RED 6540 Assessment in Literacy: Blog Post 5 (weeks 14-15)

"The literature on school-level reform presents multiple studies on the complexities of school-level change, specifically school infrastructure arguments" (Baccellieri, 2010, p. 23).  Research also shows that restructuring alone will not help (Baccellieri, 2010).

"The nature of relationships among the adults within a school is another critical factor related to the success of reform efforts" (Baccellieri, 2010, p. 23).  Collaborative leadership practices are imperative. 

Baccellieri (2010) states that some literature suggests that in order to make significant change in the culture of a school, multiple rather than a single reform strategy must be implemented so the reform will take hold.

     In developing a framework aimed at improving teaching and learning leading to improved student
     achievement, the five core principles as stated by Baccellieri (2010) are as follows: 

1. Improve student learning by improving classroom instruction...
2. Improve classroom instruction through teacher learning of  new knowledge, skills, and dispositions...
3. Support teacher learning through professional learning communities...
4. Structure professional learning communities by providing teachers with the time and resources to discuss student learning outcomes and how to improve those outcomes...
5. Encourage shared discussion of standards-based formative assessments, including student writing, conducted in a professional learning community supported by multiple systems and structures, which can lead to changes in classroom practice. (p.31-32)

 "The term professional learning community is self-defining" (Baccellieri, 2010, p. 47).

"Isolation is the enemy of improvement" (Baccellieri, 2010, p. 72).

In order for teacher meetings and collaborative efforts to improve teaching and learning, a climate of trust an mutual respect is vital.  Curriculum consistency within and across grades is important and providing new instruction materials may be an important first step (Baccellieri, 2010).

Teachers need to have opportunities to talk about and reflect on their practices.  These types of conversations foster change (Baccellieri, 2010).

"Acceptance of collective responsibility for improving teaching and learning is an important characteristic of a professional learning community" (Baccellieri, 2010, p. 121). Innovation with a view to improve student achievement is fundamental to gaining teachers' growing expertise and skill in a PLC (Baccellieri, 2010).

     Data demonstrate that by making connections among the degree of rigor expected of the student
     work, the focus for weekly grade-level team meetings, and teacher professional development
     workshops, this reform has the potential to accelerate the quality of teacher conversations on    
     teaching and learning. (p. 146-147)

This approach also has the potential to providing educaaators the ability to address student learning needs today rather than waiting for the reform to become established (Baccellieri, 2010).




References

Baccellieri, P. (2010). Professional learning communities: Using data in decision making to improve student learning. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.

 

RED 6540 Assessment in Literacy: Blog Post 4 (weeks 11-13)

Response to Intervention (RTI) normally involves three tiers of support.  The first tier "represents instruction and services available to all students, generally provided at the classroom level" (Brozo, 2009-2010).  Brozo (2009-2010) goes on to explain the second tier's objective is to work short-term with small groups of students who need help.  Tier three involves the more intense level of instruction.  It is usually carried out on a one-to-one basis.  The tier of support a student is placed in depends on their needs with the least amount of extra support provided for the student to make successful gains (Brozo, 2009-2010).

Interestingly, the majority of research done on RTI is at the elementary level.  As a result, middle and high schools have been forced to devise their own intervention plans.  Three vital questions for secondary professionals when considering how they are going to devise an RTI-like program include:

1. Is RTI a feasible structure for secondary literacy?
2. Is RTI the most effective model for a comprehensive secondary literacy program?
3. Can RTI provide responsive literacy instruction for all students (Brozo, 2009-2010)?

RTI's goal is to prevent reading difficulties.  There are many details that need to be worked out in order to insure that RTI can be successful at the secondary level, and all teachers must be on board and commited to making RTI work (Brozo, 2009-2010).

     "The key principle of RTI² is that any intervention is predicated on the notion that Tier 1 core
     instruction is responsive, standards-based, and data-driven... instruction be scaffolded so that
     students on all points of the learning continuum can benefit from the educational environment of
     the general education classroom." (Fischer & Frey, 2010, p. 25)
 

References

Brozo, W. G. (2009-2010). Response to intervention or responsive instruction?  Challenges and possibilites of response to intervention for adolescent literacy.  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53 (4), 277-281.


Fischer, D. & Frey, N. (2010). Enhancing RTI: How to ensure success with effective classroom instruction and intervention.Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Article: What Reflects a Great School? Not Test Scores

Assessments and schools

 I found this article recently and found it quite interesting.  Whole-school achievement was discussed.  The three interconnected factors considered essential are trust, collaboration, and authenticity.  

RED 6540 Assessment in Literacy: Blog Post 3 (weeks 8-10)

Many schools have more recently reorganized their schedules to allow for professional learning communities (PLCs) to allow for common planning among teachers (Boudett, 2014).  Making time to meet in PLCs can be challenging, but meeting once or twice a month as a team with an agenda will be helpful.  In my experience, it can be challenging to bring everything together from the various members to create a collaborative plan to move forward.  Too often we are working so hard independently, and we forget we are all working towards the same goal of students moving successfully through school.

Some tips for creating an effective data display include the following:

• providing a complete title
• name of assessment and subject
• what grade level was tested?
• name of school
• dates of assessments
• how many students were tested?

• chart should be simple and easy to read
• chart style should be appropriate for intended purpose
• space and color used well
• appropriate font size
• appropriate labels included
• data-point values (Boudett, 2014).

Just get started.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Often times, the idea of needing to be sure you include everything can be enough to completely overwhelm even the most level headed person.  It is not possible to include every single thing when digging into data.  Take one problem and work through that.  Often that one simple problem will address many other related problems.  The important thing to remember is to just get started (Boudett, 2014).

"The problem of practice is directly related to the learner-centered problem; based on evidence found when examining instruction; within the school's control' a statement about practice, not a question; and specific and small" (Boudett, 2014).

Four main tasks to help investigate instruction and articulate problem of practice:

1. Link learning and teaching
2. Develop skill of observing practice
3. Develop shared understanding of effective practice
4. Analyze current practice (Boudett, 2014).

Developing an action plan is not a singular item to be done.  In fact, it is one step in a process.  Plan, solve, look back on plan and results, understand and learn, and then plan once again.  This should be a part of a continuous cycle.

It is imperative for school leaders to "communicate the action plan clearly, integrate the plan into the ongoing work of the school a,d use teams for support and internal accountability" (Boudett, 2014).  Everyone needs to be on the same page and working towards accomplishing the main objective.



References

Boudett, K. P., City, E. A., Murnane, R. J. (2014). Data Wise. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
     Education Press.