Preparing our students for the 21 st century OVEC's Literacy
Vision Slide 2 Standards To understand the foundational concepts
and structures of adolescent literacy To realize the added value of
literacy to support comprehensive student learning To understand
the long range goals of participating in this project (and
principal participation) To acknowledge what is already known and
to take action on it To prepare our schools and districts for
anticipated federal funding support Slide 3 Lets look at some
statistics! Comparing the most recent National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) reading results for 4 th, 8 th, and 12
th grade levels with those from 1992 reveal that although the
percentage of students scoring proficient has significantly
improved among 4 th graders, the percentage of 8 th and 12 th
graders scoring proficient has remained stagnant (Donahue, Voelkl,
Campbell, &Mazzeo, 1999; Perie, Grigg, et al, 2005; Perie,
Morran, & Lutkus, 2005). Informed Choices for Struggling
Adolescent ReadersA Research-Based Guide to Instructional
Practices, Don Deshler, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar, Gina
Biancarosa, Marnie Mair Slide 4 And more! Despite improvements in 4
th -grade proficiency rates, 70% of students who entered 5 th and 9
th grades in 2005 were reading below level (Perie, Grigg, et al.,
2005). In fact, dropouts and high school graduates demonstrate
significantly worse reading skills than 10 years ago ( Kutner,
Greenberg, & Baer, 2006) Of those students who do graduate from
high school, approximately 32% are not ready for college-level
English composition courses ( ACT, 2005) and approximately 40% lack
the literacy skills employers seek ( Achieve, 2005) Informed
Choices for Struggling Adolescent ReadersA Research-Based Guide to
Instructional Practices, Don Deshler, Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar,
Gina Biancarosa, Marnie Mair Slide 5 What about the world of work?
70% of high school students who manage to graduate from high school
(Greene & Winters, 2005) often find themselves unprepared to
compete for the most lucrative jobs that require not only post
secondary education but an ongoing ability to read in order to keep
abreast of new developments in a rapidly changing global economy (
Biancarosa & Snow, 2004; Levy & Murnane, 2004; OECD, 2000).
Slide 6 6 Did You Know ? Lets make a prediction! Slide 7 Out of
every 100 Kentucky ninth graders. Slide 8 .65 graduate from high
school. Slide 9 .39 enter college. Slide 10 .26 are still enrolled
in the sophomore year. Slide 11 and 15 graduate from college. Slide
12 Literacy, as defined by the KY Literacy Partnership Literacy
includes reading, writing, and the creative, and analytical acts
involved in producing and comprehending text. Literacy is more than
reading and writing. It involves purposeful social and cognitive
processes It helps individuals discover ideas and make meaning It
enables functions such as analysis, synthesis, organization,
evaluation 12 Slide 13 Curriculum Blends All Aspects of Literacy
for a Variety of Authentic Purposes and Audiences Literacy
Includes: Reading Writing Speaking Listening Observing Slide 14 14
READING Next Instructional Elements 1. Direct explicit
comprehension instruction 2. Effective instructional principals
embedded in content 3. Motivation and self directed learning 4.
Text-based collaborative learning 5. Strategic tutoring 6. Diverse
texts 7. Intensive writing 8. A technology component 9. On-going
formative assessment Slide 15 15 READING Next Infrastructural
Elements 10. Extended time for literacy 11. Professional
development 12. Ongoing summative assessment of students and
programs 13. Teacher teams 14. Leadership 15. A comprehensive and
coordinated literacy program Biancarosa, G & Snow, C. Reading
Next: A vision for action and research in middle and high school
literacy. Carnegie Corporation, New York, 2004. Slide 16 Slide 17
Adolescent Literacy Myths 1. Struggling adolescent readers cant
read at all. 2. If an adolescent can read the words, comprehension
naturally follows. 3. Adolescents today cant read like adolescents
used to read. 4. Adolescents today cant read well because they
spend too much time on TV, computers, video games, etc. 5. The
adolescent literacy problem is primarily one of poverty, race,
disability, and linguistic background. Slide 18 Remember this
anyone can struggle given the right text. The struggle isnt the
issue; the issue is what the reader does when the text gets tough.
- Kylene Beers Slide 19 Response to Intervention: Working at the
Systems Level A systematic school-wide literacy approach ensures
that requirements for Response to Intervention are pre-verified for
all students Response to Intervention is simply a structure that
represents common and comprehensive best practices for basic
literacy skills development The search for the boxed program that
will check off our responsibilities is taking the hard, wrong, and
least productive pathway Slide 20 What Do We Do Instead? Create a
culture of literacy among your adult and student community Build
school administrators instructional leadership skills Provide
skills- and strategies-based professional development to your
teachers Implement accountable supports for students at all levels
of need Slide 21 Create a Fully Responsive System Tiers of Response
Instructional Models Professional Development Leadership
Development Tier I Core Instruction for All Students Core Reading
Instruction & Content Literacy Integration With Responsive
Instruction Systematic Professional Development for All Teachers
With Job- Embedded Coaching Instructional Leadership Development
Teacher Accountability Strategies Distributed Leadership Model Tier
II Integrated Differentiation Based on Need Tier III Intensive
Intervention for At-Risk Students Distinct, Flexible and Customized
Intervention Specialized and Targeted Training Slide 22 Making a
Difference Strong instructional leaders: Provide a clear vision
Establish clear curricular priorities for improving students
reading achievement Participate and support all staff professional
development 22 If the primary purpose of schooling is learning,
then determining what students need to know, how and when it should
be taught, and whether or not these instructional goals have been
reached are paramount for effective instructional leaders. McEwan,
2003 Slide 23 Leadership Priorities 23 Instructional
Leader/educator with a strong focus on improving instruction and
student achievemen t Managerial Administrator/Supervisor Political
Negotiator/facilitator Requires a shift in school leadership
priorities. PERKS:
