Schools That Successfully Serve Diverse Student Populations

Debra S. PetersonMinnesota Center for Reading Research

University of Minnesotawww.cehd.umn.edu/reading/

Characteristics of Effective SchoolsTaylor, Pressley, & Pearson (2002)

CIERA BTO

HOPE/Urban Ed.

Prospects Texas Title I

Chicago

Collaboration X X X X

Assessment X X X X

Parents X X X X

Leadership X X X

Collective Efficacy

X X X X

Collaboration

Collaboration on reading instruction across the school:

Grade-level teams Grade-level teachers and

specialists Across-grade levels There is a sense that everyone

is responsible for every child

Assessments

Data on students are collected weekly and used to inform instruction on a daily basis.

Data are regularly analyzed by grade-level teams including the specialists (i.e. ELL, Special Education, Title I) that work with those students.

Parents As Partners

Schools intentionally work to create an inviting environment for parents and the community.

Teachers think of parents as partners in the students’ education and communicate weekly/monthly with them (i.e. phone calls, websites, newsletters, home visits).

Leadership

Shared leadership between administration and teacher leaders in decisions about school-wide reading instruction

Many schools have a leadership team that includes administrators, reading coaches, representatives from each grade level and specialists

Collective Efficacy

School personnel believe that everyone is working together to support students and that this coordinated team effort will result in students’ increased growth and achievement in reading and writing.

Building Teachers’ Knowledge and Application of Scientifically-Based Reading Research Common understanding across the grades and

across schools of the scope and sequence of skills/strategies, the district framework for instruction, consistent language and terminology

On-going, job embedded, collaborative professional development

Mentors or coaches to model, observe, provide feedback on instruction for reflection on and refinement of practice

Time to use student assessment data to inform instructional decisions as grade level teams and across grades in each school

Discussion Question

Talk with a partner about the elements of effective schools that you have experienced:

Collaboration School-wide Use of Assessment

Data Parent Partnerships Leadership Collective Efficacy

Knapp Chicago Pros-pects

CIERA CELANY/NJ

FINDING

Balanced Instruction

x x x x x

Higher Order Thinking

x x x x x

Effective Manage-ment

x x

Characteristics of Accomplished Teachers: A National View from Taylor,

Pressley, Pearson (2000)

Things to Consider When Designing Balanced Literacy Instruction

Balance of whole group/small group

Balance of grade-level/ instructional-level materials

Balance of heterogeneous/ homogenous groups

Balance of skills/strategies

Research does not specify an exact percentage (50-50, 60-40??)

Too much whole group instruction means there is less differentiation of instruction occurring for students who struggle or who need challenge

Too much small group instruction means students are working on their own for long periods of time (i.e. off task behavior, not enough explicit instruction and modeling from the teacher)

Balance of Whole Group and Small Group

Balanced Instruction Provide many opportunities for explicit

instruction in the 5 main areas of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics/word recognition strategies, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension) in both whole group and small group situations

Provide many opportunities for guided practice in small groups

Provide many opportunities for independent practice with feedback from the teacher

Frustration Level- Reads with less than 90% accuracy

Instructional Level- Reads with 93-95% accuracy

Independent Level- Reads with more than 95% accuracy

Consider Reading Levels

Make text more accessible to the students who cannot read it on their own (i.e. listen to text read on tape, read an easier form of the same material)

Provide more support (i.e. small group instruction with teacher, partner reading, choral reading)

Access prior knowledge for the story or topic

Have the ELL or Title teachers pre-teach the story or topic before it is introduced in the classroom

What Do You Do When Grade Level Material is At Students’ Frustration Level?

Schools That “Beat the Odds” 120 minutes of reading instruction for

all students (not including: spelling, grammar, handwriting, Writers’ Workshop)

Time used differently based on the developmental needs of the students (i.e. Grade 3 students should read independently for 20-30 minutes a day in school and can do it in one sitting—Kindergarten students may be able to read independently for 15-20 minutes a day in 2 or 3 sittings)

“Beat the Odds” continued

Interventions were done in addition to the 120 minutes of core reading instruction.

Interventions matched students’ needs.

Intervention teachers collaborated with classroom teachers to have a cohesive reading program.

K - 91(114) min. Reading, 55 min. L Arts - 169 Min. LiteracyGr. 1 -106 (125) min. Reading, 37 min. L Arts - 162 Min. LiteracyGr. 2 - 102 (124)min. Reading, 37 min. L Arts - 161 Min. LiteracyGR. 3 - 95 (120) min. Reading, 46 min. L Arts - 166 Min. Literacy

Mean Times Spent on Reading in REA Schools(Taylor & Peterson, 2006)

Elements of Effective Instruction (National Reading Panel Report, 2000)

Phonemic awareness Explicit, systematic Phonics/Word

Recognition Strategies Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension

Elements of Effective Instruction Not Addressed by the NRP Report

Higher Level Thinking Motivation Culturally Responsive Instruction School/Parent Partnerships Time Spent Reading Delivery Model Using student assessment data to

differentiate instruction

A Model of Reading Instruction that Maximizes Students’ Cognitive Engagement in Literacy Learning(Taylor, Pearson, Peterson, & Rodriguez, 2003)

Focusing on higher level thinkingTeaching word recognition and

comprehension as strategies, not simply as skills

Using a student support stance towards instruction in addition to a teacher directed stance

Having students engaged in active vs. passive responding to literacy activities

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100

Theme* CharInt RelLif Details*

HQstn

LQstn

Percent of High Vs. Low Questioning Teachers Observed Using Particular Type of Questioning

PicWalk*

Predict

Retell

StLedDsc*0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

High QS

Low QS

Percent of High Vs. Low Questioning Teachers Observed Using Particular Type of Activity

Higher Level Questions to Stretch Children’s Thinking

If you were the main character, what would you have done the same as the main character? What might you have done differently? Why?

How did the character change? Can you compare anything in this story to

something that has happened in your life? What is the author trying to tell us? What is the

theme?What do you think were 3 main ideas (or most

important ideas) in this article (for non-fiction)?

High Comprehension Skill Teachers

Have students make predictions, but with no discussion as to why this is being done or why this is helpful.

Do a picture walk as a group. Often the teacher does much of the talking.

Have students retell a story or complete a story map, but with no discussion as to why this is being done or why this is helpful.

Talk about what a main idea is, what a supporting detail is.

Talk about problem/solution, fiction/nonfiction, etc.

High Comprehension Strategy Teachers

Remind students to do a picture walk on their own before they read, predict as they read, do a story map after they read. Review with them why this is important, how it will help them.

Review steps of a reading strategy, such as Reciprocal Teaching, SAIL, etc. and remind students to do this as they are reading. After they have read, ask them what strategies they used.

Teacher Directed vs. Student Support

Balancing teacher talk and student action

Giving constructive feedback during guided practice (i.e. coaching)

Gradually releasing responsibility to students (i.e. How can you get them to do more and you to do less?)

Active Responding

Think-pair-share instead or oral turn-taking

Every single child writing on a whiteboard, clipboard, journal, etc. instead of watching one child or the teacher write

Every single child reading instead of reading turn-taking. This can be done through silent reading, whisper reading, partner reading, choral reading, etc.

Discussion Questions: How can the core reading

instruction in our school be even more effective in meeting the needs of diverse learners?

How are all students being challenged with rigorous, motivating reading instruction?

How can we maximize students’ cognitive engagement during every moment of reading instruction?