1. Read to be Ready Coaching Network
Becky Cox | Executive Director of Reading | Office of Reading | August 2016

2. Objectives
Share the rationale and foundation from which we are building.
Develop an understanding of the Vision for Reading in Tennessee.
Connect the instructional outcomes for literacy and the coaching framework as pivotal drivers for the Read to be Ready Initiative.

3. Setting the Foundation

4. Setting the Foundation
Slides will cover 5-17 pages
Tennessee data- % of third grade students proficient in reading
Setting the Foundation Report: Show results from classroom observations
The focus of our network is to improve tier 1 instruction so that we can have 75% of Tennessee students proficient in reading by 2025.

5. Setting the Foundation
Insert notes about long-term consequences

6. Setting the Foundation Recommendations
Improve RTI2 implementation for students who need greater support in specific skill areas
Support deeper literacy instruction to ensure that students learn decoding within the context of broader comprehension
Increase schools’ and teachers’ ability to differentiate instruction in the early grades and to target students’ academic and non-academic needs as early as possible
Get better at getting better

7. K-3 State Initiative Connections

8. K-3 State Initiatives
Read to be Ready Initiative
Response to Instruction and Intervention
Read to be Ready Coaching Network
Kindergarten Entry Inventory
Becky
Initiatives: RTI overhaul…new guidance documents, particular attention paid to tier 1 guidance and to fidelity monitoring…moving away from just a check of seat time and program implementation, to are we meeting the needs of the students in these groupings. SPDG (Special Populations) is working on differentiation with a focus on tier 1 providing access to grade level instruction for all students. Ensuring differentiation rather than remediation during core instruction. EL is also focused on Tier 1 access for EL students. Several new assessments are being generated to better align to standards and expectations for reading proficiency. Our coaching network focuses on supporting teachers in making these instructional changes.
Portfolios
Second Grade Assessment
Third Grade Assessment
Goal: 75 percent of Tennessee students reading on grade level by 2025 K 1 2 3

9. Read to be Ready Initiative
Chapter 1: Early literacy matters
Chapter 2: But it’s never too late
Chapter 3: Reading is more than just “sounding out” words
Chapter 4: Teacher knowledge and practice are critical
Chapter 5: It takes a community

10. Chapter 3: Reading is more than just “sounding out” words
Reading is thinking deeply about a text’s meaning and
how it builds knowledge of the world around us.
Reading is thinking

11. Chapter 4: Teacher knowledge and practice are critical
Educators must have a deep understanding of the art and
science of literacy instruction in order to develop lifelong readers.

12. Gov. Haslam and First Lady Haslam joined us to kick off the Read to be Ready campaign on Wednesday, Feb. 17
Our goal is for 75 percent of third grade students to read on grade level by 2025.
The purpose of the Read to be Ready campaign is to unite our state—educators, students, parents, community members....all of stakeholders—around a shared imperative to meet this goal. 
The initiative focuses on the critical value of reading—not only the value of learning to read but also the importance of reading to learn. 
You can on Twitter or visit our website ReadtobeReadyTN.com.

13. Our Theory of Action
How is this different from other programs or supports we’ve provided (e.g. summer training, Reading Course)
This theory of action is based on our evolving sense of how the state can best support teachers, schools and districts. It takes the type of training we have previously provided, such as summer training or Reading Course, and responds to the feedback we’ve heard about the difficulty of transferring new knowledge to practice with limited support. We know that the most effective professional development experiences are job-embedded and collective activities with colleagues. This model allows for more local support to follow-up on learning from training and routines to build reflective practice in both coaches and teachers.

14. A Vision for Elementary Reading Proficiency
Increasing the number of students reading on grade level is going to take a lot of hard work, and it’s going to take a lot of people working together. It’s for that reason that we as a department sought to establish a clearer vision for what reading proficiency looks like in the early grades, with a specific focus on third grade as a critical benchmark.

15. “Skills-based competencies are necessary but not sufficient for early literacy development… Academic success depends mostly on strong knowledge-based competencies.” —Literacy Unpacked Harvard University

16. Vision of Proficient Reading
Proficient reading is all about making meaning from text. To do this, readers must…
accurately, fluently, and independently read a wide range of complex texts;
strategically employ comprehension strategies to analyze key ideas and information;
construct interpretations and arguments through speaking and writing;
develop vocabulary; and
build knowledge about the world.

18. Instructional Outcomes in the Coaching Network
Year 1
Semester 1
Accessing Complex Texts through Interactive Read Alouds
Semester 2
Accessing On-grade Level Texts through Shared Reading
Year 2
Responding to Texts through Interactive Speaking and Writing Activities
Teaching Foundational Skills through Reading and Writing
Year 3
Guided Reading and Instructional-level Texts
Independent Reading and Reading Conferences
The three-year literacy coaching initiative is organized around six coaching cycles, each lasting one semester and focused on a specific instructional outcome. This model is based on research that shows that deep study of fewer yet connected topics is more likely to lead to consistent changes in practice. We believe this kind of focused model will better support teachers in developing the thorough literacy knowledge required to make strategic instructional decisions that lead to greater learning outcomes for students.
These six instructional outcomes were selected based on a range of data sources, including statewide assessment results, the TNTP literacy landscape study, and district survey responses. These instructional outcomes are aligned with the revised Tennessee Academic Standards and anchored by the instructional shifts for English language arts. Additionally, these instructional outcomes highlight the importance of developing knowledge-based literacy competencies, such as comprehension and vocabulary, in addition to skills-based literacy competencies, such as alphabet knowledge and word reading.
The literacy coaching initiative will focus on effective instructional practices for Tier I instruction. However, coaches will also receive guidance on how each instructional outcome can be translated to Tier II and Tier III settings.
As you can see, these instructional outcomes are centered around the ways in which students engage with different types of texts, and also illustrate the gradual release from teacher-directed read alouds to student-directed independent reading. These instructional outcomes focus on making sure all forms of texts are made accessible to students and that students are given opportunities to express their understanding through speaking and writing activities.

19. Read to be Ready Coaching Cycle

20. Annotate the Text
Independently read the Read to be Ready literacy framework document, focusing on the instructional outcome bullets in the bottom chart. Use the following annotation guide to mark the text.
This connects to what I believe about high quality literacy instruction
+ This connects to what I have observed in my own school
? This is something I am curious about or is a question that I have

21. A/B Partner Turn and Talk
Partner A share your connections with Partner B
Partner B paraphrase partner A’s connections and then use the following stems to add on to Partner A’s connections:
I also marked…
I would like to add onto what you said about…
I also wonder…
In response to your question, I think…
I disagree with you about…
Share out to the whole group

22. We know…
This is hard work. We would be making a mistake if we thought we could solve it with a single program.

23. Transforming our reading trajectory statewide will require new kinds of collaborations between districts and the state.

24. How can you help?
Connect your support of literacy K-3, specifically in Tier 1 instruction, to the Vision for Reading.
Provide additional supports or professional development in the instructional outcomes in the same semester as the coaching network over the next 3 years.
What might be some connections you see with the federal programs with which you work? How might you ensure alignment between the vision for reading?

25. Contact Becky Cox at Becky.Cox@tn.gov
Questions
Further questions?
Contact Becky Cox at