1. Instructional Leadership: Focus on Literacy
West Virginia Department of Education
Office of Special Programs

2. West Virginia’s Focus on Literacy

3. Instructional Leadership for Literacy: From Vision to Implementation
Building the Infrastructure
Filling the Infrastructure with Good Instruction
Implementing with Fidelity

4. Strong leadership from both administrators and teachers is an essential building block in constructing a successful literacy program, but the role played by the principal is key to determining success or failure of the program.
(Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle and High School Principals, 2008)

5. Few
Some
All

6. School Improvement Cycle
Literacy
School Improvement Cycle
Increased Student Achievement
Highly Effective Teachers
Strategic Accelerated Intervention
Balanced Assessment
Ongoing, job-embedded research-based PD
Committed Instructional Leadership

7. Action Steps for the Literacy Leader
Determine school’s capacity for literacy improvement
Develop a Literacy Leadership Team (LLT)
Create a collaborative environment that fosters sharing and learning
Develop a schoolwide organizational model that supports extended time for literacy instruction
Analyze assessment data to determine specific learning needs of students
Develop a schoolwide plan to address professional development needs
Create a realistic budget for literacy needs
Understand and embed literacy strategies across the content areas
Demonstrate your commitment to the literacy program

8. “The philosophy that if we teach children to read by third grade we don’t have to worry anymore is definitely NOT true.”
(Melvina Phillips, author of Creating a Culture of Literacy)

9. Reading Acquisition and Proficiency
At K-3 students learn to read; at 4-12, students read to learn.
While reading becomes an important tool for helping students expand their knowledge after grade 3, learning to read hardly comes to an abrupt halt.

10. Infrastructure Improvements Instructional Improvements
K-3 Literacy
Infrastructure Improvements
Instructional Improvements
Extended time for literacy
Professional development
Ongoing, balanced assessments
Teacher teams
Leadership
A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program
Direct, explicit instruction in: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension
Research-based instruction
Use of data to inform instruction
Balanced assessments
Fidelity to core program
A technology component
Motivation and active engagement

11. Key Elements for Improving K-3 Literacy
Infrastructure Improvements
Filling the Infrastructure with Good Instruction

12. Center on Instruction Resources

13. Teaching All Students to Read in Elementary School

14. Using Student Center Activities to Differentiate Reading Instruction

15. Intensive Reading Interventions for Struggling Readers in Early Elementary Grades

16. A Comprehensive K-3 Reading Assessment Plan

17. Literacy instruction must not stop as students enter middle school, but rather be a vital component of a student’s educational experience from kindergarten to graduation.

18. (Adolescent Literacy Walk-throughs for Principals, 2009)
“While it is clear that content area teachers cannot be expected to teach struggling readers basic reading skills, they can help students develop the knowledge, reading strategies, and thinking skills to understand and learn from increasingly complex text in their content areas.”
(Adolescent Literacy Walk-throughs for Principals, 2009)

19. Adolescent Literacy Elements
Infrastructure Improvements
Instructional Improvements
Extended time for literacy
Professional development
Ongoing summative assessments of students and programs
Teacher teams
Leadership (LLTs)
A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program
Monitoring/accountability system
Direct, explicit comprehension instruction
Effective instructional principles embedded in content
Motivation and self-directed learning
Text-based collaborative learning
Strategic tutoring
Diverse texts
Intensive writing
A technology component
Ongoing formative assessment of students

20. Key Elements for Improving 4-12 Literacy

21. “The challenge for the Literacy Leadership Team, then, is to set goals that can be enacted by all stakeholders, measured for progress and revisited yearly for revision.”
JoAnne Allain (2008)
The LLT must have a clear idea of what is necessary and what is attainable in your school.

22. Building a Strong LLT
Select 5-8 faculty members who represent the range of grades and the curriculum in the school
Selected members should be highly skilled, motivated and committed to improving literacy for all students
Suggested members include:
Principal/Curriculum leader
Reading/Instructional coach
Special educators
Content area teachers
Strong leadership from both administrators and teachers is an essential building block in constructing a successful literacy program, but the role played by the principal is a key to determining success or failure of the program. The first step is to organize a Literacy Leadership Team (LLT) composed of administrators, content teachers, special educators and resource teachers. The success of any literacy initiative depends upon having the support of the teaching staff from the beginning.
Teachers must be empowered and committed to understanding the problem and the need to develop an action plan for success. This best occurs when key teachers play a vital role in the LLT. The members of this team should be highly skilled, motivated and committed to improving literacy for all students. By serving on this team, teachers will influence the direction the school will travel as they make significant changes in the instructional program to support all learners in literacy.
You will select your LLT for participation in the next webinar on May 28, 2008 at 3:15- 4:00. The LLT will be the intended audience for the next webinar.

23. Identifying Strengths and Challenges
Literacy Capacity Survey
Give the Literacy Capacity Survey
Collect results
Use as a planning guide for LLT
Assess Student Needs
Which assessment(s) will we use?
Large group tests as a “first cut”
Assess all struggling students beyond the WESTEST to determine specific needs (Tier 2 and 3)
Place students in appropriate tiers
Determine movement among tiers
If schools are to meet the academic instructional needs of each student, there are several key components that must be in place. By using the Literacy Capacity Survey with your school faculty, the LLT will begin literacy improvement by discussing questions such as,
Do all your teachers view literacy as an integral part of the academic program?
Do teachers have access to school data and use it to guide their instructional practices?
Are your struggling students being taught by your most effective teachers?
These are the types of questions that will help provide the data needed for the LLT to plan literacy practices in the school.
It is the action around assessment-the discussion, meetings, revisions, arguments and opportunities to continually create new directions for teaching, learning, curriculum, and assessment-that ultimately drive the consequences. As an LLT, you will establish a school culture that utilizes data to guide a literacy program designed to meet the needs of ALL learners.

24. Teach 21 includes important resources for the LLT
Emphasize the resources available on Teach 21.

25. Literacy Leadership Team Checklist
Select LLT members
Develop LLT meeting schedule
Communicate LLT roles/responsibilities to all staff
Complete Literacy Capacity Survey
Identify and prioritize literacy needs of students
Identify and prioritize professional development needs of teachers
Provide resources and strategies to support change
This checklist will get schools started…

26. Change begins with a vision…a vision that grows out of the mind of the school leader and into the hearts of others. Take a minute to imagine your school as it might appear with a well- designed adolescent literacy plan in place…

27. One of the main arguments is that middle and high school students use more complex texts that require advanced literacy skills, which are not typically taught in schools. This causes obvious  problems for students who are trying to master a new concept while at the same time struggling with literacy comprehension.
In addition to making literacy a national priority, the report also calls on literacy to expand beyond the language arts classroom. Teachers across the curriculum need effective professional development so that they can teach literacy for the individual subjects.
Recommendations include:
Giving teachers literacy-focused instructional tools and formative assessments
Encouraging schools and districts to collect and use information about student literacy performance more efficiently
Calling upon state-level leaders to maximize the use of limited resources for literacy efforts in a strategic way.
“As schools consider how to re-engineer to meet the demands of the 21st century, they must also establish a culture of literacy,” stated Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. “Integrating literacy instruction across the curriculum is critical for students to master the skills required for college and careers.”
Time to Act was released with five corresponding reports that delve deeper into the findings, including the cost of implementing adolescent literacy programs and reading in the disciplines.

28. Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers

29. Assessments to Guide Adolescent Literacy Instruction

30. The literacy leader is like a football coach or a conductor; the principal must skillfully pull the literacy elements together to achieve the ultimate goal of improved student literacy achievement.

31. A Principal’s Reading Walk- Through is a systematic way to collect real-time teaching and learning data.
It’s a brief, focused visit to a classroom. Visits are short—5 to 7 minutes—and informal.
The Principal’s Reading Walk-Through lists aspects that demonstrate scientifically based reading instruction and has boxes to check when those aspects are implemented.
[Hold up PRWT Checklists. Also provide a copy of each Checklist, K-3, for each teacher.]

32. A Principal’s Reading Walk-Through (PRWT) is not an evaluation.
Let’s start with what it’s not.
This is not about playing “gotcha” with teachers whose students are having difficulty learning to read.
It’s not a way to criticize or punish teachers whose students are not learning well.
It’s not just for a few teachers.

33. Everyone can learn from objective comments about their practice.
If you’ve ever learned a sport, you know that you progress faster with a coach.
We can’t notice every detail of our actions when we are engaged in an activity. One of the most valuable things someone can offer us is fair, objective comments about how we’re doing.
The Principal’s Reading Walk-Through is a tool. It guides principals in what to look for and teachers know what principals are looking for. No one has to guess.

34. Elements of an Adolescent Literacy Walk-through for Principals (ALWP)
Instructional Practices
Vocabulary and content knowledge instruction
Comprehension strategy instruction
Discussion of reading content
Motivation and engagement

35. Elements of an ALWP for Intervention (Grades 4-5 and 6-12)
Advanced word study instruction
Reading fluency instruction
Intervention protocols
Instructional materials

36. Three Uses of Walk-through Data
Grade levels
Individual classrooms
School-wide
Instructional Improvements
Useful feedback includes nonjudgmental statements or questions.
The statements and questions are delivered orally and in the present or future tense.
For example, “During my walk-through today, I noticed some students were using posted word ladders to help with in their writing assignment. How do you decide what to display in your classroom?”

37. Observation and reflective practice support a school’s evolution into a professional learning community.
What we’re aiming for, in the end, is to evolve into a professional learning community. In a professional learning community:
Faculty and staff learn collectively.
Relationships get stronger because we are focusing on common interests.
Instruction and student achievement improve.

38. The point is to observe instruction, take notes, and open dialogue.
Adults learn best by reflecting on their experience.
The Principal’s Reading Walk-Through provides a way to talk about your experience as a teacher—what you’re doing extremely well and ways in which you can grow.

39. Teachers who feel enabled to succeed with students are more committed and effective than those who feel unsupported in their teaching and in their practice.
Professional learning communities help break down the sense of isolation a school can create. They take teachers out of their classrooms, into a common learning space.
Professional Learning communities engage teachers as learners themselves, renewing and extending their knowledge and beliefs about teaching. Teachers experience greater satisfaction teaching.

40. The Principal’s Reading Walk-Through helps track trends
over time,
by teachers,
by grade level,
by indicator,
by category.
The Principal’s Reading Walk-Through is a way for us to continue looking at and reflecting upon our instructional practice and student learning.
Are there any questions about the Principal’s Reading Walk-Through?
(Answer questions. Share your plans about when you intend to begin your reading walk-throughs.)

41. http://wvde.state.wv.us/osp/LiteracyCulture.htm l

44. Principal's Reading Walk-through: K-3

45. Adolescent Literacy Walk-through for Principals

46. Reading Walk-Through Checklist for 1st Grade Classrooms
Here is a portion of what the first grade PRWT Checklist looks like. There is a different Checklist for each grade level, K-3.
Each Checklist is designed to be used for three visits to the same classroom.

47. Reading Walk-through for Grades 4-5

48. Reading Walk-through for Grades 6-12

49. Guiding Questions for Literacy Leaders
How has my leadership supported literacy efforts?
What do our assessment scores reveal about literacy practices?
What do I consider the key elements of the professional development plan?
Are teachers skilled at integrating literacy strategies into their daily lessons?
What support do we provide for students who are below grade level in literacy?

50. Remember, success begins with the principal
Remember, success begins with the principal. The staff will look to their building leader to determine his or her support for a literacy program. A lack of commitment by either words or actions will kill the program before it begins.
Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle and High School Principals (2005)

51. Contact Information
Phyllis Veith, Assistant Director, Office of Special Programs
Linda Palenchar, Coordinator, Office of Special Programs