Scholastic Inc. Being Prepared to Drive Literacy Improvement for All Children Sam Howe September 2013

Scholastic Inc.2 Executive Summary A Call to Action –Access to a high quality education for all children is a basic civil right and a sacred responsibility that we, as educators, agree to shoulder. –Families and community organizations are both our partners and a powerful resource in this work. Taking Action…Requires Building and Executing a Plan Unfortunately Most Academic Plans Fall Short of the Goals To Increase Your Chances for Success, Scholastic has a Pro-Bono Literacy Planning Support Team

Scholastic Inc.3 Executive Summary This Morning… the Focus is on Key Analytics for a Strong Plan –Rising number and unique needs of children from families in need –Reaching a Literacy Target…the Role of Critical Mass –Increased Literacy Needs Coming with Next Generation Assessments This Afternoon…a Deeper Dive on How to Build a Successful Literacy and Communication Plans Please Remember…We are Ready to Help!

Scholastic Inc.4 Children from Families in Need

Scholastic Inc.5 Children from Families in Need The economically disadvantaged children are really children from families in need and they fall into two groups: –Economic Challenges: Children from low income households receiving public assistance Children from households of poverty Children from households of extreme poverty –Family Challenges: Children from single parent households Children from families where no adult has completed high school Children from families with an incarcerated parent

Scholastic Inc.6 Families in Need Challenge Source: American Community Survey

Scholastic Inc.7 Families in Need Challenge Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation

Scholastic Inc.8 Economic Insecurity Challenge Source: American Community Survey

Scholastic Inc.9 Economic Insecurity Challenge Source: American Community Survey

Scholastic Inc.10 Economic Insecurity Challenge Source: American Community Survey

Scholastic Inc.11 Economic Insecurity Challenge Source: American Community Survey

Scholastic Inc.12 Single Parent Families Children from single parent households –One of every three children (24.9 million) live in single parent households in –Two of every three of the children of poverty in live in single parent households. –The disability level for children from single parent households is two times higher than children from married households. Source: ACS data for United States from 2012

Scholastic Inc.13 Summary Metrics For every 100 children in our nation’s schools… –29 are from households receiving public assistance –23 are from households of poverty –10 are from households of extreme poverty –7 are from a household where no adult has graduated from high school –2 are from a household with an incarcerated parent –The greatest concentration of children from fragile families will be in the elementary schools.

Scholastic Inc.14 Why Children from Families in Need Matter 75% of the students that score below proficient in reading and below proficient in mathematics in state test across the nation are children from economically disadvantaged families. As an increasing number of families face economic and societal challenges, it will drive an increase in the academic needs of students. We have a sacred and moral obligation to educate all children! We are their best hope for a successful future.

Scholastic Inc.15 Critical Mass and Reading Trend Analysis: An Example from North Carolina

Scholastic Inc.16 North Carolina Reading Challenge

Scholastic Inc.17 North Carolina Reading Challenge

Scholastic Inc.18 North Carolina Reading Challenge

Scholastic Inc.19 State Rigor Risk: An Increasing Need for Literacy

Scholastic Inc Lexile Framework ® for Reading Study Summary of Text Lexile Measures Text Lexile Measure (L) High School Literature College Literature High School Textbooks College Textbooks Military Personal Use Entry-Level Occupations SAT 1, ACT, AP* * Source of National Test Data: MetaMetrics Interquartile Ranges Shown (25% - 75%)

Reading Risk Mapping State Proficiency Standards onto NAEP Scales, IES August 2011

Scholastic Inc.22 North Carolina Reading & Math Rigor Risk

North Carolina Reading Rigor Risk Commentary for North Carolina: Common Core’s goals of preparing all students to be college and career ready means reading on grade level. Proficiency on NAEP is specifically designed to be reading on grade level. In 2011, the difference between NC’s reading proficiency and NAEP’s reading proficiency ranged from 37 to 39 percentage points. This means that North Carolina might expect a percentage point decline in reading proficiency under a Common Core test that has reading on grade level as its proficiency cut point. This grid shows the impact of four scenarios on the number of students in North Carolina needing reading intervention. Scholastic Inc.23

The Accuracy of NAEP as a Predictor of Common Core Rigor in NY State

Planning for Success Scholastic Inc.25

Be Prepared Academic improvement plan that focuses on raising student literacy through a fully integrated partnership between schools, families, and community groups. Communication plan Scholastic Inc.26

Key Questions for an Academic Plan Needs Assessment –Do you have a clear demographic picture of children and families in your community, plus the trend lines? –Have you surveyed the needs of all stakeholders? This should include teachers, district leaders, parents, community groups, and students. –What are the literacy needs of your students? What are the specific literacy needs of struggling readers? –Do you have the screening and assessment data to measure your literacy challenge? –Do you have the data to measure your Career & College Readiness rigor risk? Scholastic Inc.27

Key Questions for an Academic Plan FACE Resources –How does the plan support early literacy? –How does the plan support authentic family involvement? How are you reaching families in need? –How does you plan ensure student access to books in school and at home? –How does the plan support expanded learning after school, in the community, and at home? –Where are the mentoring partnerships for students, parents, and teachers? Scholastic Inc.28

Key Questions for an Academic Plan School Resource Plan –What is the critical mass of students that must be placed into this literacy initiative to reach the improvement targets? –How does the plan provide adequate access to books for all students? –For those students that are struggling readers, what specific instructional supports are provided in classrooms? –Does the plan have adequate in-classroom implementation support for teachers that are working with struggling students? –Does the plan provide FACE training for all teachers? –How do classroom literacy activities link with family literacy activities? –What is the communication link with families and the community to ensure we are all working together to improve literacy? –Does the plan have sufficient assessment and data resources to continuously monitor progress? Scholastic Inc.29

Key Questions for an Academic Plan Leadership and Staff –What are the real needs of leadership and staff to meet and exceed the literacy goals of the plan? –Are all level of the district staff prepared for the real rigors of CCR? Family and Community –What is your outreach plan to family and community groups? –What support will you offer them to increase literacy outside of school? –How do in-school and family literacy plans fit together to provide total literacy support for all children? –Where do parents or community members turn when they need further support? Scholastic Inc.30

Key Questions for an Academic Plan Be Prepared –How will you know if the plan is working? –How will you seek ongoing input from students, parents, teachers, and community partners? –What are the three main assumptions (key dependencies) on which the plan is based? Which assumption has the greatest risk? –What are the early warning signs the plan is not working? –What is your plan for mid-course adjustments? –What contingencies are built into the plan? Scholastic Inc.31

Key Questions for a Communication Plan Core Message –What’s your core message about the upcoming change? –Is the message on the upcoming change coupled with a solution? –Can you explain the core message in less than 30 seconds and in plain English? –Have you tested your core message? If yes, with which stakeholders? What was the response to the message? –What is the “emotional resonance” of the message? Scholastic Inc.32

Key Questions for a Communication Plan Supporters and Detractors –How will your supporters view the message? –How will your detractors attack or undermine the message? –How will you respond to the detractors? –What can you say in your communication event to undermine your detractor’s primary avenue of attack? –Have you rehearsed your response to hostile questions on this topic? –Which supporters will be willing to publicly and vocally support your message to reduce the impact of detractors? Scholastic Inc.33

Key Questions for a Communication Plan Message Delivery –Does the chosen time and place for the communication event support your message? Is it a media friendly location? –Have you prepared supporting documents? Are these documents friendly and easily comprehensible by major stakeholders? –Have you pre-sold the message to core stakeholders and will some of them agree to speak to the media on behalf of your message? Do you know what they will say? Scholastic Inc.34

Be Prepared Academic improvement plan that focuses on raising student literacy through a fully integrated partnership between schools, families, and community groups. Communication plan Scholastic Inc.35

Scholastic Inc.36 Thank You Sam Howe Vice President Academic Planning

Scholastic Inc.37 The Starting Point…Analytics Local Demographic Data: –American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau –Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) of the U.S. Census Bureau National Economic and Demographic Data: –Brookings Institution –Moody’s Analytics –Pew Charitable Trust –Annie E. Case Foundation