Reflection on Sonora's Literacy Focus

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A Year in Reflection

 

The Sonora Elementary School Team welcomes everyone to the 2013-2014 school year!

 

We are off to an "owlsome" year at Sonora. 

Yet before beginning a new school year, we took some time to reflect on our building-wide literacy focus from last school year.  Last year we focused on increasing text complexity at Sonora by aligning our use of running records and Developmental Reading Assessments.  We increased use of non-fiction text, while we ensured that every child was instructed in a reading group or a literacy group daily. 

My professional reading over the 2012 summer included Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement by Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman.  While reading I began to take notes and areas to highlight for our staff professional development.  During the summer I took some time to write down the high points that we had control over.  We don't have control over what happens when a child gets in the car or on the bus and rides away, but we do have control over a purposely planned day.  So, I shared these throughts:

1.  Ensure that children move up levels of text complexity by providing them with lots of just-right high-interest texts and the time to read them. 

• How much actual eyes-on-print time (independent reading) do students have in which to read?
• In order for students to make necessary progress, students need at least 45 minutes in school and more time at home to read books that they can read with 96% accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
• Chances are great that students who are not making optimal progress as readers do not have time in school each day for 45 minutes of eyes-on-print reading – not talking about reading or writing about books – actual reading.
• In Outliers,  by Malcolm Gladwell (also the author of Tipping Point), a study of the conditions that lead to extraordinary success talks about the theory that expertise requires an investment of ten thousand hours.  Hours of practice.  Hours and hours.
• Readers, too, become great when they have many hours of practice.
• The “engine that motors” reader’s development is the time spent in engaged reading and in talking and writing about that reading. 
• Organize the school day so that students have long blocks of time for reading. 
• Students in the classrooms of more effective teachers read ten times as much as students in classrooms of less effective teachers (Allington and Johnston 2002).
• Allington’s research recommends 90 minutes in a school day for actual reading.

2.  Conduct running records of students’ work with texts at a gradient of text levels, ascertaining the level of text complexity that the students can handle, and to track students’ progress up the ladder of text complexity. 

• Make sure every teacher has been trained to use running records to assess readers.
• Assess students as readers with running records.
• Make sure teachers know how to analyze running records (MSV – it!)
• Tim Rasinski notes that fluency is one of the strongest indicators of comprehension.
• To accelerate your students’ progress up the ladder of text complexity, research strongly supports that you conduct running records to determine level of text complexity a student can handle with 95% accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
• Then, match students to appropriate text.
• Teach in ways that keep readers progressing toward texts that are just one notch beyond those they can read with ease.

Why was I so passionate about literacy and getting this specific information to our teachers.  Well, a review of Developmental Reading Assessment Data at the end of our first year showed that approximately 50% of children were being promoted to the next grade level without being on grade level.  We knew we had to make a concerted and systematic focus on literacy instruction, so we started with SMART Goals. 

We will increase student text complexity levels (measured through DRA)

through the use and analysis of running records to increase the number of children reading on grade level at the end of the 2013-2014 school year:
                  Kindergarten . . .                       75% at level 4 or above   
                  First Grade . . .                          75% at level 18 or above 
                  Second Grade . . .                      75% at level 28 or above 
                  Third Grade . . .                         80% at level 38 or above
                  Fourth Grade . . .                       80% at level 50 or above
                  Fifth Grade . . .                          80% at level 60 or above
Steps to attain the goal:
     o Train (retrain) staff on Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) and Running Records
        (administration and analysis).
     o Create a folder for each student’s movement of text complexity with Growth Line Chart.
     o Complete and analyze a running record on every child:

• below grade level weekly.
• on grade level bi-monthly.     

What we didn't take into consideration was the use of growth trajectories or individual reading growth charts, which was something I borrowed from Hello Literacy Blogspot.  The premise is to make sure every child continues to grow one year in reading - even those alrady on grade level.  Most importantly, we wanted to ensure that those below grade level increased 1.5 years in reading during their 9 months of school instruction.  The overall goal is that children who were with us throughout their school career would leave 5th grade reading on grade level.

From my continued reading and use of social media, I befriended Jennifer Jones, of http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/ .   Jennifer has become a true friend of Sonora.  She became a partner with us in this literacy venture, which still continues today.  Mrs. Jones came to Sonora in January to help us get a better grasp on Common Core.  She used a powerful PowerPoint from a presentation she has presented in numerous settings called The 50 Shades of the Common Core.  As powerful as the PowerPoint is in content the learning would not have been the same without her presentation.  She also wrote about her visit in her blog - check it out!

Teachers in kindergarten through 5th grade filled out a growth chart on every child in our building.   Quarterly these charts will turned in to me with the report cards.  At the end of the year we had evidence that reading achievement was improving:

•       Kindergarten . . .    90% on grade level
•       First Grade . . .       67%  on grade level and 2% on the growth trajectory (69%)
•       Second Grade . . .  68% on grade level and 5% on the growth trajectory   (73%)
•       Third Grade . . .     61% on grade level and 17% on the growth trajectory (78%)
•       Fourth Grade . . .   59% on grade level and 12% on the growth trajectory (71%)
•       Fifth Grade . . .      66% on grade level and 14% on the growth trajectory (80%)

 *growth trajectory means a child grew 1.5 years in reading during one school year of 9 months!

 

We only met our goal in reading in kindergarten, but we were saw evidence of improvement at every grade level.  Remember, the year before about 50% at each grade were not on grade level!  Additional data from the Literacy Benchmark Exam (Arkansas' Accountability Exam given in 3rd - 5th grades show that the goal of 80% was achieved:

• 82% of 3rd grade students were proficient* or advanced
• 80% of 4th grade students were proficient or advanced
• 82% of 5th grade students were proficient or advanced.

*Proficient = grade level performance

 

We are not there yet!  As we venture into our 3rd year at Sonora we are continuing our focus on literacy, with an emphasis this year on building-wide vocabulary instruction specifically in Tier 2 and 3.  Research shows that vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of reading success across content areas. So, my next blog . . . what IS Sonora Elementary School doing this year to help students know more words?

 

Quick highlight

 

Our EAST Students are working on a Sonora Elementary App.  Be watching for more details.  See below for a story on this upcoming application.

Springdale School's First App by Sonora EAST