Reading First in Georgia: A professional development system to improve differentiated instruction

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Reading First in Georgia A professional
development system to improve differentiated
instruction

• Georgia Reading First Team

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Overall Goals

• Share the vision for differentiated instruction
  that weve developed together
• Introduce large-scale professional support
  initiatives to serve multiple stakeholders
• Invite you to talk with a member of our team

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Strategies

• Well do some theory building work
• Well provide models of use of time in small
  groups
• Well direct you to additional resources

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Approaches to Differentiation

• By instructional level
• By fluency level
• By assessed needs

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Approaches to Differentiation

• By instructional level
• By fluency level
• By assessed needs

• Informal reading inventories
• Traditional basal instruction
• Groups move at same pace
• Groups are all but permanent
• Differentiation is in all areas
• Parallel skill strands used

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Approaches to Differentiation

• By instructional level
• By fluency level
• By assessed needs

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Approaches to Differentiation

• By instructional level
• By fluency level
• By assessed needs

• Differentiation by leveled books
• Decoding skills not a target
• Fountas Pinnell

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Approaches to Differentiation

• By instructional level
• By fluency level
• By assessed needs

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Approaches to Differentiation

• By instructional level
• By fluency level
• By assessed needs

• Assess for differentiation
• Screening diagnostic
• Groups are temporary
• Groups are flexible
• Target areas of greatest need
• Goal is upward mobility

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Differentiation is

• instruction that helps children accomplish
  challenging tasks that are just out of their
  reach
• instruction that targets a particular group of
  childrens needs directly and temporarily
• instruction that applies a developmental model
• Walpole, S., McKenna, M. C. (2007).
  Differentiated reading instruction Strategies
  for the primary grades. New York Guilford Press.

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A Basic Template
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The concept of three tiers of instruction

• The 3-tier model (University of Texas
  System/Texas Education Agency, 2005) is a general
  framework and just a framework for explaining
  how any research-based program can be executed in
  a school.
• (http//www.texasreading.org/utcrla/materials/3tie
  r_letter.asp)

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Tier I Core Classroom Reading Instruction

• A core reading program grounded in scientifically
  based reading research
• Benchmark testing of all kindergarten through
  third-grade students to determine instructional
  needs at least three times per year (fall,
  winter, and spring)
• Ongoing professional development to provide
  teachers with the necessary tools to ensure every
  student receives quality reading instruction

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Tier II Supplemental Instruction

• For some students, core classroom reading
  instruction is not enough.
• Tier II is designed to meet the needs of these
  students by providing them with additional
  small-group reading instruction daily.

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Tier III Instruction for Intensive Intervention

• A small percentage of students require more
  support in acquiring vital reading skills than
  Tier II instruction can provide.
• For these students, Tier III provides instruction
  that is more explicit, more intensive, and
  specifically designed to meet their individual
  needs.

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Setting the stage for differentiation requires
careful analysis of the curriculum.
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Decide what to teach when.

• We are more likely to achieve improvements in
  vocabulary and comprehension for K and 1st grade
  during whole-group read-alouds, both from the
  core selection and from childrens literature.
• We can introduce and practice phonemic awareness
  and phonics concepts during whole group, but
  were more likely to achieve mastery during
  small-group time.

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Decide what to teach when.

• We are more likely to achieve improvements in
  fluency and comprehension in 2nd and 3rd grade if
  we introduce them in whole-group and practice in
  small-group time.
• We can introduce word recognition concepts during
  whole-group time, but we will likely achieve
  mastery only during small-group time.

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Make more time for small groups.

• Literacy coaches and grade-level teams must
  determine exactly how to use the core program
• Sort core instructional components from extension
  and enrichment activities
• Moderate and control instructional pacing so that
  early introductions and reviews are fast

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Make a very simple centers rotation

• Look for materials already in the core.
• Consider daily paired readings and re-readings.
• Consider a daily activity linked directly to your
  read-aloud. Your children can write in response
  to that text every day.
• Consider a daily activity linked directly to your
  small group instruction. Your children can
  practice the things youve introduced.

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Now you have set the stage for differentiated
reading instruction

• Its time to plan.
• Gather your resources.
• Consider your childrens needs.
• Try it out.

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Gather your instructional resources

• Review the state standards and the scope and
  sequence in your instructional materials
• Review the state assessments, the district
  assessments, and any assessments that come with
  your core fill in gaps with informal assessments

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Consider your childrens needs

• Given your screening data, you will know that
  some portion of children are likely at benchmark,
  some are just below grade level, and some are
  well below grade level
• For children at benchmark, you can decide to
  focus small-group time on fluency and
  comprehension or on vocabulary and comprehension
• Only the below-grade-level children need
  additional assessments

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Consider your childrens needs

• Using the Cognitive Model of Reading Assessment
  (McKenna and Stahl, 2003) choose your two-part
  focus for each group
• Phonemic awareness and phonics
• Phonics and fluency
• Fluency and comprehension
• Vocabulary and comprehension

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A Stairway to Proficiency
Vocabulary Comprehension
Fluency and Comprehension
Word Recognition and Fluency
PA and Word Recognition
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These Assignments are Temporary!
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Phonemic awareness and phonics

• These children still need to work on learning
  letter names and sounds, and they are not yet
  able to segment phonemes automatically
• They will work on coordinated activities to
  manipulate phonemes, learn new letters and sounds
  and review letters previously taught
• They will work with letters and words during
  small-group time

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Phonemic Awareness and Word Recognition Group
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Phonemic Awareness and Word Recognition Group 2
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Phonics and fluency

• These children still need to work on decoding,
  but they can segment and blend phonemes to read
  some words
• They will work on coordinated activities to learn
  new letter patterns and review patterns
  previously taught
• They will work with words and with
  phonics-focused texts during small-group time

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Word Recognition and Fluency Group 1
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Word Recognition and Fluency Group 2
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Fluency and comprehension

• These children have relatively few decoding
  problems, but they lack automaticity
• They will work in a guided reading format they
  may review particularly challenging words (for
  their pronunciation or their meaning) but they
  will use most of their time reading and rereading
  challenging leveled texts and discussing text
  meaning

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Fluency and Comprehension Group
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Vocabulary and comprehension

• These children are at grade level in the areas of
  decoding and fluency
• They will extend what they know into new texts
  and new text types they will write in response
  to reading

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Vocabulary and Comprehension Group
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Take a minute -- how does this differ from
differentiated instruction in your school?
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Building Leadership Support
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Vision

• Leaders see themselves as the catalyst of support
  for all educators in their project.
• Leaders look upon assessment as the key to
  improvement.
• Leaders understand the need for collegiality
  among staff in their buildingand they
  participate.
• Leaders take on the responsibility of student
  achievement and encourage project implementation
  and development.

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Strategies

• Administration agreed to participate in
  professional learning as assured in the approved
  state grant application.
• Administration and coaches worked with GARF staff
  to develop schedules that promote solid project
  implementation.
• Principals and system leaders attend Leadership
  Forums.
• Principals brief and debrief with state staff on
  their monthly visits.

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Lessons Learned

• Effective GARF programs have a dedicated, strong
  instructional leader.
• Principals and APs need to attend professional
  learning in order to provide support for the
  coach.
• State staff must view their role as the support
  to the administration.
• Steps need to be in place to assist new leaders
  in taking over the helm of an existing project.
  

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Building Coaching Expertise
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Vision

• In recognition of research on effective
  professional development
• Literacy Coaches work directly with the teachers
  in implementation of a research-based literacy
  program in the school, including best practices
  in reading instruction, assessment and
  intervention for struggling students.
• The coachs school day will be composed of staff
  development, meetings, and diagnostic testing of
  identified children(From Georgias Reading
  First Grant Proposal, 2003)

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Strategies

• Literacy Coaches will receive training under
  direction of PD Architects, Regional Consultants
  and Georgia Reading First project manager
• Literacy Coaches form Cohort Teams to provide
  instruction in SBRR to teachers in Georgia
  through Teacher Academies
• Literacy Coaches will provide continued support
  for SBRI in their schools through study groups,
  explanation, demonstrating and modeling best
  practices
• Literacy Coaches will facilitate monthly
  assessment meeting identify instructional needs
  of students.

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Lessons Learned

• Change is difficult!
• Literacy Coach success depends on administrative
  support and/or consistency
• Professional development is not always
  re-delivered to coaches and/or teachers
  consistently
• Literacy Coach must become an expert in
  curriculum and professional development
• It takes many repetitions and revisits to really
  implement the strategies suggested by the
  professional development

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Building Statewide Infrastructure
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Nonfunded Schools
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Vision

• 1224 Elementary Schools in Georgia
• -150 Funded Schools over the life of the
  project
• 1074 Elementary Unfunded Schools in Georgia

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• Coordinators
• Regional Reading First Consultants
• State Reading First Consultants

Director
Architects
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Statewide Reading First
VISION
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• Purpose
• To build capacity throughout the state for
  reading instruction grounded in scientifically
  based reading research (SBRR) by disseminating
  the information available to RF schools
  throughout the state.
• Plan
• To provide monthly or quarterly training through
  the Regional Education Support Agencies (RESAs)
  to personnel from non-RF systems and schools.

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Strategy Professional Learning Architects

• Provided GARF with a series of day-long workshops
  teaching scientific principles of reading
  instruction
• State RF Consultants deliver this series of
  workshops throughout the state
• Over 1000 educators have participated in this
  series of workshops

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Strategy Statewide Professional Learning
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• During Year 1 of GARF implementation, the PL
  Architects provided Regional Consultants with
  seven workshops and book studies
• Assessment and Curriculum Assessment for Reading
  Instruction, McKenna Stahl The Literacy
  Coachs Handbook, Walpole McKenna
• Phonemic Awareness The Phonological Awareness
  Handbook for Kindergarten and Primary Teachers,
  Ericson Juliebö
• Phonics Word Identification Strategies, Fox.
• Fluency The Fluent Reader, Rasinski.
• Vocabulary Bringing Words to Life, Beck et al.
• Comprehension Explaining Reading, Duffy.
• Summary Reading Instruction that Works, Pressley.

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Challenges and Responses
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• Challenge Initially, schools were unaware
  of the opportunity.
• Response
• Consultants approached RESAs, described the
  training and offered services
• Workshops are provided free of charge
• All materials are free as well
• Participants at each workshop receive a
  professional book and frequently also receive
  books for teachers to read-aloud to students
• Over time, word of mouth convinced increasing
  numbers of schools and systems that they needed
  this training.

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Challenges and Responses
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• Challenge Schools were not convinced of the
  need for this information
• Response
• The new Georgia Performance Standards were mapped
  from the five dimensions outlined by the National
  Reading Panel
• Response to Intervention (RtI) has given new
  impetus to the need for documentation of initial
  status of student achievement along with a means
  of obtaining formative data to document progress

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Challenges and Responses
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• Challenge Sheer numbers of teachers who
  need this professional learning (1000 have
  participated in the entire seriesmay leave
  20,000 more)
• Response
• Some systems have elected to participate in a
  train-the-trainer model
• GARF has trained personnel from the systems who
  then redeliver the information to personnel in
  their schools
• Many systems are availing themselves of the
  online academy

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Unmet Challenges
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• Challenges
• Documenting change as a result of this training
• Participation in these workshops is often
  sporadic within a school or system it is
  therefore difficult to track data
• Little follow-up in the school setting because
  the administrators are frequently unaware of what
  the participants are learning

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Linking to Standards
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Vision

• To revise Georgias Curriculum after an audit
  determined that it did not meet national
  standards and could not be covered in a
  reasonable amount of time
• To provide a usable and effective curriculum that
  would drive both instruction and assessment in
  Georgias schools
• To move from content standards to performance
  standards for greater depth and understanding
• To make the five dimensions of reading the
  cornerstone for the K-3 Georgia Performance
  Standards

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Strategy The Plan

• Review and reorganize original K-3 Georgia
  Performance Standards (GPS) draft using a variety
  of resources
• Comments from national experts
• Legal advice
• Reading staff comments
• Original committee draft
• National Reading Panel Report
• Put Reading First
• Standards from other states
• Post revised K-3 GPS for comments from teachers,
  national reading experts, and other stakeholders
• K-3 GPS adopted by State Board

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Strategy Statewide GPS Training

• Implementation Year One
• Day 1 Become familiar with the standards
• Days 2-5 Work on Best Practices and
  Assessment, Instruction, and Curriculum
  Mapping
• Implementation Year Two
• Three additional days of training to work on
  extension and enrichment

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Lessons Learned

• Train-the-trainer model was not the best way to
  train the teachers
• Administrators and Literacy Coaches attendance
  at the GPS training was crucial to the successful
  implementation of the K-3 Georgia Performance
  Standards and Reading First
• The importance of teachers seeing the connection
  between GPS and Reading First became evident

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Time to Talk

• Please join one of our team members for an
  in-depth look at our work

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How to find out more

• http//public.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_services.aspx?PageR
  eqCIServReading
• http//curry.edschool.virginia.edu/reading/project
  s/garf/