Kara Bowles, Heather Hargrave, Kaitlyn Lee,
and Mackenzie Saunders
EDUC 645
Rustburg Overview
•Rustburg is located in Campbell County. It is
a rural county, around 504 square miles,
housing 55,163 people (United, 2012).
•The population is predominantly white,
about 83%. The other races are estimated at
14% black, 1% Asian, and about 2% Hispanic
(2012).
(Murphy, Location of Campbell County, VA)
Graduation Rates
•The poverty rate for years 2007-2011, was
13.7% (United, 2012).
•For the county’s high school diploma rate
through those same years was 82.6% (2012).
•Only 16.1% of people held a bachelor’s
degree from the years 2007-2011 (2012).
Rustburg Middle School Demographics
6th grade: 213 students
7th grade: 230 students
8th grade: 217 students (Virginia, 2013).
•We focused on grade 7 (187 Caucasians, 28 African
Americans, 3 Asians) (2013).
•61% Caucasians, 50% African Americans, and 100% of
Asians passed the 2013 Spring SOL (2013).
•The school does not have a Reading Specialist. There
are Smart boards present in the school, for the first time
this year (and for the entire county) but only in the
MATH classrooms.
Campbell County School District
Rustburg Middle School is
number 10 on the map.
(Campbell County Public Schools, Map of Campbell County
Schools)
Section 1: Literacy Need
•The Literacy need for Rustburg Middle School was
determined from the Reading, Non-writing, SOL. The
students needed the most help in demonstrating
comprehension of nonfiction texts.
•On the SOL, 14 questions were answered correctly by less
than 70% of students.
•Remaining 6 questions were answered correctly by more
than 70% of students.
(This information came directly from the 2013 Spring SOL SPBQs)
So what was our area of FOCUS?
-Places that indicated extreme deficits in
comprehension nonfiction were:
-drawing conclusions based on explicit
information
-summarizing informational texts
-identifying organization structure
-analyze author’s use of text structure
Spring 2012 SRBQ SOL Data
Section 2: Possible Solutions
1.
Achieve 3000: KidBiz3000 and TeenBiz3000
http://www.achieve3000.com/about-achieve3000
2. Voyager Expanded Learning
http://www.voyagerlearning.com/
3. ReadWorks.Org
http://www.readworks.org/
4. Reading Quest
http://www.readingquest.org/
5. Making Meaning
http://www.devstu.org/making-meaning
6. AMP Reading System- Pearson
http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZu68&PMDbSiteId
=2781&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId&PMDbCategoryId=3
289&PMDbSubCategoryId=24806&PMDbSubjectAreaId&PMDbProgramId=
27098
Achieve 3000: KidBiz3000 and
TeenBiz3000
• Web-based literacy program in vocabulary,
comprehension, fluency, and writing for
students in grades 2-12.
•KidBiz3000 grades 2-5
•TeenBiz3000 grades 6-12
•Pre-test is given when students first log in
(Achieve, 2013).
Voyager Expanded Learning
•50 minute reading intervention system
•DVD’s are used with teen hosts
•Uses high interest topics, such as forensics,
to keep students motivated (Voyager,
2013).
ReadWorks.org
•Aligned with Common Core and state standards
•Gives teachers the research-proven tools and
support
•Provides lessons, research-based units, leveled
non-fiction passages for free (ReadWorks, 2013).
Reading Quest
•Builds fluency in reading and writing
•Books are written at or below level
•Maintains close topic correlation to social studies and
science
•Has student handbooks for students to use before,
during, and after reading.
•Program supports research-based instructional
practices (Reading, 2012).
Making Meaning
•Aligns with Common Core Standards
•Designed to be in read-aloud/shared reading forms
•Teaches how to comprehend and addresses the need of
comprehension in nonfiction text by:
•reading a variety of high-quality texts and genres
•read for key ideas, details, craft, and structure
•synthesize, evaluate, and conduct analysis of text
•refer to text to support thinking
•Focuses on social and academic development as well as being
responsible for their own education (Making, 2013).
AMP Reading System--Pearson
•Comprehensive research-based reading intervention program for middle
and high school students
•Designed primarily for students reading at the third-to-sixth grade reading
level
•AMP system comes with:
-student guides
-Phonics Masters books
-Assessment Masters (progress monitoring)
-teacher’s editions
-professional development DVDs
-PowerStart training CD
-Customized Reading Strategies
-Play Away Device
-AMP library books
-Online CD for AMP reading library (AMP, 2008).
Section 3: Solution
AMP Reading System—Pearson
Description: AMP is a three part system which includes
instruction on reading comprehension strategies taught in
isolation one at a time. In addition to teaching one reading
comprehension strategy at a time (over a three to six week
period), the program provides teacher modeling and direct
instruction in fluency, and presents eight new vocabulary
words (those often encountered frequently in middle and
high school texts) at the beginning of each lesson. This
program is primarily designed for middle or high schools
students reading at the third-to-sixth grade reading level
(AMP, 2008).
Justification
•We chose this solution because this program allows help
with the biggest gap in understanding on the Student
Performance by Question from 2012-2013 English nonreading SOLs, which was comprehension of nonfiction
text.
•“The AMP Library Books provide daily opportunity for
high-interest reading at students’ independent reading
levels with 85% nonfiction topics selected by polling
secondary students (AMP, 2008).”
Methods, Materials, Techniques, and
Strategies needed to implement
• Strategies that are provided in the instruction to enhance
students reading abilities include:
•setting goals for students
•engaging activities
•vocabulary enhancement/study
•independent reading
•guided practice
•evaluating their learning
•Embedded assessments (AMP, 2008).
Materials needed per classroom:
•2 Consumable Student Guides per Student (Volume 1 & Volume 2)
•2 Teacher's Editions (Volume 1 & Volume 2)
• Student Novels (1 of each of the 7 titles) per Student
•1 Assessment Masters
•1 Phonics Masters (Levels 1 & 2 only)
•1 of each Customized Reading Strategies (Social Studies, Math,
Science, Language Arts)
• 1 PowerStart CD-ROM (AMP, 2008).
Implementation Process
1) Start by teaching the program to the English teachers in the seventh
grade prior to school beginning.
2) Test all the students first to see what their reading levels are.
3) Reference the AMP reading level. **There are three reading levels
according to the AMP Reading System (2008). Level 1 is for grades 3-4,
level 2 is for grades 4-5, and level 3 is for grades 5-6.
4) Following summer or winter break, we would hold a professional
development day (or two) to teach content area teachers (in the seventh
grade) how to use the program and how to implement AMP across the
curriculum.
5) The next year we would start professional development, over the
summer, to the sixth and eighth grade English teachers.
6) Following winter break, we would provide professional development to
the rest of the content area teachers in sixth and eighth grades
Section 4: Professional Development
Plan
Professional Development Books
•No books were listed due to the online and onsite professional development options.
• Instead, there are on-the-site workshops, and
job-embedded coaching and modeling sessions
(AMP, 2008).
Training of Instructional Personnel
•The training for AMP has a choice between onsite Professional Development or online
Professional Development, helping to ease
administrative, reading officials, and teachers’
concerns about the commute distance and cost.
•Website link:
http://www.mypearsontraining.com/.
Motivation for Change--How we will
get the staff to buy into this change?
•Arrange a meeting with the 7th grade teachers, discuss
the data we used to determine the literacy need (SRBQ
from Spring SOL), explain the AMP reading program and
how it could benefit the students’ literacy needs, and
provide incentive options for teachers and students
when meeting goals or growth in reading levels (could
be prizes of any kind, certificates, books, etc.)
Description of our role in the
process--how will we support the
teachers both short and long term?
• As the persons whom suggested and is implementing the plan across the
seventh grade, we will Inform, justify, model, and assist teachers with
whatever they may need assistance or clarification with, ranging from how
to pre and post assess, progress monitor, or even how to conduct a small or
whole group lesson using the AMP Reading Program.
• Short term– we will help implement the plan step by step (through
meetings and Professional Development days) and to use the data from
assessments and progress monitoring to guide instruction
•Long term—we will assist teachers in mapping out the process, and
figuring out long term goals for students. In addition to these roles, we will
be a resource for teachers both in and outside of the classroom.
Section 5: Timeline for Implementation
Timeline of Hypothetical Dates:
Date
Early August 2014
Implementation Process
Winter Break (December)
2014
Professional Development Day 1 (7th Grade English
Teachers)
Professional Development Day 2 (7th Grade English
Teachers)
Professional Development Day 1 (Content Area 7th Grade
Teachers)
Winter Break (December)
2014
Professional Development Day 2 (Content Area 7th Grade
Teachers)
Following August 2015
Following Winter Break
(December) 2015
Professional Development Day 1 (6th and 8th Grade English
Teachers)
Professional Development Day 2 (6th and 8th Grade English
Teachers)
Professional Development Day 1 (Content Area 6th and 8th
Grade English Teachers)
Following Winter Break
(December) 2015
Professional Development Day 2 (Content Area 6th and 8th
Grade English Teachers)
Early August 2014
Following August 2015
How and how often will we monitor
the implementation and success of
the plan?
•Bi-weekly faculty meetings and by using embedded
assessments in the program to guide teacher’s
instruction.
•At the meetings, the short term goals we will
reviewed, and progress towards those goals will be
determined by viewing the data gathered from
teachers over the past weeks.
Include and adjustment to the
hypothetical problem that will occur
during implementation.
•Hypothetical problem-- teachers, SPED, Principal,
and/or Reading Specialist would not be able to meet
bi-weekly to discuss the progress.
• Adjustment: hold online Discussion Boards which can
be accessed on any school-issued computer, which
teachers could complete at home or at school.)
References
Achieve 3000: KidBiz3000 and TeenBiz3000 (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.achieve3000.com/about-achieve3000.
AMP Reading System (2008). Pearson Instruction Resources: AMP Reading System.
Retrieved from
http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZu68&PMDbSiteId=278
1&PMDbSolutionId=6724&PMDbSubSolutionId=&PMDbCategoryId=3289&PMD
bSubCategoryId=24806&PMDbSubjectAreaId=&PMDbProgramId=27098.
Campbell County Public Schools. (Designer). Map of Campbell County
Schools [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from
http://www.campbell.k12.va.us/index.aspx?page=5.
Making Meaning (2013). Retrieved from http://www.devstu.org/makingmeaning.
Murphy, N. (Photographer). (2010, Feb 15). Location of Campbell County,
VA [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/File:Location_of_Campbell_
County,_Virginia.png.
Reading Quest (2012). Retrieved from http://www.readingquest.org/.
ReadWorks.Org (2013). Retrieved from http://www.readworks.org/.
United States Census Bureau (2012). Campbell County, Virginia. Retrieved
from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51031.html.
Virginia Department of Education (2013). Rustburg Middle. Retrieved from
https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard/report.do?division=16&sc
hoolName=6398
Voyager Expanded Learning (2013). Retrieved from
http://www.voyagerlearning.com/.