An Educators' Guide to Schoolwide Reform

Success for All is a comprehensive approach to restructuring schools, especially those serving students placed at risk, to ensure that every child learns how to read. The approach has nine components:

The main goal of Success for All is to ensure success in reading. Secondary goals include reducing the number of referrals to special education, reducing the number of students who are retained or "held back," increasing daily attendance, and addressing family needs.

The Success for All approach was developed by Robert Slavin and Nancy Madden at Johns Hopkins University. They designed Success for All in response to a challenge from Baltimore City Public Schools to develop an approach that would address the problems of urban students, based on research about effective instructional practice. They established the first Success for All school in 1987. Since then, Success for All (and its companion approach, Roots and Wings) has been adopted by over 1,130 pre-K-6 schools (nearly all Title 1) in 44 states. The approach has also been adapted for use in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Israel, and England. Although still geared primarily to urban environments, the approach is also used by many schools in rural and suburban settings. The developers plan to add another 400 to 600 schools per year.

Strength of the Research Base. The research on Success for All is strong, based on its size and consistency of findings. Sixteen empirical studies, detailing information from about two dozen different sites, were available for review; all but one used sufficiently rigorous methodologies to be reported here. Most studies use a "matched control" technique, in which researchers compare Success for All students with similar students in similar schools. Of the 16 studies reviewed, eight were either authored or co-authored by the developers. Eleven studies also provide information on implementation.

Effects on Students. Compared to control schools, including schools using other approaches that employ one-on-one tutors, Success for All schools show significant improvements in students' reading performance on standardized tests (e.g., Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests, and the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty) and other measures. For example, one study showed that Success for All students were achieving at a level of three to eight months ahead of comparison students. Another study showed that Success for All students passed the state functional exam at higher rates than comparison students. Not only does the research on Success for All show statistically and educationally significant improvement in student scores, but it does so consistently across the studies reviewed. The approach has the greatest effect on students who are at risk of school failure (i.e., students scoring in the lowest 25 percent on the pre-test, students in ESL programs and in bilingual programs using the Spanish version of the Success for All curriculum, and minority students).

For all students, the size of reading improvement varies according to level of program implementation. For instance, schools not implementing the eight-week assessments or not providing adequate tutoring do not show as large an effect as schools providing all services.

Organizational Change, Staffing, and Administrative Support. Schools may need to make extensive changes to implement Success for All successfully. The first change may be additional staff; schools must have a full-time facilitator to help implement the program, and may need to hire additional teachers or paraprofessionals for the required one-on-one tutorials for struggling students. The facilitator is a certified teacher (generally paid for using Title 1 funds) who coordinates staff implementation of the program. In addition to working with staff by visiting classrooms, coaching, and conducting ongoing professional development, the facilitator supervises the eight-week assessments and serves as liaison among teachers, administrators, tutors, family support staff, and parents. According to the developers, few Success for All schools hire additional staff; most reallocate current staff to fill required roles.

Second, reading classes may have to be restructured to meet the requirements of the approach. Success for All requires 90 minutes per day of reading instruction targeted to classes grouped by reading level beginning in grade one. Grouping is revised every eight weeks based on individual assessments of students' reading skills.

Third, with regard to special education and retention, Success for All encourages schools not to refer children for special education services and not to retain children in grade. Instead, as discussed below, the program is designed to support all children's learning in general education classrooms. When considering adoption of Success for All, a district may need to consider its policies on one or both of these issues.

Curriculum and Instruction. Success for All uses a highly structured curriculum focused on reading and English language arts. (Its sister approach, Roots and Wings, expands into other subject areas.)

The Early Learning Program, for prekindergarten and kindergarten, focuses on developing oral language skills using developer-provided materials. In the Early Learning Program students listen to, retell, and act out stories. In mid-kindergarten or first grade, students begin Reading Roots, a beginning reading program in which students work with controlled-vocabulary mini-books and repeated oral reading. Reading Roots involves a blend of phonics and "whole language" techniques and uses children's literature and student text supplemented by teacher-read text. Prekindergarten through first-grade students almost exclusively use materials provided by the developer.

In grades two through six, students work with another program, Reading Wings, which uses a wide range of commonly available basals, anthologies, and novels. The developer requires teachers to use specific strategies in Reading Wings, in which students read stories to each other and discuss content and structure, as well as participate in activities on listening comprehension, vocabulary building, reading fluency, and writing. According to the developer, the reading lessons are fast-paced, with a variety of activities in each lesson, and an emphasis on students learning in cooperative activities.

A Spanish version of the reading curriculum, Lee Conmigo or Exito Para Todos, is available for students in bilingual and English-as-a-Second-Language programs.

In addition to the writing activities that are part of the reading curriculum, the developer provides a curriculum that focuses on writing. Grades one and two use Writing from the Heart, in which students are introduced to the writing process (e.g., write for a real audience, revise, and build skills in the context of writing). Grades three through six use Writing Wings, in which teams of four to five students of different skill levels work together. Students write individual drafts that they critique and revise together.

Finally, Success for All includes an extensive tutoring program in grades one through three. Students having difficulty learning to read receive tutoring from certified teachers or other qualified and trained instructional staff. In assigning students to tutors, Success for All gives priority to students in first grade.

Supplies and Materials. Although teachers may adapt materials, the developer requires schools to work with the Success for All materials in prekindergarten through first grade. For grades two through six, the developer provides materials, called "Treasure Hunts," tailored to the reading materials already used in the school. Treasure Hunts have been developed to accompany the most widely used basal readers, anthologies, and novels. All new materials are sent to teachers in Success for All schools for review, and are then piloted in Success for All classrooms before being distributed.

Finally, the developer requires schools to have an adequate number of books and other materials to accompany the various components of the approach (e.g., space and supplies for the facilitator, books given as resources to parents, and materials such as books, paper, and pencils to be used during one-on-one tutoring).

Scheduling and Grouping. Success for All requires schools to organize students by reading performance level into multi-age groups of approximately 20 students for at least 90 minutes per day for reading instruction. For the rest of the day, students are in heterogeneous, age-grouped homerooms.

According to the developers, the approach is geared to helping all students learn to read in the regular classroom. The developers' materials suggest that helping students learn to read should vastly reduce the need for placement in special education classes. One of the tenets of Success for All is that children should be removed from the regular classroom only under extreme circumstances and when all other options have been exhausted.

Monitoring of Student Progress and Performance. Success for All requires formal assessments of student progress at least every eight weeks. These assessments are embedded in the curriculum. The results are used to reevaluate reading grouping and change student assignments if needed. Because Success for All attempts to provide reading instruction tailored to the specific level of each student, accurately assessing students and placing them into the appropriate reading group is important.

In addition to formal assessments, ongoing informal assessments of progress are also encouraged. These informal assessments also help to tailor instruction to the specific level of the students.

These regular reading assessments also help to identify students who are struggling before they fall far behind. These students receive one-on-one tutoring for 20 minutes per day at times other than regular reading or mathematics periods. First-grade students get priority for tutoring.

Family and Community Involvement. Parent support is critical to the Success for All approach. Each Success for All school has a "family support team" to increase family involvement. The goal of these teams is to encourage parents to read to students, to involve parents in school, and to help families address any problems at home that affect a student's ability to learn in school (e.g., by providing referrals to social services). Teams typically include an administrator (principal or assistant principal), the Success for All facilitator, and others such as social workers, counselors, attendance monitors, teachers, and volunteers.

Professional Development and Technical Assistance. Professional development and technical assistance for Success for All schools are provided by trainers (members of the developer's staff) and the program facilitators at each school. Trainers typically are former teachers, principals, or facilitators in Success for All schools.

In the spring before implementing Success for All, the principal and facilitator attend a week-long training session. Late in the summer of that year, Success for All staff visit the school to provide a three-day inservice for all staff that introduces them to each component the school is implementing.

During the first year, the developer provides several days of follow-up with the principal, facilitator, and instructional staff. This support includes three two-day follow-up visits (also known as "implementation visits") that focus on implementation of the curriculum, plus two one-day visits that focus on the family support team. The developer uses an implementation visit record form, which can be used by the schools between visits to track implementation progress.

Every spring, the developer provides regional conferences for experienced schools. The principal and facilitator are expected to attend; many teachers also choose to participate.

The developer provides full technical assistance services for three years at minimum (including site visits, consulting over the telephone, and access to materials and a Web site). After the third year, developer support for professional development continues at a lower level. However, the facilitator remains at the school to guide the approach, and may continue to call the developer with questions.

Implementation Requirements and Schools' Experiences. Prior to implementation, the developer of Success for All requires the following:

According to the research on implementation, the cost and time requirement of the approach are difficult for some schools to manage. Most studies found that all components were implemented, but some more comprehensively than others. For example, some schools found it difficult to fund and manage the large number of tutors and other additional personnel (family support personnel, counselors, etc.). Consequently, after a few years, some schools opted to scale down the approach. Some schools have significantly decreased or even eliminated the family support and the one-on-one tutoring components of the approach—which the developer believes are crucial. In addition, many schools have discontinued or scaled back the required eight-week assessments—another crucial aspect of the approach, according to the developer. Not only replication sites but also several of the original sites in Baltimore have engaged in this scaling back or eliminating of components.

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

Costs depend on the size and location of schools and the number of schools that share training and travel expenses. As an example, the developer's estimated base costs for a school of 500 students are as follows: $70,000 for year one, $30,000 for year two, and $20,000 for year three and later years. Additional costs not included in this estimate are staff such as the full-time facilitator and at least three tutors (according to the developer, these staff are generally reallocated from existing positions); costs for substitutes and release time for training, and costs for developing and organizing a family support team.

If staff are hired rather than reassigned from existing positions, the figure rises substantially. In one cost comparison, the estimated yearly personnel costs for a Success for All school with 500 students range from $195,000 to $530,000 per year. The low estimate includes a facilitator, two reading tutors, a parent liaison, and a half-time social worker. The high estimate includes a facilitator, six reading tutors, a parent liaison, two social workers, a counselor, and a half-time attendance monitor. Adding personnel costs to training costs—one low estimate is $66,060—provides an estimated range of $261,060 to $646,500, depending on the number of personnel. As most of the cost is associated with additional personnel, it should be assumed not to vary widely from the first year to subsequent years.

Another study estimates first-year costs to range from $160,500 to $340,500. In part, the difference between the figures in the two studies is due to the fact that one study assumed the use of paraprofessionals as aides and the other assumed the use of certified teachers.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Robert Slavin
Success for All Foundation
200 W. Towsontown Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21204

Phone: 800-548-4998
Fax: 410-324-4444
E-mail: info@successforall.net
Web site: http://www.successforall.net