ELL Reading Committee 1 School House Road Reading, PA x321 Improving Reading Performance for ABC School District Presented to: ABC School Board and Administrators March 8, 2011

ELL Reading Committee 1 School House Road Reading, PA x321 Improving Reading Performance for ABC School District Presented to: ABC School Board and Administrators March 8, 2011

ABC School District Number of students Poverty Rate 77.4 % Number of homeless students the district serves over the course of a year Number of Special Education Students 210 English Language Learners (ELL) 1924 Gifted and Talented (GAT) 203

Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes Lindamood-Bell Professional Learning Communities are turning around schools across the country. We can be an effective partner in your Race to the Top, Renewal, Turnaround/Transformation initiatives. Proven results with students in Special Education Proven results in Title I Schools Proven results with English Language Learners Proven results for children with learning disabilities, K-12

Highlights of Lindamood-Bell This model of high quality, rigorous professional development, comprehensive program monitoring and evaluation ensures that student academic performance is improved and sustained on a large scale. Key Features Include: Leadership & Collaboration Professional Development Curriculum & Instruction Assessment & Progress Monitoring Technology Evidence of Effectiveness

Talkies Talkies is a primer to the Visualizing and Verbalizing program, and the goal of Talkies instruction is to develop mental imagery as a base for language comprehension. ~Bring nonverbal imagery to consciousness ~Establish the imagery-language connection ~ Increase oral vocabulary ~ Improve language comprehension

Visualizing & Verbalizing This program develops concept imagery for both oral and written language. V & V will improve language comprehension, reasoning for critical thinking, and expressive language skills. V & V would be implemented in grades 2 through 5

Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program LiPS LiPS program successfully stimulates phonemic awareness Individuals become aware of the mouth actions which produce speech sounds It is common for individuals to gain several grade levels in decoding ability in four weeks to six weeks of intensive instruction LiPS would be implemented in grades K through 3 Research supports a potentially positive increase in phonemic awareness, according to What Works Clearinghouse

Monitoring of Programs Team to monitor programs starting in 2012: Building Principal Assistant Principal Curriculum Coordinator Reading Specialist ELL specialist 2 to 3 Teacher Leaders depending on the needs of the monitoring Each person will play a role in monitoring the programs. There is a chain of command for any decisions being made based on the programs: Principal to assistant principal Curriculum coordinator Reading specialist & ELL specialist Teacher Leaders Monthly meetings will be held to discuss progress of programs.

Objectives-Oriented Evaluation Approach Once the programs are placed within the school district, it is the job of our team to decide whether the objectives of the programs are being met. The Objectives - Oriented Evaluation seems the best way to evaluate our programs because we know our objective which is to raise the achievement of the minority group of students specifically in our school the ESL students.

Monitoring Tasks: The team as a whole have completed the first three steps of an objective-oriented approach. Establish broad goals or objectives Classify the goals or objectives Define objectives in behavioral terms Goals: - raise the achievement level of ELL students within the school district with a focus on reading. - build phonemic awareness in ELL students - help ELL students create a mental connection between words and meaning to build comprehension. - develop vocabulary - done in small group setting or with partners

Monitoring Tasks: Next three steps will be split apart among the team to make sure each task is completed accurately. Find situations in which achievement of objectives can be shown. Develop or select measurements techniques. Collect performance data Administrators and Curriculum coordinator - Will decide what situations and measurements will be used to monitor the program. Reading Specialist, ESL Specialist and Teacher Leaders - will collect the data which be decided on by the administrators and curriculum coordinator

Monitoring Tasks: Items or tests used by reading specialist, ESL specialist and teacher leaders: Dibels Comprehension quizzes Foresights Sight word recognition exercises Vocabulary quizzes PSSA tests

Monitoring Tasks: Final step: the group as a whole will compare the performance data with behaviorally stated objectives. The group will meet as whole to go over the data each month to see how the programs are doing; if things need to be changed or altered based on the results of the data.

Effective Instruction for English Learners 1. Screen for reading problems and monitor progress 2. Provide intensive small-group reading interventions 3. Provide extensive and varied vocabulary instruction 4. Develop academic English 5. Schedule regular peer-assisted learning opportunities From the Institute of Education Sciences, Dec. 2007

Recommendation #1 Districts need to collect progress monitoring data more than three times a year for ELL students. Provide training on how teachers are to use formative assessment to guide instruction

Recommendation #2 Use an intervention program with students who enter the first grade with weak reading and prereading skills or with older elementary students with reading problems. Provide training and ongoing support for the teachers and interventionists (reading coaches, Title I personnel, or paraeducators) who provide the small-group instruction.

Recommendation #3 Adopt an evidence-based approach to vocabulary instruction. Vocabulary instruction for English learners should emphasize the acquisition of meanings of everyday words that native Speakers know and that are not necessarily part of the academic curriculum.

Recommendation #4 Teach academic English in the earliest grades. Provide teachers with appropriate professional development to help them learn how to teach academic English.

Recommendation #5 Develop plans that encourage teachers to schedule about 90 minutes a week with activities in reading and language arts that entail students working in structured pair activities. Also consider the use of partnering for English language development instruction.

Annual Reporting to U.S. Dept. of Education  Project's overall impact will highlight measurable, positive outcomes  Collection and analysis of quantitative data  Observations  Surveys  Demographic data  Site visits  Interviews and focus groups to include students, parents, teachers and administrators.