Moving the Needle on Adolescent Literacy Don Deshler

Moving the Needle on Adolescent Literacy Don Deshler University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning Alameda Unified School District October 8, 2009

A Highly Valued Partnership

#1 About the KU Center for Research on Learning

KU-CRL mission is to markedly improve. . . • The performance of struggling adolescent learners • How teachers instruct academically diverse classes • How secondary schools can be structured to improve outcomes • How our validated practices reach tens of thousands of practitioners in the field • How public policy initiatives are crafted to support struggling learners

CRL R & D Model Practitioner Questions/insights, Theory, Existing Literature, Design Studies Initial Product Development Emerging Knowledge Product Refinement Effectiveness Studies Dissemination Co Programmatic Evaluation st ss eff ec tiv Professional Development en es s Scale Studies C t os e c ffe tiv e en

KU-CRL Research • $185+ million since 1978 • Funding Sources – Federal agencies (U. S. Departments of Education, Labor, and Defense, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health) – 14 State Departments of Education – Foundations (Carnegie Corporation of NY, Gates, Stupski, Mc. Donalds) • Portfolio – Research (40 -50%) – Model Demonstration (25%) – Dissemination (15%) – Leadership Preparation (10%)

KU-CRL Research Improve Student Learning • Learning Strategies Curriculum – Adopted by 3500 schools in North America • Fusion Reading – Selected for national reading study for struggling adolescent learners – Newly funded Striving Readers project in Michigan • Goal-setting Program – Used in Academic Support Program for KU Athletic Department • Strategic Tutoring Program – One of most broadly used evidence based after school tutoring programs in country

KU-CRL Research Improve Quality of Instruction • Content Enhancement Routines – Tools to create “learner friendly” instruction in academically diverse classes • Blending Assessment with Instruction (BAIP) – Online program for aligning mathematics instruction with results on Kansas state assessments -- adopted by 245 Kansas School Districts, state of Arkansas, Riverside will publish

KU-CRL Research Improve Teacher Preparation • Instructional Coaching Research Initiative – KU-CRL coaching model adopted by 28 states and 1500 schools. Only model supported by IES research funds • Online Academy -- 54 modules based on evidence-based teaching practices adopted by 183 colleges and universities

KU-CRL Research Restructure Secondary Schools • Content Literacy Continuum (CLC) Initiative – Whole school reform model incorporating multiple KU-CRL interventions and programs. Adopted by 12 state departments of education – Being considered by Gates Foundation to address “failure” of its educational investments in secondary schools

KU-CRL Practice Curriculum Materials & Supports • 1500 certified members of International Professional Development Network – Trained over 800, 000 teachers and administrators in nearly 4000 school districts • 15 web based resources to enhance classroom instruction (ALTEC) – 7. 3 million pages viewed per month – 515, 000 registered teachers – Of all 108, 810, 000 distinct web sites on the web, collectively, ALTEC’s web sites are in the top. 004% of usage • 186 curriculum products and implementation supports

KU-CRL Policy Public Policy Leadership • Testimony before U. S. Congress & 17 state legislatures – To help shape legislation, serve as expert witnesses • Named to key education policy boards – – – National Institute for Literacy National Governor’s Association Board on Adolescent Literacy U. S. State Department Advisory Board on Overseas Schools Carnegie Corporation of NY Advisory Council on Advancement of Adolescent Literacy Alliance for Excellent Education National Center for Learning Disabilities

KU-CRL Leadership Preparation Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders • Professional Development Plan – To match student learning goals with learning opportunities in KU-CRL • Accomplishments of doctoral students affiliated with KU-CRL – – – – 17 awarded “Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award” by national professional organizations 317 articles in top tier refereed journals 91 book chapter 53 books 57 instructional materials $49, 989, 311 external grant funds generate 8 journal editorships, 37 journal review boards 85 leadership roles in professional organizations

#2 Some of the challenges

As Others Rise to the Challenge, U. S. Advantage Drops Percent of Population with HS Degree or Equivalent 13 1 1990’s 1980’s 1970’s 1960’s 1 Notes: 1) Excluding ISCED 3 C short programmes; 2) Year of reference 2004; 3) Year of reference 2003. 4) Percent population recieviing a HS degree in each decade is approximated by the age cohort typically recieving diplomas at that time; e. g. 1960 s is approximated by the proportion of 55 -64 year olds with a high school diploma. 27 Source: OECD 2008

#3 Important developments

20+ Reports on Adolescent Literacy

IES Recommendations • Explicit vocabulary instruction • Direct, explicit comprehension strategy instruction • Discussion of text meaning & interpretation • Increase student motivation & engagement in literacy learning • Qualified specialists for intensive, individualized interventions

COI Recommendations • Explicit instruction and practice to use comprehension strategies • Increase the amount and quality of open, sustained discussion of content • Set high standards for text, conversation, questions, and vocabulary • Increase students’ motivation and engagement with reading and knowledge engagement • Teach essential content knowledge and critical concepts

The key role of fidelity

Positive student outcomes are dependent upon • Fidelity of implementation of process (at the school level) • Degree to which interventions are empirically supported • Fidelity of intervention implementation (at teacher level) (Pierangelo & Giulia, 2008)

Fidelity Model 5 Elements of Fidelity Dane & Schneider, 1998; Greshem et. , al. , 1993; O’Donnell, 2008

Adherence • How well do you “stick to the plan” • How well do you provide interventions as intended? – Example: Student Responsiveness Adherence Program Differentiation Exposure Quality of Delivery • Core: Following the progress monitoring procedure • Supplemental and Intensive: Making sure all pieces of the intervention have been implemented as intended

Duration/Exposure • How often a student receives an intervention • How long an intervention lasts – Example (in elementary schools): Student Responsiveness Adherence Program Differentiation Quality of Delivery • Core: Providing 90 minutes of reading instruction five days a week • Supplemental: Progress monitoring every Exposure two weeks for academics. Exposure

Quality of Delivery • How well was the intervention or instruction delivered? • Good teaching practice – Examples: Student Responsiveness Adherence Program Differentiation Exposure Quality of Delivery • National Board for Professional Teaching Standards • Teacher enthusiasm • Time for student questions and feedback • Effective management of student groups and transitions

Program fferentiati on Program Differentiation • How well do you differentiate one intervention from another? • Not inserting • Staying true to the intervention and not drifting away from the core elements. Student Responsiveness Adherence Exposure Quality of Delivery

Student Responsiveness Student Responsiv eness Adherence Program Differentiation Exposure Quality of Delivery • How engaged are the students in this intervention or activity? • Student engagement and involvement in the intervention or instructional activities – Examples: • Amount of time students spend on task • Levels of enthusiasm for activity • Extent students feel they learned what was expected

#4 What leadership behaviors and mechanisms promote literacy

Questions to Consider… • Do we have a culture of encouragement? • Is there a shared sense of purpose? • Is there a deep commitment to each of us improving our craft? • How transparent is our instruction? • Is there a culture of individual and group accountability? • What characterizes our interactions with each other?

This is what we want in terms of instruction!

Observation of Teacher Practice Study 1. Lecture/read 2. Give directions 3. Listening 4. Ask questions 5. Monitor 6. Model 7. Verbal rehearsal 8. Simple enhancer 9. Advance organizer 10. Role Play 11. Content Enhancement (complex) 12. Elaborated Feedback 13. Write on board 14. Describe skill/strategy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1. 1. Lecture/read 2. 2. Give directions 3. 3. Listening 4. 4. Ask question 5. 5. Monitor 6. 6. Model 7. 7. Verbal rehearsal 8. 8. Simple enhancer 9. 9. Advance organizer 10. Role Play 11. Content Enhancement (complex) 12. Elaborated Feedback 13. Write on board 14. Describe skill/strategy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Active Literacy Leadership Teams

Fluid Movement Across Services CONTENT CLASSES Level 1. Enhanced Content Instruction Level 2. Embedded Strategy Instruction Level 3. Intensive Strategy Instruction • strategy classes • SES (strategic tutoring) Improved Literacy Outcomes Level 5. Therapeutic Intervention Foundational language competencies KU-CRL M. Hock, 2004 Level 4. Intensive Basic Skill Instruction

Disciplinary Literacy Intermediate Literacy Basic Literacy Shanahan & Shanahan (2008)

Basic Literacy Basic decoding skills, understanding various print and literacy conventions (print versus illustrations), recognition of high frequency words, some basic fluency routines – Mastered in primary grades.

Intermediate Literacy More sophisticated routines and responses…. Read multisyllabic words quickly and easily, respond with low frequency words with some automaticity. Generic comprehension strategies, cognitive endurance, monitor comprehension, mostly by end of middle school.

Disciplinary Literacy More specialized reading routines and strategies -powerful for specific situations but not necessarily generalizable.

Disciplinary Literacy “The disciplinary experts approached reading in a very different ways. We are convinced that the nature of the disciplines is something that must be communicated to adolescents, along with the ways in which experts approach the reading of text. Students’ text comprehension benefits when students learn to approach different texts with different lenses. ” Shanahan & Shanahan (2008)