Title II Request for Funding a) Decide on a program/initiative that you think would be worthy of the team creating. Describe the program/initiative. Aligning Research with Literacy Initiatives While Advocating for the Role of Media Coordinator According to CMS Superintendent Ann Clark regarding literacy as our North Star, it “is the most important skill we teach. Literacy is the foundation for academic success from pre-kindergarten through high school.” Literacy is key to achieving academic success and the responsibility of literacy encompasses every educator and discipline. Many media coordinators have been trained in Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and district adopted reading initiatives, such as Balanced Literacy and Reading Apprenticeship. However, most struggle with linking our programs with literacy initiatives. According to the 2015 Nation’s Report Card percentages of fourth graders and eighth graders reading on grade level continues to decline, especially among urban school districts (nationsreportcard.gov). “That is, when reading grade appropriate text these students cannot extract the general meaning or make obvious connections between the text and their own experiences or make simple inferences from the text. In other words, they cannot understand what they have read.” (National Assessment of Educational Progress). And, furthermore, principals are trading media coordinator positions at an alarming rate as evidenced by the more than 30 schools which no longer
Content area teachers can implement strategies and scaffold learning when planning and designing instruction so that students will actively engage in literacy. According to Dobbs, content area reading instruction includes: the information present in the text, and the instructional plan teachers use to help students understand the content (2003, p.3). Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz explain that in order to plan instruction effectively, teachers must be aware of the explicit and functional dimensions of content literacy. The explicit aspect of content literacy involves the development of skills and strategies that enable students to comprehend what they are reading. Functional instruction focuses more on the application of strategies needed to derive knowledge from a variety of sources of information.” (2014, p. 134). Forget defined literacy as “listening, thinking, reading, and speaking in such a way that information and ideas are processed and communicated to the benefit of self and society” (2003, p. 5). Content area teachers need to plan and design lessons so that students will actively engage in literacy. Forget goes on to discuss that poor performance in schools can be do to a lack of basic literacy skills. Therefore, teachers need to implement the skills and strategies found to be successful in literacy to ensure
In every school across America, effective practices of reading instruction are being discussed. Calkins (2012) suggests that over 85% of students being tested on grade level literacy standards are non-proficient. Research suggests that students, who are unable to read proficiently by third grade, are not predicted to ever learn to read or have successful lives when they reach adulthood (Martinez, 2008). For these reasons, it is important that districts implement literacy models and instructional reforms that have been well researched and shown to be successful. The instructional reform method of Balanced Literacy is being used throughout the country to meet the challenging standards of the Common Core. Teachers will need
In the state of South Carolina, the high school English standards contain six parts: inquiry-based literacy, reading literary text, reading informational text, writing, communication, and disciplinary literacy. The South Carolina Common Core Reading Standards (2015) explicitly state for students in high school “Reading, writing, communicating, thinking critically, and performing in meaningful, relevant ways within and across disciplines are essential practices for accessing and deeply understanding content (pp. 107).” Additionally, these standards, if followed by the classroom teacher, creates students who are college and career ready by challenging them to participate in interdisciplinary study and curriculum integration through real-world
IV. Identify problems and solutions with your plan (develop it) and also your aims and objectives:
A literacy specialist role has a leadership component that requires expertise knowledge in the areas of assessment and research data. Through this knowledge and understanding, they can help students, teachers, and schools set literacy goals and actually accomplish them. Research states, “Schools that have literacy coaches or a literacy specialist, who is involved in setting literacy goals and accomplishments, promote teacher and student literacy improvements and achievements (Journal of Language and Literacy Education, Volume 3,
In the prior Literacy Action Plan, the material, resources, and information used and found were done for specific reasons. These reasons were found by using data from state assessments and district assessments from Okeechobee School District. Janice Greenberg stated “Tony Wagner goes on to say that children will need seven basic survival skills to succeed in the world that awaits them which are as follows: 1) Critical thinking and Problem Solving, 2)Collaboration across Networks and Leading by Influence, 3) Agility and Adaptability, 4) Initiative and Entrepreneurialism, 5) Effective Oral and Written Communication, 6) Accessing and Analyzing Information, and 7) Curiosity and Imagination” (Greenberg, 2011). These are also reasons why students should be proficient in reading and writing and why we have to write a Literacy Action Plan so we have action set into place to help our students achieve proficient scores in Reading and Writing.
From the word ‘core’ reveals that the Common Core State Standards has higher chances of success than other educational initiative where other improvement determinations have failed. The standards characterise one of the most promising developments in the struggles made to improve a nation’s transformation. The Common Core State Standards are not intended to replace any other standards that might be considered as weak or strong. Rather, they seek to reinforce all other standards in use by enhancing an integrated model of literacy in stating the details of content required for students in terms of grade (Drake, 2012).
A. Describe the skills, knowledge and expertise each member that you selected brings to the team. As appropriate, what specific role would you assign to each team member?
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are regarded as a detestable beast by many in the educational field. For those who teach literacy, this is not an uncommon idea or ominous threat, yet for those who have never taught literacy and are now expected to implement writing and reading comprehension student learning expectations (SLE), this can be a daunting task. CCSS along with the Arkansas Department of Education insist on this being done (2013). Many times the CCSS were listed on the lesson plans at the high school to soothe the conscience of the educator and to appease the administration, but they were not taught effectively or briefly skimmed over with the students. With the advent of the
The Common Core State Standards were created to identify the skills and knowledge a student needs in order to succeed in today’s world. Essentially, these Standards were developed in an effort for public education to advance academically. In developing these Standards, six shifts were created to identify what a student is expected to accomplish in each grade level in order to prepare them for their future. Obviously, with six shifts, there is a beginning phase. The first shift generated states, to prepare students for reading and comprehension in their later school years, it is fundamentally necessary to increase the reading of informational text for students beginning kindergarten and continuing through the fifth grade.
The implication of the national board certification on reading instruction is literacy teachers will apply their content knowledge of the processes of the language arts-reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing; and they also come better equip to understand how to teach literacy to students. Furthermore, North Carolina passed the Read to Achieve Law to help children to become proficient in reading before entering fourth grade. Moreover, the correlation of National board for Professional Standards and reading instruction, begins with the development of Literacy Reading-Language Arts Standards for teachers of students ages 3-12 with high rigor and task to enhance learning and social interaction of the students. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards recognize the importance of teaching literacy to all learners, and that every student should become engage with literacy to understand and appreciate the power of language. Students ages 3- 12 includes Early Childhood Generalist (3-8) and Middle Childhood Generalist (7-12) Certification. The subject matter consist of English Language Arts Standards. The National Board for Professional Teaching acknowledge that students need to apply inquiry learning and high order thinking skills to problem solve. Overall, NBPTS understands that literacy is the gateway to building effective reading, writing speaking, and listening skills (NPBTS, 2013).
Pea Ridge High School (PRHS) has long prided itself of being a high achieving school in academics; it is number six in the state for the 2013-2014 school year. Since the implementation of the Common Core Standards, PRHS has found itself having to reteach educators to use the literacy standards because most in the non-literacy/math disciplines still use the Arkansas Frameworks. Not only has the literacy standards been an arduous task to implement in the literacy areas, the high school struggles with the concept of teaching literacy in the areas that are not necessarily considered literacy areas. According to the schools’ Arkansas Consolidated School Improvement Plan (ACSIP) of which the author of this essay and project is the literacy chair for the high school, two things that is essential and requires immediate implementation in all areas is the teaching of literacy and closing the achievement gap for the target groups which are considered lower socioeconomic (free/reduced lunch), minorities, and English language learners. In an effort to ease the minds of the educators and administration, this project was instituted to help those of history, science, art, physical education, and other areas to implement the literacy standards assigned by the state. It also gives assistance and clarification for those not only in the literacy
9. What is your mission and can you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your program?
The article “Relations Between the CCSS and RTI in Literacy and Language” begins with explaining that there is decline in learning literacy and literacy knowledge in students. Response to Intervention (RTI) and Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-EL) are considered the solution to the literacy problem (Wixson, 2012). The authors of the article go in to great detail to explain RTI and CCSS and there collaboration in the process of improving literacy and language.
My philosophy of literacy is centered on providing a learning environment rich in authentic literature, instruction that is engaging, fun, and balanced, collaborative, and also involving families in the child’s education. My ultimate goal of literacy instruction is to help children become lifelong readers and writers by providing the skills necessary to comprehend, construct, and make meaning of text, speak, and write. (Torgesen, 2002). According to the National Reading Panel, there are five essential components that must be taught in effective reading programs: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. (Reading Horizons). According to Konza (2014), reading instruction should be changed to six foundational reading elements, adding oral language and early literacy. I also believe that early literacy should be