South Fayette Elementary School

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South Fayette Elementary School

• We Knew We Could -
• Our Schools Journey to Improving Student Reading
  Achievement
• Title I Improving Schools Conference

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PowerPoint

• On our website at
• www.southfayette.org/elem

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PresentersSouth Fayette School
Districtwww.southfayette.org/elem

• Laurie Gray - Primary School Principal/Reading
  Specialist Coach
• Lindsay Glaid Reading Specialist Reading
  Coach Kdg.
• Jessica Lapinski Reading Specialist Reading
  Coach grade 1
• Peggy Clayton - Reading Specialist Reading
  Coach grade 2
• Jayne Miley IST Teacher Reading Coach, grades
  3 4
• Denise Beverina Moore Intermediate School
  Principal and Federal Programs Coordinator

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Denise Beverina Moore

• 412 221-4542, extension 336
• moore_at_southfayette.org

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Demographics South Fayette

• Located about 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh in
  Southwestern PA
• Growing school district
• One elementary school K-4 with an enrollment of
  914 students
• District on one campus
• Free-reduced lunch 11 in bldg.
• Shrinking Title I funds - look at how you use
  your resources

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Research Indicates

• If a child is not reading on level by grade 3,
  and there is no intervention, the child has only
  a 1 in 8 chance of ever becoming a proficient
  reader!

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Board Resolution

• In 2002, the South Fayette Board of School
  Directors passed a resolution that by the age 10,
  all students would be reading on grade level.

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Brutal Facts!

• In elementary schools, we spend the most
  instructional time in reading (about ½ of the
  day)
• We spend the most money on reading each year
  including all Title I funds
• We have the most support staff for reading
• Most IST and MDT referrals are because of a
  childs lack of reading achievement

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NCLB

• All students need to be proficient or advanced on
  the reading and mathematics PSSA by 2014
• We need to gradually improve student achievement
  in order to move toward this goal

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Reading PSSA 2003

• 78 of the 3rd grade students scored proficient
  or advanced on the reading PSSA

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Goal - Increase Student Achievement HOW?

• All faculty members who teach reading will
  implement explicit, research based reading
  instruction, focus on the grade level eligible
  content, use data to drive instruction, meet
  weekly to focus on reading achievement within
  their grade level

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K-3 Reading Initiative2002-2003 School
YearBuilding a Foundation

• 80 hours on-line modules that taught research
  based reading strategies
• Teachers did this before and after school
• Good foundation
• 20 elementary teachers participated
• Laurie Gray, Primary Principal

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2003-2004 School YearTime and Money Commitment

• Reading Specialists received ongoing intense
  training through the AIU Reading Achievement
  Center to become reading coaches
• Intensive training on research based techniques
  for teaching reading
• Trained for 3 weeks in the fall, monthly meetings
  during the year and a week long training in
  spring
• Reading Coach visited our building once a week

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2004-2005 School YearReading Achievement Center

• AIU Reading Achievement Center provide us with
  training modules for our teachers
• IST Teacher is trained to become a reading coach
• Continue with staff development at the Reading
  Achievement Center
• All elementary teachers received eight hours of
  language arts staff development

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Improving Our Language Arts Program Spring 2004

• Revised language arts curriculum
• Adopted new materials
• Changed the sequence of skills
• Rewrote assessments
• Ongoing, focused training for faculty
• 1 reading coach/reading specialist for each grade
  kindergarten-third

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2005-2006

• Harcourt Trophies used in all classrooms (K-4)
• Ongoing staff development
• Weekly team meetings
• Monthly two hours of staff development that
  focused on decoding and Word Building

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2006-2007

• Ongoing reading staff development once a month
  for two hours
• Team meetings once a week for 30 minutes
• Ongoing Assessment

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2008-2009

• Maintaining and building capacity by training the
  new reading specialist and our learning support
  teacher at the AIU Reading Achievement center
• Providing training for new faculty
• Writing explicit lesson plans

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Laurie Gray

• 412 221-4542, extension 612
• gray_at_southfayette.org

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Characteristics of Good Reading Instruction

• Move students to independence as soon as
  possible
• Engage kindergarten students in academic
  activities that facilitate early reading
• Decoding instruction is essential

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Characteristics ofGood Reading
InstructionContinued

• Comprehension should be addressed along with
  decoding
• Students should have opportunities to read a lot
  of meaningful texts in rich, literate classrooms

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Phonemic Awareness

• Understanding that the sounds of spoken language
  work together to make words.
• Ability to hear, identify, and manipulate
  individual sounds in words.

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Phonemic Awareness

• Phoneme Isolation recognize individual
  sounds /v/ van
• Phoneme Identity recognize the same sound
  /f/ fox, fan, fall
• Phoneme Categorization recognize the odd
  word bus, bun, rug
• Phoneme Blending cat
• /c/ /a/ /ca/ /t/ cat

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Phonemic Awareness (continued)

• Phoneme Segmentation break word into separate
  sounds
  cat /c/ /a/ /t/
• Phoneme Deletion recognize that a word
  remains when a phoneme is removed
  smile becomes
  mile without the /s/
  

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Phonemic Awareness (continued)

• Phoneme Addition make a new word by adding a
  phoneme mile becomes smile by adding
  /s/
• Phoneme Substitution substitute one phoneme
  for another bug change /g/ to /n/ becomes bun

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A Phonics Program Should Include

• Explicit instruction
• Sounds are produced in isolation and connected
  with printed letters
• Systematic instruction
• Research shows that letters and sounds should be
  introduced according to a definite sequence

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A Phonics ProgramShould IncludeContinued

• Strategies that require decoding from the
  beginning through the end of the word
• Use of decodable texts to reinforce

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Word Building

• Supports decoding
• Cumulative blending
• Students focus attention on every letter
• Students attend to letter sound correspondence

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Word Building

• Students build and read the word
• Sequences are systematically introduced
• Sequences developed to discriminate between
  vowels
• Sequences are cumulative and repetitive

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Word Building Activity

• Build and read the words
• Speed Round
• Silly Questions
• Dictation
• Reinforce by reading decodable text

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Vocabulary

• Vocabulary knowledge refers to the range and
  depth of word meanings known and recognized in
  print
• Vocabulary knowledge is highly correlated with
  reading comprehension

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The Goal of Vocabulary Instruction

• Expose students to words that
• Are sophisticated and otherwise unknown
• Are vigorously expressive
• Are conceptually universal
• Enhance the thematic and conceptual understanding
  of the text

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Vocabulary Instruction

• Choose words that are above, not below the
  students
• Use imagery
• Give multiple examples
• Provide many different contexts
• Model enthusiasm and passion for rich words

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Fluency

• Ability to read smoothly, easily, and readily
  with freedom from word recognition problems.
• Decoding print accurately and effortlessly
  enables students to read for meaning.

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Fluency (continued)

• Fluent readers focus their attention on making
  connections among ideas in text.
• Less fluent readers must focus their attention on
  decoding and assessing the meaning of individual
  words.

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Ways to Develop Fluency

• Model fluent reading
• Choral reading
• Echo reading
• Repeated readings of text
• Tracking

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Fluency Rates

• Fluency rates at the end of the year
• First grade 70 wpm
• Second grade 90 wpm
• Third Grade 120 wpm
• Fourth Grade 150 wpm

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Comprehension

• There is a high correlation between words known
  and comprehension success
• Children must be fluent readers to comprehend
• Many students have difficulty constructing
  meaning from text

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Understanding Involves

• Making connections between and among ideas
• Deciding what is important and what isnt
• Infer what the author is doing and why
• Paraphrase and summarize
• Reconciling prior knowledge to what is newly
  learned

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Better Questioning

• Whats the author trying to say?
• Whats this all about?
• How does that connect to what we already know?
• What does the author want us to know from this?
• What do we know about the character, place, time,
  etc.?

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Curriculum

• Harcourt Trophies Reading Series
• Phonemic Awareness
• Decoding
• Spelling
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Comprehension

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• Kindergarten Express Program

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Lindsay Glaid

• 412 221-4542, extension 715
• lglaid_at_southfayette.org

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Training

• Currently being trained at the Reading
  Achievement Center
• I also received training at the University of
  Pittsburgh, through my graduate program
• Focus of training explicit and systematic
  instruction in the 5 domains of reading

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History

• Began 17 years ago (1992)
• ½ day program with 12 children and reading
  specialist
• Primary focus on letters, sounds and writing
• Little exposure to blending and explicit phonics
  instruction

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History

• Second year of program (1993)
• 2 classes of 12 children (a.m. and p.m.)
• Part time para-educator
• Fifth year of program (1996)
• 2 classes of 15 children (a.m. and p.m.)
• Full time para-educator

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History

• Twelfth year of Program (2003)
• Training at the Reading Achievement Center
• Incorporated RAC training strategies such as Word
  Building and Text Talk

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RAC Training

• Year-long process
• 3 weeks of training at the AIU
• Meetings throughout the year
• Continual support through on-site demonstration
  and observation
• Commitment of South Fayette SD

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Screening

• American Guidance Service Early Screening
  Profile
• Cognitive
• Fine Motor
• Letter / Sound Identification

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Screening

• Takes place in March, prior to the start of
  kindergarten
• 3 days of screening
• Assessed by
• Reading Specialists
• Kindergarten teachers
• Enrichment, Guidance and Speech teachers

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Selection

• Selection is based on
• Cognitive screening results score below age
  level
• Parent questionnaire
• Fine motor significantly low
• DART program recommendations
• Recommendations from Kindergarten teachers
  throughout school year
• Parents must agree to child participation in
  program

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Arrangement of the Room

• Group 1 Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency
• 25 minutes with Reading Specialist
• Small group of 4 or 5 children
• Phonemic Awareness activities
• Phonics Word Building, Pseudo- Words, Decodable
  text and Sentences, Dictation
• Decoding and Encoding
• Fluency- Fluency Phrases and Echo Reading

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Arrangement of the Room

• Group 2 Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency,
  Comprehension, Vocabulary
• 25 minutes with Para-educator
• Small group of 4 or 5 children
• Harcourt Intervention Program
• Sight Word Exposure
• Flashcards
• Sentences
• Games

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Arrangement of the Room

• Group 3 Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency,
  Vocabulary
• 25 minutes at an independent group
• Small group of 4 or 5 children
• ABC Word Book
• Sight Word Pages
• Letter / Sound Identification Games
• Independent Reading

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Arrangement of the Room

• Whole Group Comprehension and Vocabulary
• Text Talk 2 robust vocabulary words a week
• Selected from weekly Text Talk story
• Read aloud from Text Talk Lesson
• Day 1 Read story with Text Talk notes
• Day 2 Reread story with Text Talk notes
• Day 3 Explicitly introduce and develop
  understanding of vocabulary words from story
• Day 4 Review vocabulary words and encourage use
  of words from story
• Day 5 Assessment of words and book review

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Assessment

• Harcourt Theme Tests
• Text Talk Robust Vocabulary Assessments
• Progress Monitoring throughout the year
• RAC Assessments
• Beginning, middle and end of the year
• Letter / Sound identification
• Phonemic Awareness
• Auditory Discrimination
• Blending
• Segmenting
• Deletion
• Pseudo- Words
• Sight-Words

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• First Grade Reading Program

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Jessica Lapinski

• 412 221-4542, extension 606
• jlapinski_at_southfayette.org

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Training

• I had 3 years of working at the Allegheny
  Intermediate Unit with the Power4Kids Program and
  RAC before coming to South Fayette as a Reading
  Specialist.

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History

• Before 2003-2004
• Reading specialist pushed into the classroom
  every other day for 60 minutes
• 2003-2004
• 1st grade below basic students were pulled out
  every day in groups of 6 for 45 minutes of word
  building instruction by the reading specialist

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History

• 2004-2005
• AM Reading Achievement Classroom (below
• basic)
• 18 students grouped into 3 groups with a
• classroom teacher, reading specialist and
• paraeducator
• PM Pull-Out Program (basic)
• 2005- present
• AM and PM Reading Achievement Classrooms

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Screening

• Start second day of school test all 1st grade
  students in the following
• Letter and Sound Recognition
• Pseudo-words
• Sight words

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Selection Based On

• Screening test results
• Conversations with current 1st grade teacher
• Recommendations from Kindergarten teachers
• Parents must agree to their childs participation
  in the reading program
•  

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Group 1Reading Specialist

• 40 minutes
• Phonics - Word Building, Pseudo-Words, Harcourt
  decodable text and sentences
• Fluency Read Naturally, Fluency Phrases and
  Harcourt passages

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Group 2Paraeducator

• 40 minutes
• Encoding Review Spelling Words via Word
  Building
• Vocabulary Words Review via flashcards, reading
  the words in sentences and games
•  

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Group 3Classroom Teacher

• Comprehension Harcourt stories
• Vocabulary Introduce and review words

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Grammar

• 30 minutes large group
• Phonemic Awareness Activities
• Sentence Structure punctuation, capital letter,
  etc.
• Writing

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Assessments

• Harcourt Unit Tests
• Harcourt Selection Tests
• Harcourt Fluency Checks
• Spelling Tests
• Vocabulary, Decodable Word and Pseudo Word Tests
• Monitoring throughout the year

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End of Year Testing

• Last two weeks of school all 1st graders
• Pseudo Words
• Sight Words
• Fluency passage
• Scores are used to track progress and also as a
  placement tool for second grade.

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Second Grade Reading Program
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Peggy Clayton

• 412 221-4542, extension 731
• clayton_at_southfayette.org

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History

• Pull-Out Program for 1 year
• 2003-04
• Reading Room/Pull-Out
• 2004-05 through 2007-08
• 2 Reading Rooms
• 2008-09

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Screening/Selection Process

• Assessments
• Fluency
• Pseudo-Words
• High Frequency Words
• Parents are contacted by phone and permission
  letters are sent.

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Groups

• Classroom Teacher Vocabulary, Comprehension and
  Writing
• Reading Specialist Phonemic Awareness, Phonics,
  Vocabulary and Comprehension
• Paraeducator Spelling, Vocabulary and Fluency

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Instruction

• Phonemic Awareness Word Building
• Phonics Word Building
• Fluency Fluency Phrases
• Harcourt Fluency Builder
• Vocabulary Harcourt Series and Text
  Talk Strategies
• Comprehension Harcourt Series and
  Questioning the Author Techniques -
  Isabel Beck

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Assessment

• Harcourt Selection and Theme Tests
• Pseudo-Word Assessments
• High Frequency Word Assessments
• Fluency Assessments
• Teacher Observation

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End of Year

• All students in grade are assessed in following
  areas
• Fluency
• Pseudo Words
• High Frequency Words
• This information is used for Third Grade
  Placement.

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Parental Contact

• Conferences in Fall and Spring
• E-Mail
• Telephone
• Additional Parent Conferences as needed

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Third and Fourth GradesReading Program
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Jayne Miley

• 412 221-4542, extension 337
• miley_at_southfayette.org

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History

• 2004-2005 IST trained as a reading coach for
  interventions in K 4
• 2005-2006 3rd grade reading room in the a.m.
  and IST in the p.m.
• 2006-2007 4th grade reading room added in p.m.
• 2007- present continued reading rooms in 3rd
  and 4th grades

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Screening/Selection Process

• All 3rd and 4th grade students assessed
• Fluency
• Pseudo words
• High frequency words
• Additional comprehension screening for targeted
  students

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Targeted Student Screening

• Scoring below 50tile on 2nd grade Terra Nova
• Basic or below basic on the PSSA
• New students
• Former reading room students integrated into the
  regular reading room

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Instruction

• Phonics Syllasearch, Decoding, Word Building
• Fluency Harcourt Fluency Builders, Intervention
  Readers, and Read Naturally
• Vocabulary Harcourt Series, Skills PowerPoint

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Instruction

• Comprehension Harcourt Series
• Basal stories read independently used as a
  springboard to teach targeted comprehension
  strategies (ex. Sequencing, main idea, narrative
  elements, etc.)

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Writing

• To a reading prompt
• Personal narratives
• Research
• Expository

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Groups

• Maximum class size 18 students
• 3 groups of 6 students
• 3 rotations per day
• 40 minute sessions in grade 3
• 35 minute sessions in grade 4

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Groups

• Classroom teacher Vocabulary, Comprehension,
  Grammar Writing
• Reading Specialist/Coach Phonics, Decoding,
  Spelling, Fluency, Vocabulary
• Independent Group
• Writing assignment and independent practice
• Computer Study Island
• Accelerated Reader
• Writing
• Fluency Practice

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Parental Contact

• Initial group conference
• Conference in fall and spring
• E-mail
• Telephone calls
• Interim progress reports
• Report Cards
• Additional contact as needed

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Formative Assessments

• Harcourt Weekly Selection Tests
• Harcourt Intervention Reader Tests
• Weekly cold readings
• Weekly writing prompts
• Weekly fluency assessments
• Fluency Benchmarks at the end of each theme
• 4-Sight Benchmark testing 3x/year

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4-Sight Results Gr. 3
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4-Sight Results Gr. 4
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Reading PSSA 2008

• Significant Growth!
• 95 of 3rd grade students scored proficient or
  advanced on the reading PSSA
• 96 of 4th grade students scored proficient or
  advanced on the reading PSSA.
• 4th grade 1st in reading in the state and
  Allegheny County.

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Making Progress!

• Transformation comes incrementally
• Easy to take progress for granted
• Celebrate milestones
• Progress is not just about moving forward, it is
  about growing and evolving
• The small things you do can have a large effect

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Our Future

• We need to stick with what we have learned about
  reading instruction to get results!
• Remember that no matter how dramatic the end
  result, the good-to-great transformations never
  happen in one fell swoop.
• We will continue to refine the path to student
  achievement with the brutal facts of reality
• Continue to put our best people on our biggest
  opportunities not our biggest problem

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Margaret Mead 

• Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
  committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
  it is the only thing that ever has.

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• 212 Degrees...One Degree Makes a Difference

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• Questions and Answer Session
• www.southfayette.org/elem