IPS/NUA Reading Initiative Plan
2000-2001 - Year 3 Training
The Collective

Research Background
The following research statements are taken from the work of Michael Fullan, The Meaning of Educational Change. These statements are in support of and explain the premises for Year 3 training.

P. 121 “It may be recalled that at the teacher level the degree of change was strongly related to the extent to which teacher interact with each other and others providing technical help. Within the school, collegiality among teachers as measured by the frequency of communication, mutual support, help, etc. was a strong indicator of implementation success. Virtually every research study on the topic as found this to be the case.”

“And it does make eminent sense in terms of the theory of change espoused in this book. Significant educational change consists of changes in beliefs, teaching style, and materials which can only come about (except for the odd religious-type conversion) through a process of personal development in a context of socialization.”

P. 122 “There is no getting around the primacy of personal contact Teachers need to participate in skill-training workshops, but they also need to have one-to-one and group opportunities to receive and give help and more simply to converse about the meaning of change.”

“When teachers have had the opportunity to analyze their work under supportive conditions, they have found such reviews to be productive and rewarding. Establishing conditions for teachers to interact represents an important untapped resource for reducing the personal costs of change.”

“The more teachers experience the rewards of interaction the more they will use the criterion of professional contact and development-satisfaction from the intellectual and practical benefits of helping, getting help, and sharing with other teachers- as a measure of whether to become involved in innovation. And make no mistakes about it, focused teacher interaction is essential to large-scale successful change.”

The Collective
A component of the IPS/NUA Reading Initiative

Overarching Goal
The overarching goal is to help teachers create and implement practical and enriching instruction for significantly underachieving students so that these students will not only achieve at least two years growth for every year as measured by district tests, but will also expand their knowledge and ability so they can demonstrate their high potential for learning higher order thinking skills and deep understandings. These students will be provided with the opportunities and strategies that will enable them to compete on a national level.

What is The Collective?
The Collective is a district-wide educators’ idea and information exchange. Classroom teachers and other educators will identify, share and try educational practices of other successful urban teachers with students whose profiles are similar to the targeted IPS students. Year 2 and 3 NUA teachers will analyze the needs of the bottom quartile and identify strategies to address the needs identified. Within this group, 3-6 individual students whose achievement levels are one or more years below grade level standards will comprise the targeted “Collective” group.

Student Profiles
Brief profiles of the students identified for The Collective group would be completed using carefully developed questionnaires that identify each students’ reading level in word analysis, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. Competency levels in writing, composition, language usage and spelling would also be recorded.

Samples of students’ writing would be a part of the students’ profiles. Attendance and any other data that could have a strong positive or negative impact on achievement should be noted. Pseudonyms would be used for all students.

These profiles would be available on line at the IPS/NUA web site. The profile folders for students in "The Collective" group would be kept in the IPS/NUA office.

Educators’ List of Resources and Needs
Teachers and other educators in the district would complete surveys that lists:

1. Areas of specific knowledge, information and skills that they could share. This would include references to successful practices of colleagues within and outside the district.
2. Issues that they would like more information and ideas on. These surveys would form the database for district sharing within regions and between regions

Use of Computers, Video, Distance Learning, Books, Newsletters and Other Resources:
Led by members of the Leadership Academy and NUA consultants, teachers would participate in a district and national quest for information on successful teachers and practices with students whose profiles are similar to the ones in "The Collective" group. This search would include educational books, journals, the internet, and interviews with IPS educators and with other educators around the country.
For example: Identify descriptive articles about any teachers in urban schools who were voted to be “Teacher of the Year” in recent times; web sites that address urban educational classroom issues; web sites on cultural issues related to education, newsletters of effective practices, video tapes that focus on urban school issues that have scenes of successful classroom practices embedded in the video, etc. (Successful practices that are occurring in Alabama with their state-wide reading initiative, Maryland, and in Denver.)

Information Idea Exchange Process for NUA Trained Teachers Year 2 and Year 3

Elementary Boundary Sessions
Teachers would be required to bring 3-6 student profiles to the first Boundary session, based on the IPS Curriculum Framework and Pacing Guides for each grade level. A specific set of key generative skills and knowledge that every “Collective" student will be expected to master will be reviewed. Each school team will make a list of the deficit skill areas that are commonly found among ”The Collective” students in their school at the same grade level.
The boundary sessions are a place where ideas are exchanged, samples of student work are analyzed, where teachers feel like they have support when they don’t have all the answers and a place they can learn from each other. The boundaries would be the kind of sharing that Fullan has researched as being the most effective staff development. All focus will be toward improving these deficit skills.

The sessions are centered on the successes and challenges of students with the same skill and knowledge needs. Teachers exchange experiences and successful practices.

Teachers must ALWAYS bring to every boundary a display of samples of their “Collective” students’ work. These displays are cumulative: e.g. Sept. samples, Oct. samples—each month all on a continuous display such as an accordion folded display of 11”X15” tagboard panels taped together.

Every boundary session is an exhibition!!!!!!!! The displays are on student performance including the profile and sample work of the “Collective" students with notes from the teacher.

Each teacher leaves in the NUA office a folder with copies of the sample work for each of the “Collective” students. (Teachers are supplied with folders at the beginning of the year just for this purpose of bringing the copies of student work to the boundary.)

There is time allocated during each boundary session for teachers just to browse and take notes on the displays. There are always outstanding teachers in every group. These teachers would be searched out by the Leadership Academy as part of their work and then would be asked by them to present at the boundary session. The NUA Consultant and Leadership Academy Teachers would pre-select certain teachers to present their students' profiles and report on success. The consultant would be prepared to present ideas and information on successful teachers in other districts whose student profiles are similar to the pre-selected student profiles.

How The Teacher Organizes “The Collective” Students for Intensified Instruction
A very strong component for this year is how the Elementary School teachers sets up their classroom and work with their students for optimal teaching time in small group intensified sessions.

Presenting a Balanced Literacy Approach
People sometimes say, “I should like to teach if only pupils came to learn. But then there would be little need of teaching.” George Herbert Palmer

“Children learn best in classrooms that display a wide range of possible approaches to instruction. Research indicates that most children benefit from a balanced approach to reading that incorporates literature with direct and explicit instruction in skills.” Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children 1998

IPS/NUA recognizes that many children come to school without the prerequisite skills necessary for mastery of the curriculum. These students need an intensified and accelerated instructional program to learn the skills. So within a balanced reading program is the component of intensified instruction (direct instruction) for those students that need to intensify and accelerate their learning.

Language-Experience
In K-3 classrooms, talking about shared experiences, listening to what others have to say and recording the language that is generated is the basis of language-experience.
Language Experience. . .

• provides students opportunities to describe experiences, observations, feelings, objects, people and events.
• helps students express opinions
• builds vocabulary

Reading Aloud (TO)
“Reading aloud to children appears to be the single most important factor for building critical concepts about reading” McCormick, 1977
Reading Aloud:

• exposes children to good literature
• develops interest in authors and illustrators
• shows how the same ideas may be expressed differently by different authors
  Shared Reading (With)

“Shared reading provides many opportunities to explicitly teach skills and strategies within the context of an authentic text.”
Eldredge, Reutzel and Hollingsworth, 1996
Shared Reading:

• provides a supportive context for learning skills and using strategies
• encourages risk-taking
• provides support for less experienced readers

Guided Reading
“Guided reading leads to the independent reading that builds the process; it is the heart of a balanced literacy program.”
Fountas and Pinnell, 1996

Guided Reading:

• helps students develop and integrate strategies for independence in reading
• helps students read for meaning
• provides a window on the reading behaviors and strategies that children are using

Guided reading is not round robin reading. (Examples for a Guided Reading format, the formation of flexible groupings and how the 5 R’s are used in direct instruction will be presented during boundary and site visits.)

Independent Reading
“Having time to read books and materials of your choosing is absolutely necessary to become a reader.”
Regie Routman

Independent Reading:

• provides students with an opportunity to practice strategies that have been introduced
• teaches them the art of self selection
• fosters reading to learn

The Reading and Writing Connection
Modeled Writing
“In modeled writing children are provided with a conceptual model of the writing skill before they are asked to attempt to perform it independently.”
Dorn, 1998

Modeled Writing:

• provides ideas for their writing
• develops interest in authors and illustrators
• encourages the habit of writing

Shared Writing
“Shared writing is one of the most powerful elements in the early literacy framework because the teacher is helping children develop the skills they need to become more proficient writers within a meaningful context.”
Fountas and Pinnell, 1996

Shared Writing:

• demonstrates how writing works
• provides ideas for their writing
• develops interest in authors and illustrators

Guided Writing
“Guided writing by students is achieved with teacher guidance and instruction.”
Guided Writing. . .

• helps children develop their “voice”
• supports students as they write
• provides students with opportunities to use writing strategies

Independent Writing
“Independent writing is the final element of the writing continuum. It is the point where the child is taking full responsibility for his/her own writing.”
Independent Writing:

• helps children share their ideas
• encourages children to record their thoughts and feelings

Skill and Strategy Instruction
“The balanced approach to literacy ends the “fruitless” debate between the phonics and whole-language approaches and focuses on what works in meeting that goal.” Honig, 1996

Skill and Strategy Instruction.. . . . .

• teaches students skills, strategies and behaviors necessary to become independent readers
• occurs in the context of reading and writing, to, with, and by students
• occurs in small and large groups
• occurs with intensity and is accelerated for students one year behind

Assessment
The primary purpose of assessment is to gather data to inform literacy instruction. Assessment provides documentation about what students know and can do. Assessment is:

• formal and informal assessments
• ongoing assessments
• daily assessments

“Match the book to the children, not the children to the book.” Margaret Mooney

It is imperative that teachers began the assessment process before beginning reading instruction. The importance of knowing a performance profile of the learner and how he/she interacts with text is paramount in elevating frustrations of the learner and the teacher. Knowing a student’s instructional level, independent level and frustration level in reading will help the professional to align appropriate text to the learner. Using the appropriate text level, for reading can ensure success. In IPS we have piloted the DRP for one year in grades 3-11 in approximately 30 classrooms. We have piloted DRA in grades K-2 in approximately 20 classrooms. A recommendation has been made to the district to purchase DRP and train all NUA teachers on how to use the instrument to get student instructional reading scores. Once you have those scores, you can match leveled text to the reader. Other assessments similar to DRP are also available; SRI published by Scholastic, etc.

Other formal assessment scores may be reviewed to gain a profile of the students' ISTEP and Terra Nova scores. Informal methods, open book inventory, Informal Reading Inventories and teacher made assessments can all shed light in determining the performance picture of the child.

It is imperative that teachers began the assessment process before beginning reading instruction. The importance of knowing a performance profile of the learner and how he/she interacts with text is paramount in elevating frustrations of the learner and the teacher. Knowing a student’s instructional level, independent level and frustration level in reading will help the professional to align appropriate text to the learner. Using the appropriate text level, for reading can ensure success. In IPS we have piloted the DRP for one year in grades 3-11 in approximately 30 classrooms. We have piloted DRA in grades K-2 in approximately 20 classrooms. A recommendation has been made to the district to purchase DRP and train all NUA teachers on how to use the instrument to get student instructional reading scores. Once you have those scores, you can match leveled text to the reader. Other assessments similar to DRP are also available; SRI published by Scholastic, etc.

Other formal assessment scores may be reviewed to gain a profile of the students' ISTEP and Terra Nova scores. Informal methods, open book inventory, Informal Reading Inventories and teacher made assessments can all shed light in determining the performance picture of the child. Once teachers have a landscape picture of how the child can perform, planning for instruction begins. Assessment is on - going and continuous in the cycle of instruction and measurement for mastery.

Secondary Boundary Sessions
The middle school project would be centered on careers. This would link it with the School to Career district initiative. If we can get students truly excited about a specific career, then they are much more motivated to study to master the skills and knowledge needed in order to meet the requirements of any career, and specifically their chosen career.

The middle school teachers would be separated from the high school teachers and would engage in the same practice regarding the Collective students. Each middle school Language Arts teacher would identify 3-6 students in each of their classes for assessment of their reading level. The grade level team plans literacy instruction for The Collective students. This will impact the teaching of reading across the curriculum.

Intensified accelerated (direct and guided reading) instruction, coupled with matching text leveled materials to the students’ reading level will be the focus areas for “The Collective” group. Other components of this balanced reading approach are, fluency, comprehension, skill-based strategies, prior background knowledge, higher order thinking skills and writing. Skills are taught and monitored across the curriculum by all content team members.

The Leadership Academy members would take the lead in the operation of The Collective. The boundary sessions would be key in promoting the exchange of powerful ideas and information through demonstrations by NUA consultants and teachers. Again, any demonstration of education strategies, processes and materials would have to be tied to the needs of a specific student or students. These students would always be identified by a pseudonym. Teachers would have to explain the rationale for using the demonstrated practice with these particular students along with the explanation of the implementation process within the issue of whole class organization.
E.G. Teachers would have to describe what was going on in the entire classroom when the teacher was implementing this particular practice.

Guided Reading
Middle school Language Arts teachers will be encouraged to conduct guided reading lessons. These lessons are conducted after planning has occurred with the team to review the students' instructional needs.

Literature Circles and Readers Circles should be highly encouraged after the teachers have identified the students' independent reading level.

NUA Content Area Team Support
A team of NUA consultants with expertise in science, math, and social studies, would work with the lead reading consultant to support across the curriculum instruction with the identified Collective students. Even though the mobility rate is high in the district ( 55%) the students will move from one middle school Collective to another Collective without falling through the cracks. The Leadership Academy Teachers will use the listserve and boundary sessions to alert another teacher about transfers of students in The Collective.

Boundary Sessions School Site Consultant Visits, Distance Learning, Leadership Academy , List Serves, Newsletters
The activities of the entire boundary sessions for K-12 would be designed around the profiles of a specific group of identified “Collective” students whose profiles would be used to identify some successful practices. Consultants would demonstrate strategies specific to the needs of these identified students. Consultants could bring in videotapes of a successful teacher dealing with students who were similar to “The Collective” who are the subject of the day's boundary session. Teachers should be prepared to come with ideas to share for teaching these targeted students (everyone would have to read these students' profiles prior to the boundary session or had been given these profiles at the last boundary session).

Consultants would join teachers in grouping certain student profiles that had very similar needs. The consultant’s workshop sessions and the teacher’s demonstrations during the boundary sessions would always be tied in to some real need of “real students” in “The Collective”

Consultant Site Visits
Consultant site visits would be tied into the needs of a specific group of “Collective” students at the school. The consultant would bring in ideas, information, demonstration lessons etc. that addressed the needs of the targeted students. etc.

Guest Consultant/Practicing Classroom Teachers
NUA will bring in “guest” consultant/teachers who are successful urban classroom teachers. The Leadership Academy members will identify a set of students in the “Collective” for this “guest” consultant/teacher to address while in the boundary session, distance learning, school site visit, etc. The “guest" consultant/teacher workshop or demonstration lessons are all geared to the needs of the identified “Collective” students. She/he would have been sent the profiles and sample classroom work of the REAL LIVE students. The Leadership Academy and the NUA consultant would have discussed the students’ needs and challenges with the consultant/teacher so that she/he could prepare for all their work to center around meeting the needs of accelerating these students.

Role of NUA Consultant
The main question for NUA consultants would change this year. The questions would be specifically related to the main question: "How can I help teachers achieve the high levels of growth in their “Collective” students?" Identification of resources for teaching specific “Collective” students would be a major role of NUA consultants. Information from the profiles of students would be cited as the basis for introducing any specific strategy, material or practice. Materials of successful educational practices would be related to the “Collective” students. This would help tie the work of the NUA consultants together. Instead of just presenting strategies, they would help teachers identify cutting edge resources specific to the needs of significantly underachieving students. Since the field is not saturated with "cutting information" in the area of achieving "real results" through the acceleration of learning in urban students, everyone, especially NUA consultants would be motivated to dig deeper to uncover new knowledge in this area. It would make everyone’s work more interesting and exciting. Plus serve students and teachers like nothing has been done before in this country.

Leadership Academy

Components

The Collective

Databases

Schedules

Links