Middle schools and
high schools across the country face a literacy crisis of monumental
proportions. Whether they are students from households where English is
a second language or learning-disabled students mainstreamed into
difficult classes, struggling readers demonstrate lower achievement in
all academic subjects. While many poor readers have developed coping
strategies, they rarely improve their academic performance or test
scores. Secondary schools are ill-equipped to help these students become better
readers. And with a more diverse student population entering middle and
high school than ever before, the challenge of educating under-prepared
readers will only increase. Whether the problem stems from societal
change, the use of instructional reading practices in elementary school
lacking research support or some combination of factors, these
struggling readers deserve to learn. And they can’t learn if they can’t
read. Understandably, secondary school students who are reading below
grade level often are unmotivated and turned off to reading. Many of
them are the same students who were poor readers in 3rd grade -- about
75 percent of students with reading problems in 3rd grade will still
have them when they get to high school, according to Sally Shaywitz,
professor of pediatrics and child study at Yale University School of
Medicine. In fact, research shows that the gap between good and poor
readers actually widens in later grades.
Besides poor academic achievement, these students frequently suffer
emotional and psychological consequences from their reading problems,
including anxiety and low self-esteem. Ambitious curriculum standards
and widespread use of assessments make academic life more stressful for
underachieving readers and the middle and high schools’ task all the
more challenging.
A Workable System
To improve achievement for
struggling readers in particular, secondary schools must design
programs and curricula to address students’ lack of background
knowledge, delayed English language development and limited success in
reading. The best approach is a systems approach, which sets high
expectations for all students and includes specialized, intensive
interventions for under-prepared students.
The model that the Consortium on Reading Excellence has developed
and successfully implemented is an “educational triage,” with well-run
intensive care units for the most at-risk students, specialized care
for those moderately at-risk and excellent core instruction for capable
readers. In our model, school systems help all teachers effectively
teach an increasingly diverse population.
To establish an effective reading plan, it is useful to create four
categories of learners with different levels of curriculum,
instruction, intensity and duration, according to Edward J. Kame’enui
and Deborah C. Simmons in What Reading Research Tells Us About Children with Diverse Learning Needs: Bases and Basics. The table below summarizes these learners, their characteristics, and their curriculum options.
Categories of Learners |
Learner |
Characteristics |
Curriculum and Assessment |
Advanced |
- May already know much of the content
- At or above grade-level standards
- May appear bored
|
- Advanced classes
- Extended and enrichment opportunities within the regular program
|
Benchmark |
- Generally can meet standards
- Average learner
- Can adapt and adjust to teacher’s style
|
- Regular program
- “Well-checks” three times a year
- Occasional in-class modifications
- Proven vocabulary and comprehension strategies instruction
|
Strategic |
- Typically tests between the 30th and the 49th percentile on normative measures
- Gaps in skills and knowledge 1–2 years behind
- Does not apply him/herself and may appear unmotivated
- Content area work may be challenging
- May not complete homework
|
- May be in regular core program with added support (backup) class
- Targeted intervention
- Separate reading intervention of 1–2 periods, replacing English class, but for a short time (semester)
- Added tutoring period
- “Well-checks” monthly
|
Intensive |
- Tests below the 30th percentile on normative measures
- Very low performance
- Reading skills are very limited
- Very frustrated and unmotivated
- Demonstrates behavior and absentee problems
- Cannot handle content area work
- Does not turn in homework
|
- Separate intensive intervention of at least 2 periods replaces traditional English class plus something else for 1– 2 years
- “Well-checks” every 2 weeks
- Explicit, systematic instruction and direct instruction
|
Most
secondary schools currently are designed to meet only the needs of
benchmark, or average learners, with a few honors classes thrown in for
advanced learners (those working at or above grade-level standards).
Only students formally identified as qualifying for special education
receive specialized help.
To meet the needs of struggling readers, schools must rethink their
organization, schedules, curriculum materials, programs and teacher
training. Intensive learners, or very low-performing students with
limited reading skills, will need a specialized classroom of literacy
development that is longer and of sufficient intensity and duration to
lift them to basic literacy within two years. Strategic learners, or
students who are between one and two years behind and typically test
between the 30th and 49th percentiles on normative measures, will
benefit from an added support class period to enhance their core
English classes and fill in skills gaps.
Secondary schools also must equip all teachers with knowledge of
effective research-based strategies to help all students in every
content area develop reading fluency, improve their vocabulary
knowledge and strengthen text comprehension.
Model Program
The successes of Chipman Middle
School in Alameda, Calif., illustrate how a carefully planned,
multipronged approach to literacy instruction can significantly
increase the skill level of struggling readers.
A key component of Chipman’s model included identifying students in
three of the categories listed in the chart: Benchmark, Strategic and
Intensive. To move to a three-tiered model, Principal Laurie
McLachlan-Fry directed a complete restructuring of the school program
and the adoption of a core curriculum and intensive programs with
student placement based on diagnostic assessment.
The school redesigned its master schedule to accommodate specialized
instruction for the intensive learners -- three periods using a
commercial curriculum with a solid research base and proven track
record of increasing student reading skills and test scores. Other
students received added support in strategic classrooms with a core
English program. A carefully selected team of administrators and
teachers received initial professional development and ongoing
coaching.
McLachlan-Fry spearheaded the effort with support from her
district’s director of curriculum and instruction, Barbara Lee. She
held regular meetings with her literacy leadership team, expected all
teachers to buy in and built in lots of mentoring and support.
McLachlan-Fry also fully participated in data analysis and study
sessions to review results of intervention program tests and other
assessment data, and regularly observed classroom instruction.
The percentage of Chipman students reading below grade level dropped
from nearly 50 percent to 38 percent over two school years. Given the
success of this model, the school district has begun implementing it
for all schools serving students in grades 6-12. Chipman was recognized
for its reading achievement by First Lady Barbara Bush, who visited the
school last June.
Necessary Components
The most effective reading intervention programs have the following systemic components:
- adequate training for all teachers expected to teach the programs;
- teacher coaching and ongoing classroom support;
- knowledgeable leaders able to monitor and support instruction;
- appropriate student placement and scheduling with student-teacher ratios and time blocks that adhere to program guidelines;
- appropriate progress monitoring and diagnostic assessments; and
- regular time to analyze student assessment data and plan immediate
interventions to address both student needs and teacher support needs.
The Pasadena, Calif., Unified School District created a literacy
program based on all of these components. Under the leadership of a new
superintendent, Percy Clark, and Deputy Superintendent Kathleen Duba,
with support from central administrators who led the literacy team, the
district completely restructured services for their middle and high
school literacy program.
Working with the Stupski Foundation to adopt a districtwide literacy
plan, the leadership required the implementation of the Holt reading
program for all students reading at or slightly below grade level, an
added support class for students about two years below grade level and
an intensive intervention for those reading well below two grade levels.
Staff developed an assessment plan for placing students, and all
teachers expected to teach their new intervention and core programs
underwent five days of training before the initial implementation. To
follow up, the district held multi-day intensive instructional sessions
for teachers working with various reading programs, including Holt
Literature, Language!, REACH, Read 180 and, for English learners, High
Point.
The central-office leadership created a team of district experts,
one for each intervention. The team asked all middle and high schools
to use a consistent implementation rubric. Each week they checked data,
reviewed progress and had regular team walkthroughs in which key
central-office personnel participated, after which they would debrief
and plan next steps.
Literacy coaches at each site received additional training in the
content and approaches of the various reading programs, as well as in
the skills and responsibilities needed to be effective coaches.
Central-office administrators, coaches and site administrators were
trained in observation procedures for each reading program. CORE and
district experts provided ongoing support — with coaching,
demonstration lessons and classroom observations — for each site and
for each of the reading programs. In addition, a district literacy
coordinator ensured that resources were available systemwide to meet
the needs of participating schools.
At the systems level, district administrators, starting with the
superintendent, actively and visibly provided direction and support. It
was their commitment that led to additional funding for coaching,
supplies, professional development and mandated schedule changes for
longer reading instruction periods. At the site level, leadership teams
of school principals, assistant principals, literacy coaches and
English department chairs were expected to participate actively in
implementing the plan.
This well-coordinated effort in Pasadena is paying off. This year,
the English language arts test scores for students in grades 7-11
increased in every grade. Academic Performance Index results showed
Pasadena students improving their performance faster than their peers
in Los Angeles County and statewide for the second year in a row. The
district’s overall increase in the index was 31 points, outpacing a
19-point gain across the county and a 20-point gain statewide.
Yakima’s Approach
Ongoing professional
development is critical for equipping teachers and school leaders with
the research-based knowledge they need to design their reading
programs, select the right tools, implement effective, active learning
and explicit teaching strategies across content areas, and develop
support systems.
To be effective, professional development must be multidimensional,
accounting for teacher background, school culture and the particular
needs of adolescents.
Professional development can occur in traditional workshop settings
and seminars, during collegial meetings at the school and within the
classroom. Our design for professional development includes theory and
research, modeling and demonstrations, structured practice and
feedback, coaching and classroom application.
In the Yakima, Wash., Public Schools, all English, reading and
intervention teachers participated in specific program-based training
as well as “reading academies” focused on phonemic awareness, phonics,
fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Leadership teams from each middle and high school site attended CORE
Reading Leader Institutes, and coaches attended coaching practice
sessions facilitated by CORE experts. Content-area teachers
participated in vocabulary and comprehension strategy workshops and
classroom coaching provided follow-up to actual workshops.
Teachers continue to meet to rehearse lessons, fine-tune problematic
instructional components and receive feedback. Principals and district
administrators participate in regular classroom walkthroughs and know
their reading programs intimately.
The Yakima School District embarked on a reading intervention
program when Benjamin Soria examined student achievement test scores
upon becoming superintendent in 2000. In collaboration with CORE, the
district began a new reading intervention program in 2002, adding a
reading coach to every elementary school. The following year, the
district placed a reading coach in every middle school and the next
year in every high school.
Recognizing the need to also address writing skills, the school
district chose High Point for its comprehensive reading and writing
curriculum. CORE consultants trained teachers, coaches and district
administrators in using the new curriculum.
In 2005, 60 percent of the school district’s 4th graders were
proficient readers, as measured by the Washington Assessment of Student
Learning, compared to 45 percent in 2003. Students in 7th grade scoring
proficient increased by 32 percent in two years, and 10th graders
increased reading proficiency 13 percent in one year.
This is especially significant since 28 percent of the district’s
students are transitional bilingual or English language learners. Of
the 14,500 students enrolled for the 2005-06 school year, 59 percent
are Hispanic, 33 percent white, 3 percent African American, 3 percent
Native American and 2 percent Asian.
These impressive gains are directly attributable to the well-planned
introduction of a scientifically based reading curriculum at every
grade level, extended time for instruction (90 minutes a day in middle
schools and 110 minutes a day in high schools) supported by on-site
implementation assistance, a coach at every site and a tightly designed
assessment and pacing plan.
The school district’s goal is to have all students in all 22 schools reading at or above grade level by 2007.
Enduring Effect
Designing, implementing and
sustaining effective reading programs is everybody’s business. It
requires well-designed and ongoing professional development to equip
educators with the knowledge base they need for effective reading
instruction, the selection of appropriate tools tightly linked to sound
research and, finally, support systems initiated by the local
leadership to ensure smooth implementation and enduring effect.
To quote Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: “Now is the time that we must choose between what is right, and what is easy.”
Linda Diamond is executive vice president of the Consortium on
Reading Excellence, 2560 9th St., Suite 220, Berkeley, CA 94710.
E-mail: ldiamond@corelearn.com