regular classroom teacher. • An extended reading block of 105-120 minutes in which intensive intervention was included in the block of time designated for reading instruction. In these schedules, the interventions were sometimes provided by the regular classroom teacher, and sometimes by instructional support personnel.

  45. Increasing Instructional Time • Title 1 provided 30 min extra instructional time • Reading First provides a minimum of 90 min additional instructional time • Many Title 1 schools are finding that it requires 2 hrs. (120 min) of daily reading instruction to ensure that 95% of students are reading on grade level by G3. • Instructional quality predicts reading success above and beyond time on task

  46. Percent Time in Reading/LA Activities in First Grade vs. Second Grade in Houston

  47. A Hypothetical Model of How Teacher Variables Moderate the Impact of Student’s Initial Reading Ability on Reading and Spelling Outcomes

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