evaluation and analysis of school reading report

8/6/2019 Evaluation and Analysis of School Reading Report

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/evaluation-and-analysis-of-school-reading-report 1/30

School Reading Program Report:

Part 2- Evaluation and Analysis of School Reading Program

Elaine Vazquez

St. Xavier University



Examination of the Philosophy and Goals of the School Reading Program.

Unfortunately, our school does not currently have a philosophy for the school reading

program, so I would like to begin generating one based off of our current school mission and

vision. For the sake of ease of reference, the school Mission and Vision Statement has been

replicated below:

“Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School’s mission is to provide a quality

educational experience needed to empower students to engage in critical thinking and social

transformation, from the classroom to the Puerto Rican community, based on the philosophical

foundation of self-determination, a methodology of self-actualization and an ethics of self-

reliance.”

I would like to take this opportunity to explore some possibilities for the articulation of

the philosophy of the School Reading Program, and to take a look at how the extant program

goals can align with these philosophy possibilities.

Our school’s Mission and Vision Statement is-- for most readers-- very dense and

difficult to unpack. For that reason, as a staff, we have taken the time to articulate some of the

very important but potentially nebulous terms: Self-Reliance, Self-Determination, and Self-

Actualization. Although they are defined, we also created a “corporate catch phrase” that would

capture the spirit of the definition in an easy-to-understand morsel. Each term will be provided

below with its corporate catch phrase and definition, respectively:

Self-Reliance: “Live and Help to Live:”

You don’t have to depend on other people to rescue you or provide for you to give you

direction. You can accomplish that yourself. If you don’t have to depend on the Other to “Save



yourself from yourself” but turn instead to the strength, knowledge and experience of those in

your own community then you are acting in a self-reliant way.

Self-Actualization: “Be the Change you Want to See in the World”

You need strength and belonging to your community and an understanding of your past

and your people to achieve your maximum potential-- these things make you who you are and

you will never fully self-actualize and become your best self until you recognize your need as a

human to belong to and participate in a meaningful community.

Self-Determination: “Building a Sacred Self and Sovereign Nation”

A strong community is built only by strong individuals. In order for a community to

thrive, its members must first recognize and cultivate the value, talents, and strengths that they

are born with. Every individual and community has a right to decide: major problems that need

to be solved; what resources to use in solving those problems; and how the solution should look.

A sovereign community is not controlled by outsiders, instead, it is to determine its own future.

(All material taken from PACHS 2010-2011 Student Planner)

After reviewing our school Mission and Vision and the terms that underlie its core

message my first idea in the journey towards a school philosophy of teaching reading was to

“tweak” the corporate catchphrases of each of the fundamental terms of the Mission and Vision

to read something like this:

Read and Help to Read Critically, Build a Powerful Vocabulary, and Write the Change

you Want to See in the World.

I thought this was brilliant, so I ran it by a few staff members on Google chat expecting

them to think it was equally amazing. The first staff member, Marisol V., our creative writing

teacher; liked the first and third suggestion a lot, but thought the “Build a Powerful Vocabulary”



phrase didn’t live up to the grandiosity of the other two phrases. We put our heads together and

decided “Wield Words as Weapons” would be quite smashing. (See Appendix B)

After this conversation, I had a long and engaging conversation with Yamini B., one of

our science teachers. She liked “Read and Help to Read” but felt the combination of all of the

phrases was too much. She also felt “Write the Change You Want to See in the World” altered

the core meaning of the original quote (by Gandhi) too much. She wrote, “anyone can write

about change... the challenge is to "be" it. [I] think it waters down the meaning of that quote.”

We talked more about what the phrase would be used for and we both agreed it had to be

simpler. She proposed a quote by Cicero, “if you have a garden and a library, you have

everything you need in life.” I agreed that it really fit with the greenhouse and urban agriculture

aspect of our school, but we both agreed that it left out the reading and writing parts of our

message. She mentioned that our teaching style is driven by “write to learn” and suggested the

phrase “Write to learn, write to live, write to love.” I said that I liked that it was kind of sing-

songy, and suggested that perhaps the philosophy would be in poem form, and that perhaps the

students could have input, or even write the poem itself. I still felt, however, like we weren’t

quite capturing the whole essence of our philosophy.

The next staff member, Marisol R., thought “Wield Words as Weapons” was too violent,

which I could appreciate, especially as I was starting to think the corporate catch phrases were

too simplistic.

The next day at lunch time, I gathered three of our star students for a discussion of the

work that had been done so far on the Philosophy of Teaching Reading mission statement. There

were very mixed reviews on the various compilations of the teachers. Read and Help to Read

was a big flop. A couple of students likes the words as weapons but the other student thought it



was too strong. I realized quickly that the catch phrases just weren’t working so the session

turned into a suggestion and feedback session for literacy programming for next year.

It was time to get back to the drawing board. Knowing what I know about the school

mission and vision, the three “self-s,” the RESPECT framework, and how we wanted to

implement literacy learning at our school, I decided to get old-school and just make up a mission

statement that covered all of this. Here is my final attempt that will be used for the sake of this

paper. Please note that what I write here is always subject to student, parent, and staff approval

and may be revised at a later date:

At Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, we believe that reading instruction must be

engaging, relevant, critical, and individually tailored for each student’s strengths and weaknesses

to the greatest extent possible. We understand reading as a social process that is intimately

connected to and supported by writing, and that can only be nurtured to the fullest through

connections with family and community. New digital literacies are fundamental to success in

today’s information age, and technology should be used to complement and strengthen reading

instruction whenever possible. All of these components must come together in our school

practices, policy, curriculum, and activities in order to create a culture of reading and learning

that is powerful, joyful, inclusive, and contagious.

I have sent this statement out to people via the staff email account and I will follow-up at

this week’s staff meeting. The email discussion up to this point has been provided in Appendix

C. Thus far the only exchange has been between myself and my administrator.

Our current, explicit literacy goal is as follows: “90- 100% of students scoring at or above

6.1 grade level make one grade level gain and 90-100% of students scoring below 6.1 grade level

make two grade level gains.”



As of the mid-year TABE testing over 60% of our students had either made the necessary

gains for their three months of time in the school, or had made a full year’s worth of growth.

This means that we need to get at least 30 of that last 40% to make their necessary gains in the

remaining six months worth of time.

School-Wide Data Analysis: Effects of Student Learning and Connections to Goals

Thus far in the year, it appears our progress towards our goals is moving along at a good

pace. Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between the ambitions in our Philosophy of Teaching

Reading and the current resources we have for making those things happen. If we are not able to

reach our goals this year it may be attributed to not being able to completely align our actions

with our intentions. In order to better pursue our goals next year, I will take some time to discuss

some of these discrepancies.

I do believe that the first portion of the Philosophy statement is very much alive. Much

of our curriculum is not only aligned to state and charter learning standards, it is also engaging,

culturally and practically relevant, and very often “critical.” We strive-- and often succeed-- at

getting our students to think deeply, which is manifested in a lot of their spoken word poetry at

Unity class. Additionally our after school programs have succeeded in making writing and

reading fun and engaging. Both Louder than a Bomb and Travelling Book Treasure Hunt have

been huge successes and have sparked a lot of reading and writing talk.

On the other hand, I would argue that our instruction is not “individually tailored for each

student’s strengths and weaknesses to the greatest extent possible.” In that respect, we have a

long way to go. In order to fulfil this portion of our philosophy we will need to implement an

RTI structure, complete with Learner Assessment Profiles and parent meetings. Teachers need

to be aware of students’ Learner Assessment Profiles (LAPs) and LAP modifications need to be



in lesson plans just like IEP modifications. A pull-out or small-group model should be

implemented for students who are severely at risk.

The portion of the philosophy statement that mentions reading as a social process and the

importance of writing in connection with reading is also at work already in our school. We have

a “write to learn” framework where students must write for at least ten minutes in each class

period, and a warm-up in each class should include a solid bit of writing. Additionally we use

TAPS (Total group, Alone, Pair, and Small group instructional structures) to ensure that students

are reading, writing, and talking to learn in social situations, both in pairs and in small groups,

ideally in every class, every day.

Sadly, our connection to family and community is lacking almost completely. We had

great ambitions to create a multi-generational family literacy program in our school this year.

Perhaps because our ambitions were so big, we were not able to achieve much of anything.

While our connections in the school to the community in other areas is very strong; in the area of

literacy and reading it is weak. This is a big thing to focus on for the revision of the plan next

year.

In terms of technology, we must acknowledge that we are very far ahead of most schools

in this area, but we could make even more progress. Seniors must complete a very detailed

senior portfolio, and all work for this portfolio is done online through the school’s Google

account. Each student has their own school email address and Google docs center. They share

their work with their instructor and with their peers and do peer editing electronically.

Additionally I know that in my own English class we used Facebook, Diigo, and Wikispaces to

practice reading and the skills of a good reader, writing as social feedback, and using Facebook



notes function to get and give feedback about terms of Standard English grammar and

mechanics..

I believe that we can do more in the field of technology. Creating a long-term digital e-

portfolio using an online social publication site like www .scribd .com would be huge. I’d also

like to budget for the purchase of 20 e-readers, ideally the Kindle. I’d like to see a lot more use

of social networking and web 2.0 skills to develop literacy in classes. These things should all be

taken into consideration as we make suggestions for a revised design of our School Reading

Program.

Strengths and Difficulties for Progress Towards our Goals

Although our data and goals are very simple, the ways of getting where we want to go are

many and complex. A current strength we have is that a sizeable portion of our students (60%)

were already on their way towards meeting their yearly goal at the three month mark-- if they

had not reached it already. Another considerable strength is that we actually have a Literacy

School Improvement Plan in place. The challenge has been in implementing it fully as it was

designed. I would like to take this time to look closely at the plan that is in place and outline the

strengths and weaknesses that have helped and hindered us this year.

Overall Program Strengths and Weaknesses Chart: (taken from 2010-2011 School

Improvement Plan, Appendix C)

Program Element Strengths Weaknesses

Overall Program

Part time (16 hours per week)Literacy Coach andCoordinator

- Brought literacy to theforefront for the first time.- Well-trained professionalusing research to implementchange in the school

- Far too little time tocomplete all aspects of the program.

Literacy School Improvement - Research based - “First draft”

http://www.scribd.com/








Plan - Tailored to individualschool’s needs andcharacteristics

- Many planned line itemswere not completed

Literacy Budget - Put materials related to

literacy in staff and students’hands- Prioritized literacy materialsand practices

- Transportation for

Travelling book club was achallenge- Difficult to plan a budgetwith no model to go off of.

Culture of Literacy

Literacy Wall - Broadcasting of communityinterest in reading, staff interest in reading, literacyevents, scholarshipopportunities

- Not updated frequently- Not “engaging”as it could be- Not “owned” by students

Louder than a Bomb - Generated excitement andand enthusiasm for writingfor both participants andother students- Created a small“community” of writers

- Ultimately most studentswere unable to compete because of poor grades.

"Book Treasure Hunt" - Generated excitement aboutreading- Generated “book talk” in the

hallways and in theclassrooms.- Cleared library fines for over 70 students- Expanded student homelibraries

- Infrequent trips- Transportation fundingdifficulty

Spoken Word at Unity - Most students look forwardto students sharing- Creates student “ownership”of all-school time

- Creates pride and respect for student writing- Creates a culture wherewriting is “cool” and“powerful”

- Student work could be published?

In the Classroom:



Entrance and Exit Tickets - Entrance tickets get studentswriting and thinking- Exit tickets help with instantassessment

- Both practices were used“spottily” in variousclassrooms.- Use and evaluation of thesetools varied.

10 & 10 - If properly implementedstudents are reading andwriting at least an hour per day each.

- Not implemented across the board- Little teacher ownership or accountability

Substantial writtencomponent in manyclassrooms

- Helps promote “write tolearn”

- Teachers felt ill-equipped toteach writing in the contentarea- Writing projects often “took over” the content area

curriculum.

10 PACHS “LiteracyStrategies”

- Research-backed strategiesfor literacy improvement

- No ownership by staff (notcreated with them)- Mix of both instructionalstrategies and literacystrategies.

Small libraries of books at alllevels in the classrooms.

- Idea embraced by staff - Gets a book in the hand of every student that they canread, in the content area

- Challenging to implement ina classroom- Need to expand librarieseven more

Pre-, During-, and After-Reading Strategies

- Help with comprehension of text that may otherwise be toodifficult- Help to teach habits of goodreaders

- Inconsistent implementation- Some material wasdistributed without being“taught”- Little follow-up

Literature Circles - Staff-generated idea(ownership)- Generally positive reviewsof use

- Difficult to use with a single piece of writing because of inconsistency of student population attendance

Teachers using toolkits to "doliteracy" in their own way, intheir own class.

- Allows for flexibility- Ensures research-backedstrategies are in use in everyclassroom, every day.

- Too much variety can leadto inconsistency

Teacher Coaching - Excellent way for teachersto get critical support and

- VERY little coaching wasactually done throughout the



feedback year since other, moreimmediate demands wouldoften arise.

Professional Development:

Investment in need for use of multiple level texts in theclassroom.

- Brought awareness of importance of students beingable to read what teachershand them.

- Sense of frustration sincelimited resources wereavailable to fix the problem.

Purchase of multiple levels of high-interest, content-area based texts in every class.

- Brought in some texts for reading in the content areathat were at more friendlyreading levels for students.

- Classrooms are still far fromhaving a living, “breathing”meaningful in-class content- based, high-interest library.

"PDAs" - Provide single place for

Pre-, during-, and after-reading strategies to happenin one class, with onereading.

- Not every teacher knows

how to put one together.- Little research on whether or not they are being created or implemented.

Shared website - Single place where allLiteracy ProfessionalDevelopment material can beaccessed.- Provides resources for teachers even if they were not

present for the meeting.

- Page was never made publicon school website, so mayhave been difficult to find for some teachers.- Unclear whether or notresources was used.

Winter InstituteBrainstorming

- Response to needs of teachers in the area of writinginstruction and vocabulary- High level of investmentand ownership.- Many great ideas weredocumented.

- Have been unable to act onteacher suggestions.

For students reading below

6.1:

Initial testing of somestudents

- Provided teachers with powerful individual “casestudies” of QRI determinedstudent reading ability.- Created clearer, more robust profiles of student reading

- Given the time available it became impossible to bothtest and provide services tostudents who needed them.



strengths and weaknesses.

After School Programming - High level of engagement- Got a lot of books in studenthands

- Generated a large amount of student writing

- Didn’t necessarily recruit or reach students in the greatestneed of extra reading or

writing practices.- Didn’t implement all proposed programs.

For students reading 11.0+

Dual enrollment at WrightCommunity College.

- Puts students in a settingwhere they can be challenged

- Transportation/recruitmentis difficult- Students don’t always havesuccess

PSAE prep with Progressive

Learning

- Exposes student to advance

vocabulary and mathinstruction

- Very few students served (2)

Critical Literacy Class - Gets students thinkingdeeply- Provides advanced readingopportunities

- Class includes students of all reading levels, not just 11+- Readings for students below11th grade may be toodifficult, or readings may belowered to accommodatelower-level students.

Evaluation and Analysis of Teaching

At Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School-- up to this point in time-- all of the

curriculum in each one of our classes has been at the discretion of and created by each individual

teacher. Teachers are free to teach what they choose, but they must strive to pursue the

following guidelines to the greatest extent possible:

- All curriculum must be driven by state and charter goals, standards, and benchmarks.

- 10 minutes of reading and 10 minutes of writing must happen in every class.

- Curriculum must be driven by the school Mission and Vision



- Curriculum must address the school’s RESPECT framework (our school’s articulation of what

a PACHS student must be able to do or say by the time they graduate, in addition to academic

state standards)

Generally, teachers will use a textbook occasionally as a reference, but draw from many

different places and materials to fully fill-in the curriculum content. As much as possible the

curriculum is grounded in the issues of the Puerto Rican community and/or the shared struggles

of other communities of color and/or the structure of colonialism globally.

Our Science and Math program have recently acquired a rooftop greenhouse and a great

deal of work is currently being done to integrate the different phases of the growing cycle into

the year-long curriculum.

Our art program is grounded very much in “critical reading” of places, spaces, art, and

traditional text. The art classroom is located in the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture

(IPRAC) and students’ art is a product of their own experience, study of famous artists in the

past, and the local and traditional art of Puerto Rican culture.

Puerto Rican Studies I and II are required courses at our school. We also offer U.S.

Government, and World History as additional Social Studies options. U.S. Government draws

most extensively from Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. All classes are

critical in nature, and teach students to view history through a questioning lens. We also offer a

parenting class for our young mothers and fathers, and a consumer education class.

English classes at our school are many and broad in nature. “Level 1” English is a

critical reading course: “Reading the Word, Reading the World.” Level 2 and 3 of English are

both Black and Latino Literature courses with different foci and levels of text. Level 4 English is

a Critical Thinking course designed to get students reading and thinking at a deep level about



societal issues of contention. We also offer a Journalism and Creative Writing course. Senior

portfolio- although it is not considered a course for English credit- is very, very writing

intensive, and all students must complete the course as a graduation requirement.

This year, our charter has asked us to complete curriculum maps for each of our classes

that include each unit’s “big idea,” what standards will be taught when, what texts will be used,

and what the final evaluations and/or rubrics are. We are taking the time as a staff to draw out

unifying themes based on the community events that take place each quarter and the various

“letters” of the RESPECT framework. This alignment will provide a great deal of guidance and

concordance in the years to come.

Teachers return to work after a five-week summer break on August 1st of each year.

With curriculum already mapped out to a great extent, the month of August will be more open to

staff professional development in the field of literacy. This should be taken into consideration

for the revised planning of the Literacy School Improvement Plan.

Reading Program Recommended Plan of Action

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of the current program, the interim Philosophy of

Reading statement and the analysis of teaching style, I would recommend the following

suggestions for next year:

1) Full-time Reading Specialist Position

2a) Creation of multi-generational Family Literacy Center.

- Physical space in Haddon

- Access to technology

- Programming for infants through adults

3) Invest deeply in Digital Literacy:



- Create Digital Portfolio model and implement in classes

- Budget for e-readers (Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, iPad) and books to be bought on e-

readers

- Engage in grant writing to bring more technology into the school

4) Equip all teachers with materials and strategies necessary to teach reading and writing in the

content areas BEFORE students arrive (August).

- PACHS Write to Learn Summer Institute Training: (6+1 traits of writing training,

writing process training, digital literacy portfolio training)

- PACHS Comprehension Crash Course (Pre, During, and After, schema theory,

importance of getting proper level of text in students’ hands, ways to make that happen,

etc.)

- PACHS Vocabulary Training (Creating a culture of vocabulary, Marzano’s strategies,

PACHS homegrown strategies, etc.)

5) Create various study groups for ongoing professional development.

6) Create and Implement a realistic RTI program that serves all of our students and includes

authentic assessment and intervention for students who are most at risk.

Communicating Part II Information with Stakeholders

This document has been shared with my administrator to begin a discussion about the

planning of the Literacy Improvement Plan for next year. I spoke directly with three teachers

and three students as I worked to craft a school Philosophy of Reading statement, and ultimately

shared my first draft with the entire staff, soliciting feedback. As of the moment I am writing

this document the Philosophy of Reading is being “chewed” by the staff to refine it to be its very

best. All conversations with staff have been provided in the appendices.



Reference list and appendix.

Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School Student Planner 2010-2011

Google Chat discussions with Marisol Rodriguez, Marisol Velez, and Yamini Bala (permission

for use granted)

Staff email bewteen Matthew Rodriguez and Elaine Vazquez (permission for use granted)

Appendix B: Staff Google Chats and emails around Philosophy of Reading Statement

Google Chat Conversation with Marisol V.:

me: Hey!

Marisol: Yoooo

me: What do you think of this corny stuff as a potential school "philosophy of reading" program

philosophy thingy:

Read and Help to Read Critically, Build a Powerful Vocabulary, and Write the Change you Want

to See in the World

It's a melange of our three self-s corporate catch-phrases.

Sent at 7:40 PM on Sunday

Marisol: I like!

me: Any suggestions for improvement?

Marisol: "Write the change you want to see in the world..."

Sweet

me: lol

Marisol: As a writer, that'

s my fave!

me: I thought you'd like the vocab thing too.



Marisol: Build a powerful vocabulary might need pazzazz

the other two outshine it

me: I was thinking that too!

Marisol: but my brain doesn't function too well right now

just got up from a nap

lol

me: How about something like wielding it as a weapon or something.

lol, ok! [in response to her just getting up from a nap and having a “fuzzy brain”]

Well, if that's all I can get out of you...

Marisol: Yeah that's a good start

Like the alliteration

wielding weapon

me: wield vocabulary as a weapon?

wield words as weapons!

Marisol: Yeah!!!!

Go Elaine

me: Build an arsenal and wield words as weapons...

too much?

Marisol: too much

me: ok ok

Marisol: lol

me: thanks a bunch!

Marisol: no problem



go you!

Google Chat Conversation with Yamini:

me: Hey!

Yamini: Hey


philosophy thingy:


to See in the World



Yamini: what would it be used for?

me: It's sort of what would drive all of our literacy efforts. Good question.

Right now it's some stuff I'm supposed to do for my grad school class, but it could be more!@

Yamini: i like "Read and Help to Read"

but all of it together seems a bit much.

me: I think I just collaborated a change with pinqy. The vocab thing would be "wield words as

weapons"

Yamini: and i gotta say, i don't really like "write the change"

me: lol

that's funny, I love getting the input of a lot of people cuz Pinqy was so into that.

Yamini: anyone can write about change... the challenge is to "be" it. i think it waters down the

meaning of that quote.

me: powerful words.



It's a very good point.

Any suggestions?

Yamini: hmm...

will have to think about it.

having trouble since i don't really get what these phrases are for completely.

me: You're such an intellectual, I heart you.

Let me try to articulate...

Technically, these phrases would drive what we do as we design literacy events, curriculum, and

strategies.

I thought the design of such things should closely follow the mission and vision so I just altered

the corporate catch phrases for the self's.

You bring up a really good point though, because it seems like an over-simplification.

I feel like we're missing something about family.


Yamini: so the idea was one for reading, vocab, and writing?

me: mmm, that's just what seemed to fit into the mission and vision catchphrases. So again,

horrible flaw in the design.

I think you're right, it needs to be simpler.

Yamini: hehe.

there's that cicero quote about "if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need

in life" or something... seems to fit our school.

me: Wow, that's COOL!

Yamini: doesn't hit on writing, per se... but literacy for life, definitely.



me: This philosophy, I'm also not sure what its function is, I think it's whatever we want it to

be.

To drive either our efforts, or it could be for students too...

Yamini: you know, we also have the whole "write to learn, talk to learn, etc" stuff... i feel like at

our school, it's "write to learn, write to live." and talk, and read.

me: I'm thinking really hard about that. Lots of thoughts.

Yamini: ...since our emphasis is critical reading, writing, and vocab... to enhance quality of life,

not just diploma-getting tactics.

me: Yeah I want to get critical-ness in there somewhere.

Yamini: "write to learn, write to live, write to love."

??

me: Maybe it could be a little poem or something. Write to learn, write to live is sort of sing-

songy...

Yamini: true.

me: I like that. We need to acknowledge reading and vocab as well i think.

I need the reminder, at least. I want to hear the philosophy and be reminded all the time of the

really important elements: criticality, reading, writing, vocabulary, family, and empowerment.

Yamini: right.

me: Maybe I could get a student to write a mini-poem about that stuff or something.

That could be cool.

If a student can't write it and get it, we shouldn't have it, I think. It should be accessable to

everyong.

Yamini: very true.



me: well, lots to think about!

I'm really thankful that you took time out to bump heads together with me on this.

Yamini: sure... hope it was somewhat helpful and not just negative nelly.

me: NO!!!

If I suggested something and everyone was like, oh, that's great, let's go with it!

We wouldn't have gotten all that really great thought and good ideas from that!

You've got a critical fan in me.

so thanks again!

I'll let you know what I work out, and the final draft will be subject to everyone's agreement.

Yamini: sure, anytime.

Google Chat Conversation with Marisol R.

me: Hey!


Marisol: hey


philosophy thingy:


to See in the World


Marisol: sounds cool

me: any suggestions or advice?

Oh yeah, I think we were goin to change "build a powerful vocabulary" to "wield words as

weapons"



although now that I think of that it kind of seems like it's saying "chew people out verbally"


Marisol: yeah...i dunno about using word weapons

me: ROTFL


me: I think I"m going to gather a bunch of students tomorrow and get them to write a poem or

catchphrase that contains the ideas, criticality, reading, writing, vocabulary, family, and

empowerment.

I dunno, what do you think? I was thinking like Lulu and maybe Tommy..? I'm drawing a blank,

any other ideas?

good writers?

I want the students to write it because I want it to be accessible and understandable to them.


Marisol: I like that idea

um....gabriela is a really good writer

me: Yeah, I was thinking her, next, they all bring really different vibes, that would be good.


me: Or maybe I'll just sit in lunch and see if I can get anyone to work with me. That way we

can get some truly democratic collabo.

Staff Email Discussion of Proposed Philosophy Statement-

Please note: Text that is dashed or bullet-pointed on left justification is written by Mr.

Rodriguez. Text that is “naked” left justified is my responses to his comments.



2011/4/5 Matthew Rodriguez <[email protected]>

-Thanks for your ideas! Here are some thoughts, questions, comments:

Questions:

• Who is the audience?

Right now- my reading professor, and staff and students who want to participate in crafting it.

Eventually I think it will be a statement that should drive our choices and actions in the field of

literacy at our school.

• Why reading? Is reading the most important element in the learning process? Why not

Math? Why not education in “general”…?

It's "reading" because my assignment is to write a "Philosophy of teaching reading." If this

conversation sparks ideas to have a philosophy of teaching math, or other subject areas,

awesome! I think we already have a philosophy of teaching education "in general" and that's

the Mission and Vision, and the RESPECT framework. That's what we're working onarticulating in the curriculum alignment documents. And I don't think reading is necessarily

the most important element in the learning process, but reading is thinking. That's what it is.

It's practice for thinking, and the better you read, the better you can think, and vice versa.

Reading skills are thinking skills are critical thinking skills.

• The philosophy statement “feels” like you are teeter-tottering between making bulleted

“belief statements” vs. an explanation of what and why “we believe”.

How are "belief statements" not explanations of what and why we believe? Can you be more

clear? Or are you emphasizing the feel of bullet-style vs. explanation style?

• How do we “tie” this to our mission/vision – maybe this can be the first of a couple,

“within our mission and vision, we believe…” and then include math, writing, etc.

I like that I think it sounds like a great idea! Although with the RESPECT framework and

everything it's starting to get intense!

-Below are a couple comments about each sentence:

"At Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, we believe that reading instruction must be engaging, relevant,

critical, and individually tailored for each student’s strengths and weaknesses to the greatest

extent possible."

• This is a lot for the first sentence. I think that a “belief statement” should “set the tone”

for the document. For example “…we believe that reading is the most important exercise for

those interested in growing academically.” That is just an idea of what I’m talking about in

terms of a “belief statement” off the top of the head.

Agreed, a more "topic sentence-y" intro would be good.

• The other elements of the sentence can be the “primer” to make reading successful. In

other words, “…in order for reading to play such an important role in the academic growth

process, as a staff, we need to make reading engaging, relevant,…”.

I think I'd like to keep the audience of this statement EVERYONE. Students, staff, parents,



community members. For that reason, I'd like accessible language. Also, it may be good to

outline the roles of each of our stakeholders. The thing is, I think we need a general

philosophy statement and we can get into the details later. Like maybe a "mission statement"

and then a "vision" (plan, concrete steps) or vice versa, I always get those mixed up.

-"We understand reading as a social process that is intimately connected to and supported bywriting, and that can only be nurtured to the fullest through connections with family and

community."

• So…is it supported by writing, connections with family and community? I believe you,

those connections, however, are not articulated in this statement. Maybe it is just me, but I feel

that more explanation is needed.

I had liked that they were open-ended. I think the connection/theme in that sentence is both

clear and focused, and ambiguous. Writing, family, and community are all profoundly social

acts and entities. I think most people may not be aware that they are all connected, and the

sentence suggests that the reader consider that option. Reading is strengthened when it is done

in connection with these things. To articulate in this case I think would make the statement toowordy, but I agree that it could be more concrete and articulated. I think it's a matter of

style/open interpretation vs. function. I'd like for the philosophy to be more of an open

invitation to interpretation rather than a cut and dry crystal clear declaration...but that's just me!

:)

• What do you mean by a “social process”? Does that mean that “reading skills” are

strengthened by other academic work, like writing, math, etc.? Or does it mean that reading is

supported by talking with others…?

It means that reading "alone" is a misconception. Reading means thinking with someone else-

with their words. Reading is a way that we connect with what is going on in our world, even

though we may be separated by time and space. Reading is what immerses us in the norms and

values of our cultures and our time, or of other cultures and times. As much as possible

reading should be discussed, shared, written about, reread, blogged on, and analyzed by the self

and others. Deeper understanding of readings only comes through social processing of the

writer's thoughts. Reading must be understood not as a practice of isolation but rather as a

social venture- like meeting the author in a coffee shop or on a comfy couch to hear them talk

story or tell you their thoughts. And we respect and honor that author's words by talking about,

writing about, and learning from them, and making them our own and our community's.

Reading is strengthened by all of the things you mentioned. The more social you make

reading, the deeper and broader your understanding will be. By talking and working with thosewhose reading skills may be better than yours, you learn how they think, and by talking and

working with those whose skills are weaker than yours, you have the opportunity to teach, and

to strengthen your own.

-"New digital literacies are fundamental to success in today’s information age, and technology

should be used to compliment and strengthen reading instruction whenever possible."



• I think the point on technology is important and should include an element that

describes the need to work with our students to move from “consumers” of technology to

“productive users” of technology – or something along those lines. I can explain more…

Strongly agree. Perhaps we could make explicit mention of of using web 2.0 technology to

emphasize using technology as a social, shared, creative, productive tool rather than one of self-broadcast or involvement. The problem here is that we're moving away from the

"democracy" of the statement and possibly alienating some of our readers. We'd have to find

a way to say it simply.

-"All of these components must come together in our school practices, policy, curriculum, and

activities in order to create a culture of reading and learning that is powerful, joyful, inclusive,

and contagious."

• I think this is redundant – a philosophy/set of belief statements should be understood as

the backbone to a school’s practices.

Strongly disagreed until I read:

• I would still like to figure out how to incorporate the ideas of “engaging”, “relevant”,“critical”, “powerful”, “joyful”, “inclusive” and “contagious” – just can’t think of how.

And strongly agreed. I need those things in there. But I still disagree with the first comment

here. I think that final statement is what unifies any discord that may exist with the sentences

floating there in seeming isolation of one another.

-Cool - lets talk more!

yay.

Appendix C: School Literacy Improvement Plan 2010-2011 Targeted Solutions and

Workplan (current)

Targeted Solutions for each special population served

Targeted Solution(s) for Target #1: Literacy Rationale and Research

Findings for each Solution

Students scoring below 6.1: 1) Extensive RTI based on: a)

Authentic, individual assessments through miscue analysis

that focus on identifying individual strengths and weaknessesin both process and product of reading (for example, silent

and spoken reading fluency, decoding ability, prosody, and

reading comprehension); b) TABE test scores, students would

be identified for pull-out sessions and after school

programming to increase targeted literacy skills; 2) Utilize

product assessment data from TABE and individual

Rationale: Students at lower

levels need immediate,

complex, individualizedResponse to Intervention.

Testing at or below a 6th

grade level at age 16 or above

is not something that is easily

remedied in traditional

classroom settings. While



assessments to drive instruction and to assess student ability at

regular intervals throughout the year; 3) Students compile a

digital literacy portfolio authentically tracking their progress

and providing qualitative evidence of improvement and

artifacts of learning. Quarterly Reflection on personal growthis part of the portfolio.

TABE tests provide an

extremely general idea of a

student's reading ability, many

authentic assessments exist

that would provide far morecomplex feedback than that

available through the TABE.

According to Peter

Afflerbach, schools should

focus more on balancing

product and process

evaluation of student literacy

to inform instruction. "When

we examine test scores, wecan make strong inferences

about students' achievement in

relation to benchmarks and

curriculum standards, but we

must make large retrospective

inferences about what worked

(or didn't work) as the student

read. [...] [Product asessments,

which examine overall

performance and outcomes of

practice and growth] "are

relatively limited in their

ability to provide detail on

what students can and can't do

as they read. [...] [In this

case] there may be very little

for us to go on if we are

interested in gaining useful

information from theassessment about how to do

better. In contrast, some

emphasis on classroom-based

assessment of reading

processes can provide us with

detailed information on how



students process text and

construct meaning. here, our

inferences are based on our

assessment of the processes

themselves. A prime exampleof assessment that focuses on

readers' processes is reading

inventories and miscue

analysis" (p. 270).

Afflerbach, P. (2007). Best

practices in literacy

assessment. Best practices in

literacy instruction, Third

edition (3 ed., pp. 264-282).

New York: The GuilfordPress.

In light of this, TABE will be

used in our school to both

assess and teach to

weaknesses in students' skills.

It will provide a general idea

of students' individual

weaknesses, while one-on-one

miscue analysis and

comprehension testing with

provide complex feedback as

to why students are making

errors on the general skills and

further inform detailed

instruction tailored very

specifically to build on

strengths and remedy

weaknesses.

For further research support of

these initiatives, please see

below for rationale of all-

school programs.



Students scoring between 6.1-10.9: 1) a) Students are taught

explicit, specific meta-cognitive reading comprehension and

basic skills strategies designed to build skills assessed on

TABE reading section across the curriculum in a school-wide

teacher- and literacy-coach- coordinated literacy initiative. b)Research-based and backed strategies (anticipation guides,

KWL charts, etc.) will be implemented and cultivated by all

teachers in all subjects and will be developed and selected in-

house by the school literacy team (all curriculum staff

members) in school improvement and regular weekly

meetings; c) gradual release of responsibility model transfers

responsibility from teacher to student over the course of the

year. 2) Utilize data from TABE and individual assessments

to drive instruction and to assess student ability at regular

intervals throughout the year.

Rationale: 1) a-b. Students

internalize, comprehend, and

utilize tools to the greatest

extent when they are

reinforced daily in multiplecontexts and across many

subjects. c. A gradual

release of responsibility

framework allows students to

first watch as teachers model

skills, and gradually transition

into using the skills on their

own, making metacognitive

decisions about what skills to

use, when, and where so they become reading problem-

solvers, ready to attack

passages with an arsenal of

strategies. 2) TABE scores

can help inform our

understanding of skill

weaknesses and strengths, and

reading comprehension

strategies can be selected and

implemented accordingly.

Research Support:

Gambrell, L. B., Malloy, J. A.,

& Mazzoni, S. A. (2007).

Evidence-based best practices

for comprehensive literacy

instruction. Best Practices in

Literacy Instruction, Third

Edition (3 ed., pp. 11-29). New York: The Guilford

Press.

See also below.



Students scoring at 11 or above: 1) Access to college level

classes at Wright Community College, 2) After school PSAE

study group 3) Access to advanced critical literacy and

college preparatory class designed in-house.

Those students that have

placed out of TABE scores

should be given the

opportunity to excel at post-

secondary curricula.

1. Literacy Target Work Plan

Work Plan Actions Related to Literacy Target

Timeline

Implementation Dates

Allocated Amount

Identify Literacy Coordinator June ‘10

Identify English Instructor June ‘10

Building a culture of reading in the school Ongoing $3,500

Beginning of the year TABE testing July-September

corresponding with

rolling admission

N/A

Miscue analysis/ detailed reading

comprehension testing and recording of data

1) August 1 -

September 30 initial

testing

2) 2nd testing round:

November 8th-12th

3) 3rd testing round:

January 10th-14th

4) 4th testing round:

April 11th-15th

5) Final Round: May

31- 3rd

$100 for testing

assessments/materials

TABE/ Miscue analysis/ comprehension data

analysis/ integration into lesson plans

Week following

testing week.

$0

Instructional Team "Writing Process" Training Not more than $400

for some text to be

selected that we all

share

Instructional Team 6+1 "Writing Traits" $26.99 each, $350 for

evaluation and analysis of school reading report

Documents