Leadership is Crucial to Beating the Odds in Reading First

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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
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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 onThe 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)

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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.

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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)

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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 dont blame the students
• Distribute leadership very consciously
• Celebrate every success
• Dont overdo test prep
• Have skills knowledge, not necessarily charisma

Chenoweth, 2007
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Ashton Elementary

• Reading Intervention Plan
• SFA Tutorial (11 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)

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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

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Willow Bend Elementary

• Reading Intervention Plan
• Reading Mastery
• Reading Labsmall groups
• At-risk students pulled out to work with 3
  intervention teachers
• 11 tutoring during social studies/science

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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
  NAEPs?

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Proficient on State vs NAEP Reading 2005
Porter, 2007
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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.
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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.
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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.

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The tests Achieve analyzed
Source Achieve, Inc., Do Graduation Tests
Measure Up? A Closer Look at State High School
Exit Exams, 2004.
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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.
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Students Proficient on FCAT(Level 3 and above)
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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?

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Absolute level of reading proficiency nationally
10
Grade level standard on the FCAT
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8
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Absolute level of reading proficiency
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5
4
3
3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10
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Passage Length in Words
32
of Passage Types
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FCAT Test Design

• Cognitive Complexity (Webbs Depth of Knowledge)
• Content Categories for Reading
• - Words phrases in context
• - Main idea, plot, authors purpose
• - Comparison cause/effect
• - Reference Research locate, organize,
  interpret, synthesize, evaluate information
• Are these categories really independent?

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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

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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.

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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.

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In Kennewick, Reading Improvement Requires

• Data good assessmentsbenchmark and
  normativeand 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

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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
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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)

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Example

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

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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.

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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
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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)
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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)

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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

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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.

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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

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Percent Time in Reading/LA Activities in
First Grade vs. Second Grade in Houston
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A Hypothetical Model of How Teacher Variables
Moderate the Impact of Students Initial Reading
Ability on Reading and Spelling Outcomes
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Initial status Growth Outcome

• Correlation of initial achievement and ending
  achievement is .83-.90.
• Students who start ahead, stay ahead students
  who start behind, stay behind.
• Schools dont create the achievement gap they
  inherit it.

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13 higher- SES children (professional)
23 middle/lower- SES children (working class)
Cumulative Vocabulary words
6 welfare children
Age of child in months
Hart Risley, 1995
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Language Experience
Professional
Working-class
Estimated cumulative words addressed to child
Welfare
Age of child in months
Hart Risley, 1995
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Early Learning is Crucial

• Narrowing the achievement gap before kindergarten
  is a powerful, proactive, and doable task.
• Build oral language and literacy development into
  pre-K classes
• Have parents read to their children 20 min. a day
  to expose them to rare vocabulary, complex
  syntax, and rich discussion.

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The End

• Chenoweth, K. (2007). Its being done Academic
  success in unexpected schools. Cambridge, MA
  Harvard University Press.
• Denton, Foorman, Mathes (2003). Remedial
  Special Education, 24, 258-261.
• Elmore, R. (2004). School reform from the inside
  out Policy, practice, and performance.
  Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press.
• 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.