Preparing our students for the 21 st century OVEC's Literacy Vision

Standards To understand the foundational concepts and structures of “adolescent literacy” To realize the added value of literacy to support comprehensive student learning To understand the long range goals of participating in this project (and principal participation) To acknowledge what is already known and to take action on it To prepare our schools and districts for anticipated federal funding support

Let’s look at some statistics! “Comparing the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading results for 4 th, 8 th, and 12 th grade levels with those from 1992 reveal that although the percentage of students scoring proficient has significantly improved among 4 th graders, the percentage of 8 th and 12 th graders scoring proficient has remained stagnant (Donahue, Voelkl, Campbell, &Mazzeo, 1999; Perie, Grigg, et al, 2005; Perie, Morran, & Lutkus, 2005).” Informed Choices for Struggling Adolescent Readers—A Research-Based Guide to Instructional Practices, Don Deshler, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, Gina Biancarosa, Marnie Mair

And more! Despite improvements in 4 th -grade proficiency rates, 70% of students who entered 5 th and 9 th grades in 2005 were reading below level (Perie, Grigg, et al., 2005). In fact, dropouts and high school graduates demonstrate significantly worse reading skills than 10 years ago ( Kutner, Greenberg, & Baer, 2006) Of those students who do graduate from high school, approximately 32% are not ready for college-level English composition courses ( ACT, 2005) and approximately 40% lack the literacy skills employers seek ( Achieve, 2005) Informed Choices for Struggling Adolescent Readers—A Research-Based Guide to Instructional Practices, Don Deshler, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, Gina Biancarosa, Marnie Mair

What about the “world of work”? “70% of high school students who manage to graduate from high school (Greene & Winters, 2005) often find themselves unprepared to compete for the most lucrative jobs that require not only post secondary education but an ongoing ability to read in order to keep abreast of new developments in a rapidly changing global economy ( Biancarosa & Snow, 2004; Levy & Murnane, 2004; OECD, 2000).”

6 Did You Know ? Let’s make a prediction!

Out of every 100 Kentucky ninth graders….

….65 graduate from high school….

….39 enter college….

….26 are still enrolled in the sophomore year….

…and 15 graduate from college.

Literacy, as defined by the KY Literacy Partnership Literacy includes reading, writing, and the creative, and analytical acts involved in producing and comprehending text. Literacy is more than reading and writing. It involves purposeful social and cognitive processes It helps individuals discover ideas and make meaning It enables functions such as analysis, synthesis, organization, evaluation 12

Curriculum Blends All Aspects of Literacy for a Variety of Authentic Purposes and Audiences Literacy Includes: Reading Writing Speaking Listening Observing

14 READING Next Instructional Elements 1. Direct explicit comprehension instruction 2. Effective instructional principals embedded in content 3. Motivation and self directed learning 4. Text-based collaborative learning 5. Strategic tutoring 6. Diverse texts 7. Intensive writing 8. A technology component 9. On-going formative assessment

15 READING Next Infrastructural Elements 10. Extended time for literacy 11. Professional development 12. Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs 13. Teacher teams 14. Leadership 15. A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program Biancarosa, G & Snow, C. Reading Next: A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy. Carnegie Corporation, New York, 2004.

Adolescent Literacy Myths 1. Struggling adolescent readers can’t read at all. 2. If an adolescent can read the words, comprehension naturally follows. 3. Adolescents today can’t read like adolescents used to read. 4. Adolescents today can’t read well because they spend too much time on TV, computers, video games, etc. 5. The adolescent literacy problem is primarily one of poverty, race, disability, and linguistic background.

Remember this… “…anyone can struggle given the right text. The struggle isn’t the issue; the issue is what the reader does when the text gets tough.” - Kylene Beers

Response to Intervention: Working at the Systems Level A systematic school-wide literacy approach ensures that requirements for Response to Intervention are pre-verified for all students Response to Intervention is simply a structure that represents common and comprehensive best practices for basic literacy skills development The search for the “boxed program” that will check off our responsibilities is taking the hard, wrong, and least productive pathway

What Do We Do Instead? Create a culture of literacy among your adult and student community Build school administrators’ instructional leadership skills Provide skills- and strategies-based professional development to your teachers Implement accountable supports for students at all levels of need

Create a Fully Responsive System Tiers of Response Instructional Models Professional Development Leadership Development Tier I – Core Instruction for All Students Core Reading Instruction & Content Literacy Integration With Responsive Instruction Systematic Professional Development for All Teachers With Job- Embedded Coaching Instructional Leadership Development Teacher Accountability Strategies Distributed Leadership Model Tier II – Integrated Differentiation Based on Need Tier III – Intensive Intervention for At-Risk Students Distinct, Flexible and Customized Intervention Specialized and Targeted Training

Making a Difference Strong instructional leaders: Provide a clear vision Establish clear curricular priorities for improving students’ reading achievement Participate and support all staff professional development 22 If the primary purpose of schooling is learning, then determining what students need to know, how and when it should be taught, and whether or not these instructional goals have been reached are paramount for effective instructional leaders. McEwan, 2003

Leadership Priorities 23 Instructional Leader/educator with a strong focus on improving instruction and student achievemen t Managerial Administrator/Supervisor Political Negotiator/facilitator Requires a shift in school leadership priorities. PERKS: