LITERACY COACHES IN STATE OPERATED PROGRAMS MERILEE FOX DIRECTOR OF STATE OPERATED PROGRAMS VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

WHAT IS A STATE OPERATED PROGRAM (SOP)? In Virginia, students who are in residence or custody are required to have education and training commensurate with that provided to pupils in public schools. Local Detention Homes (24) Hospital and Clinic Education Programs (3) Mental Health Programs (5) Under the Virginia Code, State Operated Programs is an LEA

STATE OPERATED PROGRAMS IN VIRGINIA During the school year, SOP’s had over 6,700 enrollments PK – Post Grads Title I funds are targeted for students in detention All of our detention students are sent to us by the courts

LITERACY COACHES IN STATE OPERATED PROGRAMS Currently, there are 22 Literacy Coaches in State Operated Programs A group of four Literacy Coaches work together to provide training and assistance to the entire group All SOP Literacy Coaches meet at least twice each school year to attend professional development, share ideas and problem solve

State Operated Programs LITERACY COACH Minimum Qualifications:  Master’s Degree in Education  VA Teaching Endorsement (Special Ed. OR Reading Specialist)  History of successful teaching (especially in area of reading) with at-risk learners  Effective organization and administrative management skills, including use of technology  Experience with and/or enthusiasm about peer leadership opportunities Responsibilities: Scientifically- Based Reading Research (SBRR)  The literacy coach is a life-long learner and leader, keeping current with educational research  The literacy coach summarizes and disseminates the key concepts from this research to the faculty at regular intervals  The literacy coach incorporates SBRR best-practices into the instructional model Responsibilities: Assessment & Targeted Remediation  The literacy coach screens all youth enrolled for 10 or more school days and conducts post-tests at determined intervals  The literacy coach administers further formal and informal assessment to lowest-scoring students  The literacy coach provides targeted and aggressive one-on-one remediation to students in greatest need, based on data Responsibilities: Peer Leader  The literacy coach observes peers and provides formative feedback for integration of literacy strategies and best practices across the curriculum, including in-class support, co- planning, modeling, co-teaching, and consultation  The literacy coach delivers Professional Development (PD) to teachers at regular intervals and attends PD as appropriate  The literacy coach distributes assessment data to the teaching staff in a usable, organized, electronic format Responsibilities: External Collaboration  The literacy coach collaborates with facility staff by participating in weekly meetings as the teacher representative  The literacy coach develops, implements, and evaluates a Parent/Family Literacy Initiative  The literacy coach has an active role in school transition and re- enrollment planning Responsibilities: School-wide Literacy Coordination  The literacy coach fosters a school- wide climate of literacy and learning  The literacy coach provides planning and directional support to teachers for literacy extension classes.  The literacy coach encourages and supports opportunities for independent literacy development outside of school hours

Minimum Qualifications Actively seek teacher-leaders with strong instructional expertise Our Literacy Coaches embody the “life-long learner” attitude Responsibilities: SBBR Literacy Coaches devote time weekly for continued research They then provide the research to staff either through professional development, one-on-one meetings, or via electronic means State Operated Programs LITERACY COACH

Assessment and Targeted Remediation Literacy Coaches assess each student enrolled in an SOP using the STAR Reading and Math assessments Test results are provided to teachers, students, and the parent/guardian Students who are significantly below grade level expectations are scheduled for intensive 1:1 or small group remediation regardless of their anticipated length of stay Peer Leader Literacy Coaches complete peer observations and provide feedback on instruction to classroom teachers Literacy Coaches are responsible for Professional Development at their facility PD topics include: SBBR, content area reading and writing strategies, and strategies for educating at-risk youth State Operated Programs LITERACY COACH

External Collaboration Literacy Coaches work with SOP Administration in the re-enrollment process as students transfer back to their base LEA or next educational placement Literacy Coaches can serve as the Parent/Guardian contact for the facility Literacy Coaches work with students who are parents by modeling read-alouds and questioning strategies School-Wide Literacy Coordination Each facility has a school wide literacy plan formulated by a literacy team and includes a component for parental involvement Literacy Coaches provide students with materials to use outside of school hours Literacy Coaches collaborate with facility staff to ensure support for literacy initiatives State Operated Programs LITERACY COACH

MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS WHY NOT USE STATE ASSESSMENT? While the results of State assessments are useful in many ways, they are not intended or designed to measure the academic progress of specific students within a given school year. State assessment scores cannot be used to see individual student gains State assessments are not designed to be given more than once per year. Therefore, they are not an appropriate pre-post test.

MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS Students are re-tested every 30 school days using the STAR assessments (all scores are included in the transfer summary that is sent to the student’s base school) Students who participate in 1:1 or small group remediation are assessed periodically (fluency measures, Curriculum-Based measures, quick comprehension checks) Literacy Coaches meet frequently with classroom teachers to discuss progress in the content areas Literacy Coaches monitor what students are reading outside of school hours and help match books based on interest and ability

WHY IS PRE/POST TESTING IMPORTANT TO STUDENTS? Pre and post testing is valuable to students because it illustrates and documents their individual academic gains. Being able to show students the progress they have made can be a powerful tool to keep them invested in their education.

WHY IS PRE/POST TESTING IMPORTANT TO TEACHERS? It allows for real-time progress monitoring Instruction can be adjusted appropriately and on a continual basis It provides teachers feedback about how to better meet students’ academic needs

WHY IS PRE/POST TESTING IMPORTANT TO ADMINISTRATORS? The aggregated results of students’ academic progress can be used for evaluating and improving educational programming. Collecting data on student progress allows administrators to measure the effectiveness of their educational programs and make any necessary changes.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE LATELY? Participated in book groups with faculty from GMU via Changing Lives Through Literature funded by the Fairfax Library Foundation Completed a unit in science using The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Created history themed quilts incorporating research, reading, and writing Participated in PLC centered around Interactive Learning Strategies Incorporated reading into PE classes while students are on stationary bikes (Ride and Read Program) Celebrated Pi Day (3/14) with Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi

NEW INITIATIVES During the school year, Literacy Coaches will work on incorporating literacy strategies into the math content areas Literacy Coaches will continue their work with faculty from higher education on vocabulary acquisition and other researched based instructional strategies