ROOTS AND WINGS

Evidence of positive effects on student achievement
Year introduced in schools		1993
Number of schools		200
Support developer provides schools
First-year costs      with new staff      with current staff reassigned		$270,000 $70,000
= Strong	= Promising		= Marginal
= Mixed, Weak		? = No Research

OVERVIEW

Note: Roots and Wings incorporates and builds upon Success for All. To better understand both the reading component of Roots and Wings and other general issues, the reader is encouraged to review the Success for All profile.

Designed to be used in conjunction with the Success for All reading program, Roots and Wings is a comprehensive model that seeks to provide challenging content and experiences to children in the major core content areas of reading and language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

The main goal of the approach is to improve academic achievement in elementary schools. Secondary goals include reducing the number of referrals for special education, reducing the number of students who are retained in grade, increasing attendance, and addressing family needs.

Roots and Wings is one of several approaches sponsored by New American Schools, a national initiative to develop replicable schoolwide reform programs. It was created in 1993 by the developers of Success for All, Robert Slavin and Nancy Madden, at the Johns Hopkins University, to extend the Success for All curriculum. Over 1,130 pre-K-6 schools in 44 states have adopted Success for All, with over 200 of the schools using Roots and Wings. The approaches also have been adapted for use in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Israel, and England. Although it is geared primarily to urban environments, a wide range of schools now use the approach. The developers plan to add 400 to 600 schools per year.

EVIDENCE OF POSITIVE EFFECTS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Strength of the Research Base. Roots and Wings is a relatively new program, and its research base on student achievement is still marginal. However, the Success for All approach, which provides the Roots and Wings reading curriculum and other program components (e.g., parent support and one-on-one tutoring), has a well-established research base that should be examined when considering Roots and Wings. Three studies are available that look at the student achievement effects of Roots and Wings in other content areas. Two of these studies (one conducted by independent researchers) were sufficiently rigorous to report results here.

In addition, a comprehensive evaluation of this and other sponsored approaches has been commissioned by New American Schools. Five implementation studies also were reviewed, three of which were conducted under contract for New American Schools.

Effects on Students. While research on student achievement effects is still limited, preliminary results are encouraging. Both rigorous studies present data from standardized tests (e.g., the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program, Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, and Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program) indicating that Roots and Wings helps improve student performance across all subjects tested (i.e., reading, language, math, science, social studies). In most cases, improvement was at educationally significant levels. In one study, Roots and Wings schools that scored below comparison groups (e.g., state average, other schools in the district) before implementing the approach scored significantly higher than comparison groups when tested after implementing the approach.

CENTRAL COMPONENTS

Organizational Change, Staffing, and Administrative Support. Schools may need to make a number of substantial changes to implement Roots and Wings. In addition to the changes required for Success for All (e.g., additional staff, restructured reading groups, possible changes in special education and retention policies), the "MathWings" and "WorldLab" components of Roots and Wings require modifying instructional strategies. In WorldLab, for example, students focus on problem-solving, and teachers are expected to act as guides to students rather than lecturers. As with Success for All, Roots and Wings requires a full-time facilitator and approximately three tutors.

Curriculum and Instruction. According to developers, Roots and Wings emphasizes student-led, cooperative activities. Roots and Wings uses the same reading curriculum as Success for All. (For more details on the reading curriculum, see the Success for All profile in this report.)

The developer provides a mathematics curriculum, entitled MathWings, that aligns with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics guidelines and standards. It has three main components:

• a daily routine of problem solving, facts, homework check, logbook, and team organization;

• a series of units, spanning three to five weeks, that involve the whole class and include project (performance-based) tasks as the introductory lesson; and

• a two-week period, scheduled to occur between most whole-class units, when students are working individually on building or refining skills or investigating additional math topics.

WorldLab, a curriculum that combines science and social studies, encourages students to investigate real-world problems and topics in small groups. Central components of World Lab include:

• a design that promotes an understanding of the interdependence of economic, political, biological, and physical systems;

• use of simulation (role playing), group investigation, and cooperative learning;

• involvement of community resources, (i.e., people in the community who have relevant, specialized knowledge);

• encouragement of problem solving and higher-order thinking; and

• student projects that help solve community problems.

Some of the WorldLab units for grades one and two are Birds, Forests, and Harvests around the World. Units for grades three through six include Archeology, Encounters (which looks at interactions among cultures from ancient times through the early American settlement), From Rebellion to Union, and Inventors.

Supplies and Materials. In addition to the curriculum materials for Success for All, Roots and Wings schools use instructional materials that support the WorldLab and MathWings curricula described above.

Scheduling and Grouping. As with Success for All, schools implementing Roots and Wings group students by achievement level for reading. According to the developers, students work in heterogeneous homerooms during Math Wings and World Lab. Students also stay in homeroom groups of mixed achievement levels for other subjects.

In addition, the schedule of a Roots and Wings school is structured. The developers require schools to set aside 90 minutes for reading, one hour for math, and 60 to 90 minutes for WorldLab each day.

Monitoring Student Progress and Performance. In addition to Success for All reading assessments, which are administered every eight weeks, Roots and Wings has ongoing informal assessments built into the math and WorldLab curricula.

Family and Community Involvement. Roots and Wings contains the same family and community involvement component as Success for All. This requires establishing a family support team at each school.

SUPPORT THE DEVELOPER PROVIDES SCHOOLS

Professional Development and Technical Assistance. In addition to the extensive training provided for Success for All, the developers provide specific training for the components particular to Roots and Wings over three years of implementation. (For more details, see the Success for All profile in this report.)

During the first year, this includes three two-day visits that focus on implementation of the curriculum and two one-day visits that focus on family support. Generally, the developer provides training in one content area at a time so that teachers have time to gain proficiency in one subject before attempting the next. The developer uses an implementation visit record form, which can be used by the schools between visits to track implementation progress. During these visits, the developers also provide technical assistance for implementation. In addition to on-site training and technical assistance, the developer assigns a staff member to work closely with each school over the telephone or through other means of contact. The developer also provides information through a Web site.

Implementation Requirements and Schools' Experiences. The implementation requirements for Roots and Wings closely mirror those for Success for All.

• District and school staff are encouraged to examine program materials and visit other schools to become familiar with the program.

• A secret ballot must be taken in which at least 80 percent of school staff vote to adopt the approach.

• A full-time facilitator must be provided.

• At least one certified teacher tutor and three other tutors must be provided.

• Staff for the family support team must be provided.

Five studies provide information about the implementation of Roots and Wings. A consistent finding is that schools do not generally implement the entire Roots and Wings approach all at once. Many schools start by implementing Success for All, and then add the two additional Roots and Wings components (WorldLab and MathWings) one at a time. Further, there are mixed results when implementing Roots and Wings:

• Implementation was stronger in the early grades than in later grades.

• The components of frequent assessment, longer reading classes, smaller reading classes, and cross-grade regrouping were implemented in most sites. However, teachers had trouble implementing cooperative learning in the upper grades.

COSTS

The first-year cost of adopting Roots and Wings is $270,000. This includes professional development, including teacher release time; materials; and salaries for a full-time facilitator and an average of three tutors. However, schools can reduce this cost to $70,000 by reassigning current staff to serve as the full-time facilitator and reading tutors.

Costs depend on the size and location of schools and the number of schools in a district that share training and travel costs. As a low estimate (not including personnel) for the full approach for a school of 500 students, the developers cite a figure of $70,000 per year for years one through three. This estimate is based on the assumption that the school will implement one aspect of the approach (i.e., Success for All, MathWings, WorldLab) each year. While the school may not choose to use both MathWings and WorldLab, the developers recommend using Success for All before adding either or both Roots and Wings components.

Additional costs, not included in the $70,000 estimate, are staff, such as a full-time facilitator, and three tutors (according to the developers, these positions are generally filled by reassigning existing staff); substitutes and release time for training; and development of a family support team.

When additional personnel costs are considered, the figure rises substantially. Estimates from New American Schools detail a yearly cost of $224,000 to $324,000, including personnel, materials, training, and other operating costs. The figure varies depending on the number of additional personnel considered. Also, although the figure drops slightly because of decreased training after the first year of implementation, the figure remains high in the second and third years because most of the costs are incurred for personnel. New American Schools estimates costs by year four at $187,000 to $287,000, depending on how many staff positions are reallocated versus hired. According to the developers, in Title 1 schools, existing Title 1 staff usually fill the roles of facilitators, tutors, and family support team staff; therefore, these additional costs are not incurred.

Other estimates vary somewhat, but still reflect the substantial personnel costs. For example, Keltner and Reichardt (1998) estimate an implementation cost for Roots and Wings of $298,900. Estimates of total costs, given by the developers for the original site in St. Mary's County, Maryland, were $219,738 for the start-up year and $133,238 for continuing years. Again, all of this may not represent new revenues since existing staff may have been reallocated.

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