ODYSSEY 201416

Big Jump

Our students had postsecondary dreams.

Leng wanted a career in computers. Leng’s postsecondary goal on hisIndividualized Education Program (IEP) was to attend a technicalcollege, but his college placement score in reading was too low to beaccepted for the coursework. The door to a computer degree was closing.

Shayne wanted to be a chef, and a job in a neighborhood restaurantfueled this dream. College placement testing revealed he did not have thereading skills required by the culinary arts program at the technicalcollege. His reading score placed him at approximately the fourth gradelevel—not at the developmental level required for entrance into theprogram.

Fadumo wanted a career as a certified nursing assistant and tookcoursework in this field as part of her transition plan. She excelled in thehands-on portion of the coursework and passed the state’s skills test.However, despite intensive supports, she was still unprepared to meet thereading and literacy requirements and failed the written portion of thestate test. Fadumo wanted to develop the reading skills that would allowher to pursue a health career.

Leng, Shayne, and Fadumo were among our bright and ambitious deaf and hard ofhearing students who lacked the reading skills to enter even the developmentalcoursework at our local technical college. Further, as with all the students in the

Photos courtesy of Greta Palmberg and Kendra Rask

Greta Palmberg,MEd, is a transitioninstructor in theVocational Education,Community Training, andOccupational RelationsProgram (VECTOR) inBrooklyn Park,Minnesota. She has servedon the Deaf and Hard ofHearing Advisory Boardfor the MinnesotaDepartment of Educationand worked nationallythrough PEPNet toprovide professionaldevelopment in the area oftransition. A recipient ofthe Shaklee TeacherAward, a national awardto recognize outstandingteachers of children withdisabilities, Palmbergreceived her bachelor’sdegree from Illinois StateUniversity and hermaster’s degree from theUniversity of Illinois. Shehas teaching experienceand certifications in theareas of deaf/hard ofhearing, learningdisabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, anddevelopmental cognitivedisabilities and is themother of a deaf youngadult.

By Greta Palmberg and Kendra Rask

HIGH EXPECTATIONS +

READING INTERVENTION PLAN =

in Students’Reading Scores

2014 ODYSSEY 17

Vocational Education, Community Training,and Occupational Relations Program(VECTOR), the nationally recognizedtransition program that serves 18- to 21-year-olds in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, thesestudents were running out of time. In a fewshort years, they would be 21 years old and nolonger eligible for services. Precious minuteswere ticking away. VECTOR serves a variety of students with

disabilities, about one-third of whom are deaf,hard of hearing, or deaf/blind. As part of whatthe federal government calls a “traditionallyunderserved population,” our students comefrom the homes of immigrants and refugees,homes in which there is only one parent, andhomes where neither parent speaks English,or they experience other factors that makethem educationally vulnerable. (See Figure 1.)Since 1987, we have been customizing

transition services for students who are deaf,hard of hearing, and deaf/blind. In the springof 2012, the VECTOR staff for deaf and hardof hearing students teamed up to design thereading intervention that we knew wasimperative.

Bringing reading research, transitionprogram philosophy, and high expectationstogether would be critical. Our goal was toincrease our students’ skills in meaningful,measureable ways that would allow them toread their college texts and benefit them overa lifetime. A reading specialist who was also aformer interpreter confirmed that when a textis above a student’s instructional readinglevel, frustration sets in and it becomesdifficult for learning to occur. This, of course,has implications for a student’s entireeducational experience. We put other postsecondary coursework on

hold and enrolled nine deaf and hard ofhearing students in our newly-designedCollege Reading Readiness class. Weincreased the time students spent reading andselected a new text focused on academicreading in the college setting. We used an on-line program that included use of the Lexilesystem to measure text difficulty and toanalyze students’ reading levels as the levelschanged over time. We also looked for ways to motivate our

students and keep their expectations high.

Kendra Rask, BS, isan Intermediate District287 special educationinstructor in theVECTOR Program. Sheserves as a classroomteacher as well as thepostsecondary liaison forstudents who are seekingto pursue postsecondaryeducation. She receivedher bachelor’s degree inelementary educationfrom Saint Cloud StateUniversity, an AAS ininterpreting from St.Paul Technical College,and special educationlicensures in emotional/behavioral disorders andspecific learningdisabilities from BethelUniversity. Rask is acertified American SignLanguage interpreter,National Association ofthe Deaf, Level 4Advanced, and a proudCODA (child of deafadults). She believes thathigh expectationsempower and, bydefinition, improveoutcomes for both theindividual and ourworld.

The authors welcomequestions and commentsabout this article atglpalmberg@district287.org and kmrask@district287.org.

ODYSSEY 2014

Motivation was inspired through avariety of strategies: students chartedtheir reading growth; guest speakersspoke about college careers; and HowardA. Rosenblum, chief executive officer ofthe National Association of the Deaf,sent our students an encouraging letter.“Deaf and hearing people are equals,” hewrote. “The most important tool forequality is language. Improve yourreading and writing, and you will bemore powerful!” This became our classmotto. At the end of the year the students

were tested, and the results showed asuccess greater than any of us hadanticipated. (See Figure 2.) Our studentshad achieved unprecedented growth inacademic reading. Every studentincreased his or her reading betweenthree and five grade levels, and the classaveraged a 394-point increase in Lexilescores. Six students had raised theirscores enough to take collegedevelopmental coursework and pursuetheir postsecondary goals. Three otherstudents committed to continue in thecourse another year. Just as importantly,our students became active learners,empowered and determined to holdthemselves to a higher standard.

And Leng, Shayne, andFadumo?

Leng increased his reading by five gradelevels. A few weeks before graduatingfrom VECTOR, he re-took the collegeplacement test and increased his score bynine points. This nine-point differencewas what he needed to enroll indevelopmental reading at a technicalcollege. Today, he is an independentcollege student, taking three courses atthe technical college and pursuing acomputer career as a desktop supportspecialist.

Shayne increased his reading by morethan four grade levels and his collegeplacement test score by five points. Hecommitted to a second year of intensivereading instruction and enrolled insecondary vocational culinary artsclasses. His college goal is closer now,and he is determined to make it happen.

Fadumo increased her reading by fourgrade levels and her Lexile score by over400 points. She increased her collegeplacement test score by 36 points! Thisscore not only elevated her to thedevelopmental reading level at thetechnical college but allowed her to skip

the first developmental reading classaltogether. She adjusted her goals whenher reading scores improved. Instead ofbecoming a nursing assistant, Fadumohas decided to pursue a career inradiologic technology. As news of the success of our program

spread, we were asked to open anotherclass, this time for hearing students. Weagreed to do so—with the provision thatthe classes for hearing and deaf studentsremain separate—and we now teach twocourses instead of one.We had hoped that the College

Reading Readiness course would resultin reading gains. We saw our studentsbecome active learners, forge aheadmultiple grade levels in reading, andgain college-ready skills. A pathway tocollege was opened.We hoped for reading gains; what we

achieved was so much more.

The dedicated and amazing staff thatdevised and implemented the reading programfor our deaf and hard of hearing studentsincluded: Dori Beach, Kayla Beccue,Kathy Manlapas, Donna Moe, GretaPalmberg, Kendra Rask, and TinaSunda.

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Above: In this chart, the demographics of the deaf and hard of hearing students

in VECTOR reflect the program’s exclusive focus on those the federal

government defines as “traditionally underserved.” Right:This chart shows the

improvement experienced by students who undertook a reading intervention

in VECTOR in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

Reading Readiness 2012-2013Deaf and Hard of Hearing StudentsVECTOR

2012-2013

*Student 5 initial score was not valid due to problems in testing.

ABE (for Adult Basic Education) is a reading level below developmental that makes astudent ineligible to continue coursework at the technical college.

DEV (for Development) means that the student can take developmental readingcourses at the technical college along with other college coursework.

Lexile reading levels, a tool that measures learners’ progression as their reading skillsimprove, were determined from MyReadingLab (on-line remedial reading materialpublished by Pearson).

Figure 1: Figure 2:

2014 ODYSSEY

When the Clock isTicking

Designing a College Reading Readiness CourseBy Greta Palmberg and Kendra Rask

Looking back on the course we designed, we recognize that thecatalyst to success was the commitment to incorporating fivecourse components: substantial instructional minutes,authentic academic reading material, various instructionalgroupings, instruction on vocabulary and backgroundknowledge, and modeling of college expectations. Alone, eachcomponent was effective; together, they were powerful. Here isa look at these five critical components.

SUBSTANTIAL INSTRUCTIONAL MINUTES

A dramatic increase in time spent on reading was required forstudents to make unprecedentedgrowth and to develop college-reading skills. Each class wouldbe twice as long as our normal50-minute class period.Students would commit to acourse that met Mondaythrough Friday for 100-minuteblocks. Further, the class wouldnot follow regular quarter ornine-week scheduling; it wouldcontinue for a solid year.

AUTHENTIC ACADEMIC

READING MATERIAL

Staff focused on academicreading, giving studentsstrategies to move beyondlearning to read and equippingthem to begin reading to learn.After much research, the textwe chose was Reading for Life byCorinne Fennessy, a collegedevelopmental text for students at a sixth to ninth gradereading level. Reading for Life was chosen because each chapterengages students with stories and vocabulary around differentcareers, and this matched our transition program’s focus. Toenhance career knowledge and motivate student interest, theclass took quarterly field trips to a variety of area businesses,met with human relations personnel, and had guest speakerscome to talk about the careers we were reading about in class. Further, each chapter focused on developing a different

reading skill. These skills, the backbone of our instruction,included identifying the main idea, stated and implied;understanding supporting details; and recognizing patterns of

organization. They also included making inferences, drawingconclusions, developing vocabulary, and thinking critically.Our text was paired with Pearson’s MyReadingLabTM, an

on-line program specifically created for the developmentalreader at the college level that delivers instruction beginningat the fourth grade level. This on-line program uses the Lexilesystem to measure text difficulty and to analyze students’reading levels as the levels change over time. Our studentsbegan, on average, at the 600 Lexile level. We predicted thatstudents would need to raise their scores to between the 1,000-1,100 Lexile level to get into a developmental college-levelreading course.

VARIOUS INSTRUCTIONAL GROUPINGS

We chose a hybrid model of instruction that included groupinstruction, small group work, and individual practice. Weintroduced specific reading skills or modeled effective readingstrategies to the students in a large group. Students worked insmall groups to process their learning, to practice reading

skills, and to work oncertain skills necessaryin postsecondarytraining andemployment, such ascollaborating witheach other to findanswers and workingwithin time limits.They workedindividually whenthey pulled upMyReadingLab andperformed exercisesand did diagnostictests that measuredindividual growth. “I really liked

working together,”noted one student,looking back. “Thewhole class helpedeach other. Learninghow to work in a

group, discuss stories, and answer questions helped meunderstand my reading better.”

INSTRUCTION ON VOCABULARY

AND BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

Due to the English language difficulties experienced by ourstudents, vocabulary instruction was expanded. In addition tothe vocabulary activities in the book, we worked on extendingbackground knowledge before each story was read. Although itwas time consuming, the addition of teaching and discussingeach story’s background paid off as students read. Having

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ODYSSEY 2014

explicit background knowledge not only increasedcomprehension but equipped students with the knowledge theyneeded to discuss story concepts using critical thinking skills.As one of our teachers remarked, “Sometimes you just have tostop what you’re doing and explain who Paul Bunyan is, even ifyou live in Minnesota!”Vocabulary development focused not only on definitions but

on learning multiple meanings of words in context. Studentswere encouraged to look up words online that they did notknow in the MyReadingLab passages. The instructional team,including the interpreter, teacher, and educational assistant,worked together to promote vocabulary. Staff signed,fingerspelled, and wrote vocabulary words on the board duringinstruction. In addition, students were expected to holdthemselves accountable for increasing their own vocabulary—not only for a good grade but for their own future success incollege and the workplace.

MODELING OF COLLEGE EXPECTATIONS

Students were instilled with a lofty goal—to increase readinglevels by more than one grade. The primary learning activitywas simple: students were expected to read. On the first day ofclass, the teacher displayed a paragraph on the SMART Boardand asked the students to read it. To her amazement, all eyesturned instantly to the interpreter. The students were waitingfor the interpreter to sign the paragraph to them! This was the pivotal moment when we realized that our

students had become passive. We knew that the first college-level expectation we would instill in them would be that ofactive learning. After so many years of frustration, they had

stopped asking questions; not understanding was their norm.We cultivated a classroom in which students felt comfortableasking questions and taking an active role in their learning. Weincreasingly and incrementally raised the level of the materialand classroom expectations. We wanted our students to realizetheir reading growth was ultimately under their control. We took time to talk about and demonstrate other skills—

how to organize a notebook, how to take notes from thetextbook, how to create a planner to keep track of assignments.We also worked on teamwork and test-taking skills. All of thistook time away from reading, but these critical skills arenecessary for students wanting to succeed in the postsecondaryenvironment. VECTOR started out with a goal—to assist our students in

becoming better readers. All of the research, teaming, and hardwork paid off when these five components helped us establishliteracy as the foundation of academic achievement, and ourstudents excelled amid high expectations.

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Reference

Fennessy, C. (2010). Reading for life. Upper Saddle River,NJ: Pearson Longman, Inc.

Resource

Pearson’s MyReadingLabTM, www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com/northamerica/myreadinglab