1. T.R.A.I.L.S. Tools for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills For elementary, middle and high librarians Session 2 – 9:10 – 10:10 Session 3 – 10: :20 Session 4 – 11:20 – 12:30
Presented by: Carla Sohns
Library Media Specialist
Germantown Middle School

2. DLD Norms Be present and engaged
Be respectful of differences in perspective while challenging each other productively and respectively
Monitor “air time”
Make the most of the time we have
Stay focused on students

3. DLD Objectives
Know:
The DRAFT SCS Comprehensive Literacy Improvement Plan (CLIP) ensures a quality balanced literacy approach to instruction that results in high levels of learning for all students, across content areas
Understand:
All teachers can respond to the literacy needs of struggling readers and writers, including ELLs and students w/ disabilities, and support improved content-area learning so that students develop the literacy skills and strategies of skilled readers and writers
Be able to Do:
Implement research-based literacy strategies and practices that enable students to comprehend informational texts across all content areas
Plan reading and writing tasks that are meaningful, analytical, and authentic to specific content areas
Provide effective vocabulary instruction that not only includes discipline-specific words, but also high utility (or Tier 2) words that occur across other content areas

4. What is the Goal of Content Area Literacy Instruction?
To teach the ideas, concepts, and principles of a specific subject in a manner that learners receive instruction in reading strategies that meet the unique requirements of the individual subject area

5. ACT, The Forgotten Middle, 2008
Literacy and content area learning depend on each other
What happens if students leave MS and enter HS unprepared for reading?
Chance of Later Success
Science
Mathematics
Unprepared In
Reading 1%
15%
Prepared
32%
67%
must be cross-curricular – if we want to ensure that students will have future success in math and science, we have to ensure that they have the reading strategies they need to comprehend informational text in different content area courses.
This chart shows if students leave MS (entering HS) unprepared in reading, they will not be successful in math or science
ACT, The Forgotten Middle, 2008

6. Progress toward CCR Shifts in Literacy/ELA hold Promise for Content Area Learning
Building knowledge through content-rich non-fiction and informational texts [Reading Standards #1-10 in ELA and Reading Standards for History/SS, Science, and Technology]
Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from the text [Reading Standard #1, Speaking and Listening Standard #1, and Writing Standards #1, #2, #9]
Regular practice with complex texts and their academic vocabulary [Reading Standards #10 and #4]
The major CCSS literacy shifts as they reside in the actual standards document.

7. CCR Standards designed to Support Content Area Learning
Note: include this slide for social studies audience or the next slide for sciences audiences, not both.
As you know, CCR includes explicit standards for ELA generally, and for literacy in the specific content areas—to support both literacy and content area learning.

8. CCR Standards designed to Support Content Area Learning
Note: include this slide for science audience or the previous slide for social studies audiences, not both.
As you know, CCR includes explicit standards for ELA generally, and for literacy in the specific content areas—to support both literacy and content area learning.

9. What do we mean when we say, “Our students can’t read”? What do we do?
“When faced with students’ resistance to reading or difficulty in comprehending course materials, teachers respond in a variety of ways. Feeling pressed to cover the curriculum , unprepared to assist students with reading, and eager to make sure students understand the content of a particular discipline, many find themselves teaching around reading. “They make adjustments that may seem sensible but that they know are compromises. ‘I’m doing backflips in the classroom to get the content across without expecting them to read the textbook,’ … I’ve stopped assigning reading; the text is almost supplementary for my … curriculum’” (Schoenbach, et al, 1999: 4)
As you introduce this slide--“As content teachers, we often struggle with students who struggle as readers. But what do we really mean when we say, ‘Our students can’t read’?”
Then click to the text, and allow participants to read and reflect silently.
“Does this sound familiar? Have any of you ever done this or seen this response form your colleagues? How did it make you feel?” (Prompt, “Did you feel like you were trading between expediency and rigor?” Sufficing, but maybe not serving students as best as we could. “What was the down side?”

10. Literacy in the Content Areas
Includes explicit literacy (and ELD) learning objectives
Literacy in the Content Areas
Models and reinforces metacognitive strategies, e.g., self-correction, questioning, visualization, annotation, connections/PK, summarization, graphic organizers
Acknowledges each content area has its own literacy norms, text structures, and challenges (e.g., genres, vocabulary, concepts, and topics)
Includes explicit instruction (including modeling) and practice in the literacies and content of each discipline
Appreciates vocabulary is strongly related to general reading achievement; includes both direct, explicit instruction and indirect, learning from context (e.g., listening, other reading instruction, reading) to support vocabulary and comprehension
Focuses explicit vocabulary instruction on words that fall between two tiers-- words that students already know and those that are so rare as to be of little utility—and are used across content areas (academic vocabulary)
Leverages writing as a means to learn and develop—how students make sense of, synthesize, summarize, and evaluate their learning (not just to assess content learning)
Uses discussion and writing prompts to reflect on current understandings, questions, and learning processes help improve content-area learning
“Thinking more about where content area teachers can be most effective in supporting literacy learning… “
Ideas in vocabulary
…that vocabulary is strongly related to general reading achievement has remained unchallenged”
.“…while learning from context is important, direct instruction of vocabulary is effective in improving both vocabulary and comprehension. … both direct, explicit instruction and learning from context are important. … explicit instruction may be useful in closing the gap between the students with the highest levels of vocabulary knowledge and those with the lowest” (Kamil, 2003:10-11).

11. High School Instructional Design (per DRAFT CLIP)
Reading
Writing
ELA
Core (Grade-Level Instruction for All Students)
Complex Texts
Writing About Texts
Taught in the Context of Writing
Whole Group
Teach/model grade level standards, concepts, skills
I do – teacher models
We do - guided practice
Small Group
Teacher Led
Flexible groups
Closure -
Summarize what you have learned
Supplemental (Tier 2) Support for Targeted Students
Lessons span multiple days
Gradual release of responsibility across days
Reading and writing inextricably linked
“The instructional design that was shared earlier this morning and shared here reflects a whole-group, small-group, whole-group approach, basically gradual release, across all content areas. This aligns with best practices in instruction overall, in [our content area].” Describe or reinforce the best models in the specific content area, e.g., the 7Es in science.
“It also means that in addition to being thoughtful about how we introduce and model content-specific work, we are also deliberate about how we model and reinforce language and literacy skills, and strategies, in the context of our content area. For example, making explicit how cause and effect are signaled in social studies and science texts. What are the cues? How text is organized, including how to read headings.”

12. Beyond Appearances
It’s not about how students are arranged; it’s about the work in which they are engaged. Is instruction…? -Purposeful -Rigorous -Differentiated to meet student needs -Consistent with evidence-based practice -Aligned to TEM standards

13. The Gradual Release of Responsibility (to introduce or reinforce a new skill)
Teacher Responsibility
I do it.
Guided
We do it.
They do it (together).
Collaborative
This diagram was included to allow us to take a more concise, yet closer look at the Gradual Release model.
Determine how much you want to delve into this model after garnering principals’ responses to the whole group question.
Gradual release of responsibility…..from the work of Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey (2007)
“I do”: The teacher provides direct instruction, establishes goals and purpose, models learning expectations
“We do”: There is interactive instruction between the students and teacher.
“They do”: The teacher provides groups of students a similar task. Groups of students work cooperatively and collaboratively to practice and apply the newly learned standard, skill, or strategy. The teacher moves among groups, provides support and scaffolding, and clarifies misunderstandings.
“You do”: The teacher provides meaningful, differentiated tasks to individual or small groups of students that are aligned to the standard, skills, strategies. Students practice and apply new learning independently (without the direct support of the teacher). Afterwards, the teacher evaluates and provides feedback.
Independent
You do it (independent of the teacher).
Student Responsibility

14. Access Points to Build a Bridge Between Reader and Text (Frey & Fisher, 2013)
Establishing a purpose for reading a complex text, and modeling how an expert reader makes meaning
Providing scaffolded and close reading instruction to guide students through complex texts
Creating opportunities for collaborative conversations w/ peers to refine understanding
Moving them forward through independent reading of increasingly complex texts
Using formative assessment so teacher and reader know what is know and still needs to be
This is the process for the Gradual Release Model.
Teacher driven – “I do”
Teacher guided – “We do”
Flexible grouping – “They do”
Independent work – “You do”
Assessment

15. Reading and Writing in Science
Compare and contrast
Form hypotheses and draw conclusions
Understand the “big picture”
Determine the relative importance of information
Write about findings in learning logs
Write and discuss conclusions from lab reports

16. Reading and Writing in Social Studies
Sequence and make connections between historical events
Understand text structures and text features
Evaluate sources
Recognize issues and trends in context
Engage in reflective inquiry through reading and writing
Write about cause-and-effect relationships
Distinguish between and write about fact and opinion

17. Reading and Writing in Mathematics
Understand and describe processes
Translate abstract concepts into symbols
Distinguish patterns
In math journals, examine ideas and reflect on solutions
Write paragraphs to compare key concepts

18. Reading and Writing in Language Arts
Articulate thinking orally and in writing for various artists
Employ context clues
Interpret texts from different literary genres
Understand mechanical standards and rhetorical techniques
Develop fluency with the use of the writing process to generate different modes of writing
Connect reading and writing to persuade, learn, inform, and evoke emotions

19. Literacy “Look-Fors”-Content Area Literacy
Clearly identified/observed literacy and language objectives for each content area lesson
Research-based literacy strategies and practices implemented in lessons
Students read content-specific text and respond, with evidence, to text-based questions.
Students respond to text in ways that are meaningful, analytical, and authentic to the content area
“Given all we know about what works, these look-fors are meant as key ideas for teachers, coaches, and school and district leaders to keep in mind as we plan, observe, provide feedback on, and support (e.g., PD) instruction, especially over the next few months, as we get ready for full scale CLIP implementation in the fall. Now is a good time to begin to practice these general approaches, integrating the evidence-based strategies that you have learned about and that we’re highlighting here today.”

20. Session Objectives Know:
How to access and utilize the online assessment tool known as T.R.A.I.L.S. to obtain class-wide and individual student data to guide teaching of library skills.
Understand:
All teachers can utilize data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their students,, including ELLs and students w/ disabilities, in order to support improved content-area learning.
Be able to Do:
Use online assessment tool to produce data identifying areas of strengths & weaknesses in student information literacy skills;
Create both class-wide and individual reports to determine students’ performance relative to others and to help target the areas of need for instruction; and
Allow collaboration with ELA teachers (or others who teach the research process) to let them know concepts with which students may be struggling.

21. What is T.R.A.I.L.S. ?
T.R.A.I.L.S. ( Tools for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills) is a knowledge assessment with multiple-choice questions targeting a variety of information literacy skills based on standards for grades 3, 6, 9 and 12.
Standards covered include both AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner & Common Core State Standards.

22. Benefits of TRAILS TRAILS:
readily identifies information literacy strengths and weaknesses;
is easily accessible;
is web-based; and
It is FREE!

23. Type of Assessments Available
General assessments include 5 categories:
Develop topic
Identify potential sources
Develop, use, and revise search strategies
Evaluate sources and information
Recognize how to use information responsibly, ethically, and legally
Each category of assessments has 10 items each that are limited to that specific category and available for each grade level.

24. Reports & Feedback
Class Report: provides detailed info. on class performance for each item. Results are reported for each item by # and % of students with correct response.

25. Reports & Feedback
2. Student Report: gives the total score for each individual student code. (Hint: Select ‘YES’ for STUDENT CODES when setting up your assessment session and recorded student names with IDs before students take the assessment. Then you can see how individual students performed overall, as well as see their individual % scores by category.)

26. Reports & Feedback
3. Online Review: allows students to see their responses to the assessments as well as the correct responses. They will need student codes.

27. Score Interpretation TRAILS scores are NOT:
meaningful in and of themselves, or
a definitive measure of a student’s information literacy knowledge.
TRAILS scores DO:
provide a measure of attainment and understanding of students according to grade level standards, and
Identify areas of weakness in student’s information literacy knowledge.

28. Application of Results
Provides current data to:
Identify areas of strengths & weaknesses;
Determine students’ performance relative to others;
Help target the areas of need for instruction; and
Allow collaboration with ELA teachers (or others who teach the research process) to let them know concepts with which students may be struggling.

29. LET’S GET STARTED! TRAILS Home Page: http://www.trails-9.org/
We will now go online to:
Create an account and/or log in to existing account
Create a new session
Take an assessment
Manage an existing session
Print and review reports

30. Steps to Using TRAILS (Handout)
New users create an account (Established users sign in)
Click on Create and Manage Sessions
Click on Create New Session
Session Name
Assessment
Grade Level
Trial Session
Student Codes
Create Session
Click on Manage Sessions
Allows to view, edit

31. Accommodations
ESL Students and non-readers can be paired with other students for the reading and scoring.
Assessments for lower grade levels can be used for students who are not reading on grade level. Example: a 6th grade student could be given the 3rd grade assessment.
Discussion – What are other ways TRAILS can be adjusted for use with SPED and ESL students?

32. HAPPY T.R.A.I.L.S. To You!
Carla Sohns