Running Head: PMS LITERACY PLAN

Literacy Plan

Fall 2013

EDUC 645

Longwood University

Completed by:

Beth Fortune & Dawn Cooper

PMS LITERACY PLAN 2

Section 1: Literacy Need

The literacy plan that was devised was created for Pocahontas Middle School, located in

central Virginia in Powhatan, County. Powhatan is a rural location, within 20-30 minutes of the

urban area of Downtown Richmond which is the capital city of Virginia.

Pocahontas Middle School (PMS) could be considered a non-traditional middle school in

the aspect that it is comprised of only 5th and 6th grade due to facility usage. When looking at

PMS, we can break the student demographics down into the following:

The Virginia Department of Education reports that for the 2012 – 2013 school year,

Powhatan County overall had 14.83% (640 pupils) of the students eligible for free lunch, with 93

or 14.3% of these students at PMS. At the county level, Powhatan County reports that 3.94%

(170) students were eligible for reduced lunch, with 39 or 5.88% of the students at the middle

school.

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Pocahontas Middle School has a PTR ratio of 24.1:1 in the 5th grade level and 24.7:1 in

the 6th grade level. Continuing teacher education is encouraged and there is a limited budget to

pay for classes that teachers may want to have reimbursed if they wish to go through the

reimbursement process. At the school level, 38% of the teachers at PMS have Bachelor Degrees,

60% have Master Degrees and 2% have a Doctorate. At the county level, 49% have Bachelor

Degrees, 49% Master Degrees, and 1% Doctorates. Each “elementary” school has a reading

specialist.

Within Pocahontas Middle School, you will find:

- a library for student and teacher use,

- administration that consists of one principal and one assistant principal,

- smart boards for teacher checkout,

- teacher created classroom libraries,

- ebeams available in some classrooms,

- reading specialist who maintains a literacy room,

- DEAR classroom sets of books in every core classroom,

- classroom sets of mobile laptops (2), and

- computer labs available for classroom use (4).

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Many of the tools listed above are included for the purpose of enhanced language arts instruction

and collaboration.

Based on Spring 2013 Non-Writing SOL scores for 6th grade, it is showing that drawing

conclusions is a weakness in the reading content area; specifically in nonfiction texts. This area

needs marked improvement if students are going to have adequate comprehension when working

with nonfiction texts.

When looking at the Spring 2013 Non-Writing SOL SPBQ, or Student Performance By

Question, on the 6th grade reading summary report for Pocahontas Middle School, we can see

that 322 students are included in the assessment summary. In Core 1, in the Reporting Category

of demonstrating comprehension of nonfiction texts, we see the two lowest percentages for 6th

grade for two question descriptors are the same: Draw conclusions based on information stated

in a text.

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Only 41.5% of the 322 students tested showed proficiency in the ability to draw

conclusions based on information stated in a text when demonstrating comprehension in the area

of nonfiction texts. There were two questions directed towards this skill. The number of

students answering both of these questions correctly, or rather showing proficiency, is

substantially lower than the other questions in the nonfiction texts reporting category. The

overall mean average for the number of students able to show this proficiency was 41.5%, drawn

out as a mean average from 43% and 40% respectively for the two questions in the nonfiction

text reporting category. This shows proficiency in only 58.5% of the students.

The next closest percentage for any given type of question was 59% and that was when

students were asked to identify which section of text would include specific added information.

When analyzing the descriptions of the questions, 7 of the 14 questions were scored in the 80-

90% range; so over half of the questions in the nonfiction text reporting category were in a range

that was substantially higher. Students will need sufficient remediation in the ability to infer

information when utilizing nonfiction texts to be able to draw conclusions at a higher percentage

of success for a given text.

Section 2: Possible Solutions

As stated in Section 1, an area of weakness shown in the 2013 Spring Non- Writing SOL

for 6th graders at PMS was drawing conclusions in nonfiction text. In order to find a solution to

help our students, we looked at programs and resources which had strong comprehension

components. We found three formal programs and one set of reproducible books.

One formal program is Success For All. It targets grades 1-6 and uses whole group, small

group, partner and independent strategies. It provides direct instruction,

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cooperative learning and independent practice. The comprehension component uses direct skills

instruction developed exclusively for the SFA program. The instruction uses modeling and is

sequenced using a variety of text materials. The activation of background knowledge and guided

questioning by the teacher in cooperative and guided reading settings is how this program

operates. There is also an emphasis on the writing process as it is integrated into the language

arts curriculum. The estimated cost for the program including extensive training is

approximately $70,000 – 85,000 for about 500 students in grades K-5

The second program we found is Soar to Success which is and intermediate intervention

program aimed at grades 3-8. This program is published by Houghton Mifflin School Division.

It emphasizes the use of small groups of about 5-7 students. It is meant to supplement a

balanced literacy program by assisting those students who are struggling.

The focus is reciprocal teaching and graphic organizers. The comprehension

component of this program is based on a cognitive apprenticeship model

where the students and teacher are active in creating comprehension

strategies from the start. As the students skills become stronger, the teacher slowly pulls away

allowing the students to gain more control of their learning. One requirement of this program is

a space for a teacher and 5-7 students to work.

Invitations to Literacy is the third solution we found. This approach is for grades K - 6

where students work in whole class, small group, partner and individual activities which focus on

integrating instruction in decoding and comprehension. The basal reader is used for instruction

in this Houghton- Mifflin program. The comprehension part of the Invitations to Literacy

program builds upon itself from grades K to 6. It builds background knowledge prior to reading

so students can work through the text by questioning and provides response strategies after

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reading. The costs vary depending on the amount of materials purchased, however are

comparable to similar programs.

The fourth solution is using the CARS (Comprehensive Assessment of

Reading Strategies) and STARS (Strategies to Achieve Reading Success) book collection by

Curriculum Associates. It is for grades K- 8. The STARS books for the intermediate grades

contain lessons which build upon each other focusing on specific comprehension skills.

Therefore teachers could pinpoint weak strategies, using the CARS portion of the program and

remediate those skills with the lessons. Drawing conclusions, which was the weakness shown by

our data, is one of those specific skills targeted in this set. The cost of this is about $5.95 per

teacher guide and $39.90 for a set of 10 student books.

The first three programs build upon each other in grades K-6 and in order to be

beneficial, need to be implemented in all these grades. This would be much more costly and

would involve all the elementary schools as well as our middle school. The last solution could

be implemented just at the grade level where there is a need, in this case, the 6th grade.

Therefore, the cost would be less and only involve a smaller group of teachers. There is not any

formal training needed either.

Section 3: Solution

After researching all possible solutions for our need,

to improve inferencing and drawing conclusions while

reading, we decided that implementing the CARS and STARS program from Curriculum

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Associates best met the needs of the sixth grade students. While several of the options addressed

comprehension strategies, this one had materials pinpointing the specific skills of inferencing

and drawing conclusions which 58.5% of the 6th graders did not master on the 2012 Spring

Nonwriting SOL. At the same time, the other options are formal programs which begin in the

elementary grades with skills building each year. Therefore these products would need to be

purchased for several grade levels, and in our situation, three other schools, not just the sixth

graders. This would be more costly and difficult to implement. The CARS and STARS can be

purchased specifically for sixth grade. Only the sixth grade teachers and special education

faculty would need to be trained. However, we would recommend purchasing both the fifth and

sixth grade portions. This would allow more time to address the weaknesses targeted by the

2012 Spring SOL.

Curriculum Associates publishes the CARS (Comprehensive Assessment of Reading

Strategies) series so educators can target areas of strength and weakness in their students. The

CARS contains 5 Pretests, Benchmarks and Post Tests as well as answer keys, answer forms and

a student self- assessment. The reading passages at the fifth and sixth grade level are nonfiction.

These passages closely mirror the ones used on our state assessments at the end of the year,

allowing students to become familiar with the expectations on the SOLs.

The STARS (Strategies to Achieve Reading Success) portion of the program contains

lessons targeting twelve comprehension skills. These skills include finding the main idea,

recalling facts and details, understanding sequence, recognizing cause and effect, comparing and

contrasting, making predictions, finding word meaning in context, drawing conclusions and

making inferences, distinguishing between fact and opinion, identifying author’s purpose,

interpreting figurative language and summarizing. Each skill contains 5 parts which breaks down

the skill into smaller, more manageable parts. There are text selections to read and questions to

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answer with guidance from the teacher, giving step by step instructions on how to master each

comprehension strategy. There is a section for each skill that focuses on test taking strategies as

well if your students needed this. Curriculum Associates uses graphic organizers, and nonfiction

text features with instruction.

The fact that all twelve strategies are addressed makes this a flexible program because it

can be used no matter what weaknesses the students show on an assessment. The specific skill

can also be targeted without necessarily going through all the sections if they are not needed. So

grouping could be fluid.

This program also comes with teacher guides offering information and support. There is

modeling for the teacher, so they know how to use a strategy. This could also be used in a

content area classroom, where a teacher might not feel as comfortable teaching reading

strategies. But, research shows that all teachers should be teaching reading, not just in reading

class.

We do not have many ELL or ESL students at this time. However, this program

addresses this if our population should change.

The cost of the CARS and STARS books is also another reason we chose this as our

solution. A teacher’s guide for CARS is $5.95, while a 10-pack of student books is $39.90. The

STARS teacher’s guides and student books are both $9.95 each. This is very economical

considering what you are getting for your money. You can reproduce the pages, so they can be

used year after year. There is little to no cost of training for this program either.

We would recommend implementing the program in fifth grade the first year. Then,

those same students could participate in it the second year with a set of sixth grade materials.

This would give them two years to receive instruction focusing on their specific comprehension

weaknesses.

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There is little training to be done. However an hour long in service would be suggested

to familiarize the teachers with the materials. There is also an online training available if

teachers or assistants want more information. This can be accessed through Hawker Brownlow

Education at files.hbe.com.au/online training/cars-and-stars-online-training.

Section 4: Professional Development Plan

The literacy plan that is proposed will need to be introduced to all parties involved and

given a modest amount of time to do training of the personnel involved. Using a pre-fabricated

reading program which includes assessment, CARS and STARS, students

will be targeted to improve upon their reading skills, specifically focusing

on drawing conclusions in non-fiction texts as a weakness. Students will be

getting instruction from their language arts teacher on a weekly basis during

language arts class. When it will be implemented during the week will be

left up to the discretion of the teacher. Twelve lessons will be utilized,

broken down into “units” of three lessons. Five pre-tests and posttests will

be incorporated for each unit. Section reviews and benchmarks will also be

utilized for student assessment purposes.

The professional development books that the teacher will

use include the teacher’s guide that comes with the program.

They will also use the student books as a reference. As a

reading specialist, both of these items would be used also for

planning and implementation.

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Regarding training and the program, the classroom teachers should receive direct hands-

on training of the materials. Instructional assistants are not used on the 6th grade level except for

special education purposes. Those special education instructional assistants should be included

in either the training with the teachers, or they can be given their own training session to meet

their needs and their schedule. The 5th grade IAs on that level should be included. All training

should take place during the week before school starts. Staffing changes during the summer as

assignments are changed, especially instructional assistants, so the training should not take place

prior to that.

This is an in-school program that the students will complete during their regularly

scheduled school day; therefore training of parents is not needed. Information regarding the

program can however be sent home in the form of flyers regarding reading programs or through

school newsletters or teacher notifications sent home.

When motivating the staff towards change, competition will be a huge motivator.

Powhatan County Public Schools prides itself on high SOL scores and strives to be the highest

ranking school as possible in each reporting category. Sharing information with the staff

regarding how, if this need is not targeted, SOLs scores could suffer would be one step to

motiving staff in the manner of wanting to continue to progress in overall percentage of SOL

scores for 6th grade reading. Allowing teachers to determine when they will be implementing the

lessons on a weekly basis would be a positive motivator, as opposed to just dictating which days

will include the specific instruction. Jeans coupons are another free reward that has been a

proven success at PMS. Using other small rewards such as the jeans coupons upon seeing

implementation of the plan would put a positive spin on the plan. Staff would be receiving

something tangible that they can benefit from as opposed to only having success through student

achievement.

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As a reading specialist, the role involved with this plan would include making sure

funding is acquired for the purchase of materials, actually purchasing the materials, training the

teachers and instructional assistants on how to utilize the materials, and assisting the teachers as

needed. Long-term and short-term assistance would be given. Assistance to the teachers could

be in the form of testing students on the pretest, benchmark, or post-test assessments. It could

also consist of planning with teachers regarding individual lessons before lessons are taught and

reflecting on lessons after they are taught. Going in to the classroom and actually teaching

lessons would also be an option. Assessment of data collected, pre-tests, benchmarks, and post-

tests could be done individually through meetings with each teacher during their planning period.

Submitting information to the administrators regarding the reading program highlights for the

monthly newsletter and helping teachers create their own newsletters would be another part of

the reading specialist role. In a long-term capacity, analyzing SOL data upon completion of the

non-writing SOL and score comparison looking for acquired growth or potential growth would

be supported also.

Section 5: Timeline for Implementation

The implementation of this solution for addressing the need of a weakness for 6th graders at PMS

in the area of drawing conclusions in nonfiction text will take course over the span of one school

year. Teachers will be allowed to come to the school facility during the summer of 2014 and

check out a copy of the teacher’s guide and student book for both the CARS and STARS program.

This will allow them to peruse the programs at their own leisure. They can then bring any

questions that they might have with them to the first formal inservice training that will be held.

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Timeline: Teacher check-out of Teacher’s Guide & Student Book....................Summer 2014

Formal Introduction of CARS and STARS program....................August 27th, 2014

Formal Meeting with Teachers/IA’s................................1st Week of October, 2014

Benchmark Administration and Data Collection.............................November 2014

Whole Staff Update..............................................................................January 2015

Pacing & Adjustments Inservice............................................................March 2015

Comprehensive Review of Plan Meeting..................................................May 2015

Implementation of Year 2 of Program (5th graders movingup to 6th grade & new 5th grade class)............................2015-2016 School Year

During the pre-service staff work week of the 2014-2015 school year, on Wednesday,

August 27th, 6th grade English teachers and associated special education instruction assistants will

be brought together to introduce them to the CARS and STARS program. Included in this

introduction, the pros and possible cons of the program should be explored by the teachers so

that they can have true ownership of the program. Incentives to complete the program and the

timeline of the implementation of the program should also be covered. All facets of the teacher’s

guide and the student book would be covered as part of training. It would include going through

the CARS materials to include the implementation of the pre and post assessments and

benchmarks. They will also be guided through the teacher’s guide and student book for the

STARS program, stopping to analyze the lessons for reading. Training is done to ensure that all

parties involved in the implementation of the program are adept at using the materials.

Once the initial training of the staff involved is completed, a formal meeting of those

trained would happen during the first ½ teacher workday during the first week of October.

Before that formal meeting, the reading specialist will be conversing with the teachers and

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assistants and working with them in the classroom to head off any “issues” that might pop up

during the initial few weeks of implementation.

During the third week of October the staff development day will be used to bring

everyone, teachers, reading specialist, and instructional assistants together to discuss how the

program is working, any issues, any advantages that have been observed so far. A good

thorough assessment should be done regarding any improvements that can be made immediately.

The ½ teacher workday in November will be utilized to discuss benchmark administration and

data collected from the benchmarks. To keep the whole staff involved, at the January staff

meeting, the program and updates on how things are going will be shared with the PMS staff.

Keeping with the same routine, the ½ teacher workday in March will help make sure the pacing

continues on schedule. To conclude the implementation year of the STARS and CARS program,

the ½ teacher workday in May will be used to do a comprehensive review of how the year had

gone. Once non-writing SOL scores for the 6th graders have been received, the information will

be analyzed to monitor any progress or regression in the area of drawing conclusions in

nonfiction texts. Fifth grade data could be used for analysis the 2nd year implemented also.

Assessment and monitoring of the plan will start right from the start and will continue

throughout the 2014 – 2015 school year and will pick up again with the 2015 – 2016 school year.

As described above, during the inservice days and training, reflection time is given for staff to

analyze how the program administration is going on a monthly, or bi-monthly schedule. The

benchmarks will give a good guide as to if the plan is starting to be successful or not. The

implementation of the plan will be monitored through the monthly and bi-monthly meetings and

training. Periodic “reflection” forms could be given to teachers and instructional assistants to

also serve as an informal monitoring of the program.

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One foreseeable issue that will most likely come up is the implementation of the plan on

a consistent basis. Flexibility was given to the staff to implement the lessons at their discretion

and weekly pace. However, this also opens up the possibility that teachers that get caught up in

other content, or just haven’t fully bought into the program might not put full value into the

program. This can be addressed by adjusting the implantation plan to include a pacing chart that

will structure the lessons along a predetermined plan of completion.