Know Every Child to Teach Every Child:
Vulnerable Children Becoming Thriving
Primary Readers –
An Intervention Success Story in SD 23:
Clara Sulz, Director of Instruction
Donna Kozak, Early Learning and
Literacy Coordinator
School District No. 23 – Central
Okanagan, Kelowna, BC,
When Vulnerable Readers ThriveDreams Come True,
Vancouver, October 7 & 8, 2013
SD No. 23 (Central Okanagan)
K-3 Early Learning Profile
√ Knowing What They Know
√ Knowing What They Need
√ Knowing What We Need to Teach
• In-depth summary of our
“12 years of Innovation in
Student Literacy Growth”,
• An Early Learning (Birth to 8)
Program Review –
Vulnerable Children
Becoming Thriving Primary
Readers
• Program Review by Dr. Janet Mort,
(August, 2012)
Why does our district focus on the at-risk
learner in the early years?
• One of the most compelling findings from recent
reading research is that children who get off to a
poor start in reading rarely catch up.
• The poor 1st grade reader almost invariably
continues to be a poor reader.
• We realize the sense of urgency that exists for
young learners and have an early identification
system in place to support their development.
(Francis, Shaywitz, Stuebing, Shaywitz & Fletcher, 1996; Torgenson& Burgess, 1998)
We understand where to begin…
√Knowing What They Know
√ Knowing What They Need
√ Knowing What We Need to Teach
• At-Risk students are those who begin school
with less verbal skills, less phonological
awareness skills, less letter knowledge and
less familiarity with the basic purpose and
mechanics of reading.
(Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, Snow, et.al., 1998)
The place to start is not with
the curriculum, but with the
child.
Anne McGill-Franzen, 2006
THE HIGHWAY TO LITERACY…..
Phonological Awareness
Alphabetic Principle
Word Recognition
World Knowledge
Letter-Sound
Knowledge
Understanding of
Genre
Ten minutes that may change a life.
(Know the child to teach the child).
To know one child is to know all children
better. (Anne McGill-Franzen, 2006)
Connections
Pause,
reflect,
and
connect…
THE UNSETTLING TRUTH
Students who don’t learn to read by grade 3
have a 75% chance
of never acquiring
the necessary skills
to become literate
and successfully
graduate from high
school.
 It is a tragedy of the first order that while we
know clearly the costs of waiting too long, few
school districts have in place a mechanism to
identify and help children before failure takes hold.
$$
Indeed, in the majority of cases, there is no
systematic identification until 3rd grade, by which
time successful remediation is more difficult and
typically too costly to effectively implement.
(Torgenson, 1998)
District Level Collection of Year End Early
Learning Profile (ELP) Data in SD No. 23
• All primary teachers submit the student’s year-end
ELP to the district director who oversees literacy
and early learning.
• The data is collated and returned to the schools in
September with grade level summaries identifying
students who have determined to be “at-risk” in
one or more of the Profile’s assessments.
Five Year Trend 2012 - 2013
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
K
1
2005/206 to 2008/2009
2006/2007 to 2008/2009
2008/2009 to 2011/2012
2009/2010 to 2012/2013
K
2005/2006 to 2008/2009
2006/2007 to 2009/2010
2007/2008 to 2010/2011
2008/2009 to 2011/2012
2009/2010 to 2012/2013
2011 – 2012 Data
2012 – 2013 Data
2
22% = 252/1143
24% = 272/1134
20% = 236/1181
22% = 260/1181
20% = 240/1201
17% = 208/1226
12% = 155/1289
3
2007/2008 to 2010/2011
1
2
23% = 262/1226
26% = 314/1208
30% = 358/1193
23% = 285/1238
24% = 297/1239
15% = 196/1308
17% = 212/1249
17% = 208/1226
16% = 206/1288
17% = 216/1226
16% = 212/1324
15% = 195/1297
12% = 154/1282
11% = 143/1296
11% = 140/1271
17% = 216/1268
14% = 171/1219
11% = 143/1296
11% = 140/1271
23% = 275/1196
23% = 285/1237
3
Why use data to track student
progress in early literacy learning?
• The benchmarks and standards provide:
• invaluable guidance to school personnel,
curriculum planners and district decision-makers…
…for purposes including designing and
evaluating intervention efforts,
• monitoring progress over time against a
constant standard,
• and developing more sensitive and informative
assessments.
(Snow, et. al, 1998)
Connections
Pause,
reflect,
and
connect…
A Crucial Window of
Opportunity Exists from K-2
Pre-K - K
Grade One
Grade Two
Kindergarten
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
122
129
118
81
72
73
4%
2%
0%
Phonological
L. Receptive
L. Expressive
L. Social
12 % At-Risk = 155/1289
Letter Recog Concepts Print
Grade 1
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
120
112
114
116
182
126
86
105
68
26
0%
23 % At-Risk = 285/1237
Grade 2
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
89
2%
0%
85
85
135
59
5
14% At-Risk = 171/1219
44
60
42
Grade 3
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
54
2
44
45
59
74
0%
11% At-Risk = 140/1271
32
59
50
SD No. 23 Early Literacy (K-3)
Profile Items:
1. Oral language:
• expressive,
• receptive,
• phonological awareness
2. Alphabet recognition
3. Concepts of print = print & text awareness
4. Developmental Spelling & Writing sample
5. Word Recognition
• Identification is only the beginning. Effective and
intensive intervention must be offered immediately.
(Hall, 2008)
• Teachers need to understand the knowledge base and
make it part of their schema of teaching.
• They need to understand the theory and the rationale
for the new content or practice. (Learning First Alliance, 2000)
What? So What? Now What?
• Need to focus on classroom instruction as the
centerpiece of literacy learning (Tier 1)
• In SD 23 in-service has been focused on building
the capacity of the classroom teacher in the
area of literacy for the past 12 years.
• If resources are provided
to teachers, professional
development must also
accompany them.
• Professional development
that develops teachers’
expertise in early literacy
matters much more than
just materials alone.
(McGill-Franzen, 2006)
1. Teachers must know their students in
order to teach them well.
2. The impact of the teacher is the single-most
powerful variable in effect on student literacy
achievement.
3. In designing promising literacy success for all
students, far more attention must be paid to
ensuring every teacher is an expert in reading
instruction. (Allington, 2009)
• Literacy instruction that is not based on careful
observation of individual development will not
help all children gain the ground they need to
reach their potential.
• Children learn to read and write successfully if
their teachers accommodate their instruction to
the children’s individual needs. If they do not,
children will struggle.
(McGill-Franzen, 2006)
Connections
Pause,
reflect,
and
connect…
The 3 Tiers of Instruction and Intervention
“Response to Instruction/Intervention or RTII”
•Teaching to diversity through the
Tier model
•Universal early screening to inform
instruction
•Just-right and timely EARLY
interventions based on current
research of best practice
•Student needs drive planning
Pyramid of Intervention
Tier 3: Intensive, Individual
Interventions
Typically Designated Students
Tier 2: Targeted Group
Interventions
Targets small groups of students
(at-risk)
High probability interventions
Increased time and/or focus
More frequent progress
monitoring
Tier 1: Universal Interventions
Targets all students
Universal screenings
Preventive, proactive
1-5%
10-15% will require
more instruction &
practice.
80-90% of students
will learn through
effective classroom
instruction.
The Three Tiers of Instruction and Intervention for
Literacy Learning
•Sense of urgency exists at the
school level regarding catching
the at-risk learners during the
“Window of Literacy Learning
Opportunity”
K – 3 Early Literacy Profile
•School-wide planning reflects
this sense of urgency
What Really Matters for Struggling Readers,
Allington, 2012
• Instructional support programs must work to enhance
the likelihood that participating students receive larger
amounts of appropriate instruction across the school
day.
• Students need appropriate texts in their hands all day
long, not just in support programs.
• Schools must enhance classroom instruction so that
the number of struggling readers is minimized and then
put into place an organizational strategy that ensures
effective and timely intervention.
Classroom Teachers Must Become Experts of
Teaching Reading And Writing
• If instructional expertise available in any
school does not improve the classroom
instruction, then it is typically uneconomical.
• We do not need experts who just fix kids and
return them to ineffective or inefficient
classrooms.
• Sending a “fixed” student back into broken
classrooms just means that the student will
likely need fixing again.
Allington, 2012
Focusing on developing the instructional
expertise of teachers
• Too many reform efforts have targeted
peripheral issues like curriculum frameworks
or instructional materials which may have
some impact on teaching, but do not develop
instructional expertise.
• Most teachers seem to teach as best as they
know how. Some are teaching in the way they
were taught.
Allington, 2007
The Continual Spiral of
Building Teacher Capacity
• SD No. 23 in-service has continually been focused on
building the capacity of the classroom teacher in the area
of early literacy for the past 12 years.
1. ELP training every September for new teachers (2002 –
2013) Resources provided:
2. ECE/K summer institutes (2008 – 2013)
– Dr. Janet Mort – Celebrating ECEs!
– Dr. Susan Bennett-Armistead
– Bev Bos
http://www.turnthepage.com/servlet/StoreFront
– Dr. Jean Feldman
http://www.drjean.org/
- Dr. Kim Schonert-Reichl – Social Emotional
Development
3. First Friday in September
• Kindergarten Teacher full day sessions (20102013)
1. Oral language
2. Make and Take Mini Sessions offered by K Teachers
3. Explorations with 4 follow-up sessions
4. Read, Write, Play, Learn (Lori Jamison Rog)
4. Book Clubs for ECE, K and Gr. 1 Teachers
 Learning to Write and Loving It,
Miriam Trehearne
 Read, Write, Play, Learn, Lori Jamison Rog
& (Sept. 6, 2013 for all K teachers)
5. K-1 Learning Community and Inquiry Group
“The Daily 5 in the K-1 Classroom”
District Literacy Focus (2010-13)
• Daily 5 and CAFÉ by Boushey and Moser
• Words Their Way, Bear and Templeton
• 6+1 Traits, Culham and Spandel
• Literature Circles
• Books and letter manipulatives for all K and K-1 Classrooms
• Letter and Sound Time Kit, Road to Reading Kit, primary PM
leveled book collections for each school
Early Learning For Families
- ELFF
• Ready, Set, Learn
• Locally written – 6 themes – alphabet,
numbers, singing, talking, playing and feelings.
• Each elementary school facilitates at least one
session per year.
Collaborative Model of Support –
10 Literacy Support Teacher Sessions over 2 Years
• RTI – creating a common language and understanding around the
3 Tiers of Intervention for Literacy – translation of theory to
practice
• Specific training in reading assessment including the ELP.
• Case study approach to learn about how to meet the needs of
diverse learners in reading.
• Effective Instructional strategies that transcend all tiers.
• Understanding the literacy support teacher roles (teacher,
collaborator, coordinator, resource)
Plan A: Submitted to the Ministry July 2012
SD 23 K – 3 Early Reading Plan for 2012 – 2013
Board Motion: “…Develop a new collaborative Model of
Support that includes the investigation of differentiated
interventions strategies to meet the needs of all vulnerable
students in all elementary schools.”
Our District has been focusing on "Changing the Results for
Young Readers" for the past 12 years.
(2012-2013 Approximately – $1,948,000 allocated to support the
District’s initiative to meet the needs of vulnerable students)
Sampling of 26/30 Elementary School Spring Reading Intervention Results
(4/30 reported using alternate measures).
*Tier 2 Intervention January – April,
2013
Pre – Intervention
Post-Intervention
PM Levels 0 - 19
PM Levels 1 - 23
Average growth = 8.5 PM Benchmark levels
*Tier 2 Intervention September,
2012- March, 2013
Pre - Intervention
Post - Intervention
PM Levels 1 - 16
PM Levels 6 - 26
Average growth = 9 PM Benchmark levels
*Tier 2 Intervention September,
2012- March, 2013
Pre – Intervention
Post - Intervention
PM Levels 4 - 22
PM Levels 12 - 30
Average growth = 7.3 PM Benchmark levels
SD No. 23 - K – 3 Early Reading Plan (12-13)
*Tier 2 Strategies - most commonly cited to least:
1. Team teaching, co-teaching with support teacher and classroom
teacher – fluid combination of in class and pull out dependent on
students' changing learning needs. (50%)
2. Pull out leveled intervention groups facilitated by support teachers.
(Group size from 1 – 5). (36%)
3. 'Early Learning Profile' skill specific groups. (30%)
4. Before and after school supervised reading activities. (26%)
5.
Cross-grade leveled guided reading groups or platooning. (23%)
5.
Home reading programs. (17%)
Literacy Focused Instructional Approaches that Foster
Differentiation and Inclusion of All Learners
2012-2013 School Case Study Results
6+1 Writing Traits
47% - Cited in 14 school stories.
Words Their Way Word Study
43% - Cited in 13 school stories.
Guided Reading Groups using leveled text
37% - Cited in 11 school stories.
Leveled Reading Book Bins – Classroom - based 33% - Cited in 10 school stories.
Daily 5 Classroom Structure
33% - Cited in 10 school stories.
Literature Circles
20% - Cited in 6 school stories.
Investment in Classroom Teachers Who
Can Teach Reading Effectively
• Researchers now suggest that the most
promising solution to creating successful
schools is to focus primarily on enhancing the
expertise of classroom teachers.
• Individual teacher effects on student learning
are larger than school effects.
(Allington, 2007)
• In order to create schools where all children
learn to read and write, school districts must
develop plans that support and sustain the
development of teacher expertise and
effectiveness.
• Changes in classrooms matter most – good
schools are collections of good classrooms.
Allington, 2007
6 Culture Shifts in School Change
When Students Fail to Learn – Protocols for a Schoolwide Response
Catherine Glaude, Ph.D., 2011
1. From individual teachers determining their
responses when students fail to learn……
..........to a school wide response that guarantees
each student will receive timely support to
become proficient.
2. From teacher-determined assessments used to
identify which students meet or fail to meet
learning expectations ………
…….. To a combination of common schoolwide and subject-area assessments along with
teacher informal assessments.
3. From remediation after learning……
……. To just-in time interventions when a
student begins to demonstrate challenges in
learning.
4. From privatization of practice………
…….. To sharing and exchanging of results,
practices, and resources.
5. From reporting each student’s progress halfway or at the end of a marking period……
……. To ongoing monitoring and communication
of progress that each student makes.
6. From “my” and “your” students…..
……. To “our” students.
The National Strategy for Early
Literacy in Canada 2009
• Most literacy challenges can be prevented
through an appropriate mix of:
• 1) effective instruction;
• 2) early learning experiences;
• 3) systematic assessments to identify any
children who experience difficulty at an early
age; and,
• 4) appropriate intervention." (p.6)
1. Catch them before they fall. We must
know our students to teach them.
2. Be aware of resource challenges
including teacher knowledge, attitude and
belief.
3. Letting the data speak for itself.
Student success stories shift thinking.
4. Persistence at not allowing obstacles to
prevent the ultimate goal of maximizing
literacy success for all students.
“Literacy is not
something you add to
an already
overcrowded plate;
literacy is the plate.”
Irvin, J., Meltzer, J, and Dukes, M. (2007)
Taking the lead on adolescent literacy.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.
Our Commitment is to….
Know Each Child To Teach Each Child