Introduction
In order to complete this activity, I spent some time interviewing administrators and teachers K-12 to determine what formal programs exist to specifically promote literacy in out school. I also sat in on a number of class sessions. Additionally, I reviewed the Ohio State University’s P-12 Project materials on Leadership for Literacy and their findings on the characteristics of effective literacy programs.
Literacy leadership functions present in our school
FIrst and foremost, it is important to point out that our school is located in the Miami metropolitan area and, as such, has a high percentage (over 50%) of students who come from homes in which the first language is one other than English. The vast majority of our students are fluent in Spanish, with some Hebrew as well. We have a few students (less than 5%) who speak no English and our school boasts a formal ESL program. This situation does not address literacy directly, but it does complicate things a little.
To our credit, I identified a number of functions of literacy leadership functions that are evident in the school, though there is obviously some room for improvement.
- Establishing Literacy as a Priority: In our primary grades (ECE-3) there is an obvious emphasis placed on reading. My observations of these classrooms revealed a specific focus on reading comprehension and a push to prepare students for the Columbia University Teachers College Readers and Writers Workshop which occurs in grades 3-5. Each classroom has specific reading areas set aside and a significant portion of class time is given over to reading aloud or silently (depending on age).
- Ensuring Quality Instruction: The school has adopted specific curricula in each section in order to address reading specifically at each level. From the Reggio Emilia-inspired program in the Early Childhood classrooms through the Readers and Writers Workshop to the formal MAP Tests in Middle and High School and FCAT guideposts the students must hit, there are formal programs in place and teachers are specifically and comprehensively prepared for literacy instruction.
- Assessing Performance and Ensuring Accountability: Our students take the MAP Test three times each year from Grades 3-10 and those scores depict growth in literacy throughout the year. Each student receives a score as part of the results and reading assignments are given to challenge each student individually at their reading level. Our school goals are worded in terms or raising these specific scores and teachers are both held to and supported in achieving those goals.
Recommendations
While many of the functions of literacy leadership are present, there is room for improvement. Each of the functions identified by the P-12 Project can serve as a prompt for consideration of ways to improve our program. For example:
- Establishing Literacy as a Priority: The finding calls for an “uncommon focus” on reading. While literacy is important to our school, we are probably not working hard enough, considering literacy is the “most crucial skill for success inside school.” We have identified raising literacy scores as one goal among many but would be better served by seeing it as a lynchpin for success in all other academic disciplines.
- Developing an Appropriate Platform of Beliefs:A challenge for many schools with as diverse a population as ours is that, when students are placed in ELL/ESL programs, they can lose the motivation to ever move out and back to a mainstream classroom. We much change our posture regarding many of these students in order to help them and their families understand that, while special programs are made available to help them succeed, the goal is that all students should meet rigorous standards, regardless of their background.
- Ensuring Quality Instruction: Our school has successful programs in place at every grade level for reading instruction, however, a collection of disparate approaches, no matter how effective, can not be as successful as one integrated, unified approach to literacy instruction. We can not be complacent with a good set of programs; we must identify one that is great and, if we can’t, we should develop it ourselves, basing it on recognized research and the wealth of our own experiences.
- Maximizing Time: Since ours is a dual-curriculum religious school, finding time for effective instruction is always a challenge. In order to increase the time we have to use to focus on literacy without negatively impacting other courses, we must find a way to inject literacy instruction into other areas. The study of Judaic texts, for example, comprises several skills including many skills key to literacy such as decoding unfamiliar words, developing vocabulary, etc. By generalizing these skills and incorporating them into other classes, we can further maximize the time we spend on a school-wide literacy initiative.
- Constructing a Quality Program: We have these basic areas covered through the programs that are in place but, again, a more unified approach would be better. Using what we know to improve what we do will move us forward.
- Assessing Performance and Ensuring Accountability: Here too, unification is the area most ripe for improvement. The expansion of the MAP test into both higher and lower grades will allow us apples-to-apples charting of student progress. If the MAP Test is the correct tool, we should use it; if it is not, we should find one that is.
- Creating a Coherent and Aligned Reading System:My recommendation here should be familiar: unification. Coherence demands that a single philosophy be adopted so that vertical planning can be done in a careful manner.
- Fostering Staff Decelopment and Promoting Communities of Learners: Since our literacy programs are so successful, many teachers of courses other than Language Arts are not concerned about literacy. This is dangerous since, as explained above, literacy is a general skill which can be covered in every subject area. Increasing Professional Development around this specific idea can only help our students.
- Forging Links between Home and School: Since so many of our students come from homes with a primary language other than English, this issue is especially important. We have already established a program of parent education around health, social and parenting issues, and expanding the program to include English literacy is necessary to forge these links and draw our families closer.
- Building Capacity: Mastery of the written word is necessary to higher levels of capacity; all learning occurs through language and literacy is freedom to learn more independently. Research shows that students who achieve high levels of literacy improve in all academic areas so a focus on literacy can be a rising tide that lifts all boats.