Synergy%20and%20Specificity:%20Ideas%20From%20Cohort%20A%20Coaches

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Synergy and Specificity Ideas From Cohort A
Coaches

• Oregon Reading First Center
• Cohort B Leadership Meeting
• Eugene, Oregon
• March 2, 2006
• Sylvia Smith Ph.D. Oregon Reading First Case
  Study Coordinator
• Oregon Reading First Case Study School Coaches
• Riding My Bike By John McCutcheon

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Appreciation To

• Cohort A Case Study coaches for content and
  voice
• Cohort A coaches mindfulness and concern for
  Cohort B participants
• Ruth Kaminski for conceptualizing childrens
  learning to read as learning to read a bike
  Riding My Bike By John McCutcheon.
• Cohort B coaches for their hard work in
  implementing Reading First. It looks so easy,
  but it is so hardI am riding, Im fallingIm
  riding my bike.

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Definitions

• Synergy
• Increase in positive energy and productivity
  because of team work
• Something you can feel in a school
• Result is greater than sum of their individual
  efforts
• Specificity
• Relevant instructional and PD targets
• Appropriate individualization, differentiation
• Precision, fit

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Overview

• Conditions for progress
• Social environment
• Professional environment
• Power to progress attitudes
• and behaviors

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RF Funded Mechanisms for Progress

• Social - grade-level team meetings
• Professional - core and intervention programs,
  assessment systems, and professional development
• Progress - tools to facilitate attitudes and
  behaviors of
• commitment,
• problem-solving approach,
• differentiation, and support

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Progress and Commitment

• Goal Sufficient improvement for all children.
• Focus Components of school-wide reading model
• How Professional development, personal choice,
  hard work.
• The feasibility was difficult year 1 -
  implementing everything, managing binders,
  managing professional development, managing being
  away from the school. But years 2 and 3 are much
  easier.

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Progress and Commitment

• Goal Sufficient improvement for all children.
• The amount of instructional time makes a huge
  difference in our students progress - also, the
  amount of instructional time at each individuals
  level, being able to get what they need. We made
  the time.

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Progress and Commitment

• Goal Sufficient improvement for all children.
• We decided that 90 minutes wasnt enough for our
  students.
• Now teachers are seeing that is works, we are
  getting more buy-in (commitment). It was more
  dramatic and easier for K-1st than 2nd-3rd.

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Progress and Commitment

• Goal Sufficient improvement for all children.
• We are determined to get all the instructional
  time we can. We test the first week. We
  collaborate and form groups. We begin ability
  group instruction in the first weeks. We teach to
  the end of the year. We tweak 15 more minutes for
  instruction by changing a transition. We are
  committed to getting the time our kids need. We
  keep looking at our schedule.

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Progress and Problem Solving Approach

• Changes we have made are beginning to affect
  more and more grades We know what we do works
  and so we are excited to try more instructional
  changes.
• We see movement in some children. We are looking
  at children who are not moving and deciding what
  we can do. We do things differently We dont
  wait to meet Now we have more ongoing
  discussions about how things are going and what
  we can do Actually, teachers and I may meet
  daily if we have concerns about individual
  children.

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Progress and Differentiation for Teachers as Well
as Students

• Unlike Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where
  there was so much time and so little to do
• Customized coaching
• Sensitivity to individual differences
• Respect for individual differences
• Appropriate pacing of new learning
• Collegial work environment
• Strong coach and principal
• Time to meet, time to plan, time to teach, time
  to observe peers teaching

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Meaningful Differences

• Effective schools attribute progress in improved
  reading outcomes to following RF components
• Grade-level team meetings
• Data-based instructional decisions
• Commonly used effective core and intervention
  programs
• Differentiated support of staff
• Differentiated instruction
• Sufficient instructional time
• Professional development - training

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Grade-level Team Meetings

• By far, the MOST important Reading First
  component is the grade-level team meeting!
• Called
• Collaborations
• Time to deal,to negotiate
• What happens and how
• Where are we?
• Where should we be?
• Alright, then what are we going to do?,

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Grade-level Team Meetings

• Successful because of
• Data analyses
• Trimester benchmarks, progress monitoring
• Program assessments
• Funded time to work together on date-based
  instructional decisions for all children on a
  regular basis
• Responsibility shifted from individual teacher to
  team of teachers and support staff - increases
  resources
• Common language, common materials, common goals

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Grade-level Team Meetings

• Successful grade-level team meetings result in
• synergy and specificity necessary to support
  growth in reading skills for all children.

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Grade-level Team Meetings Beginning of the Year

• With our old assessment system we knew who our
  high and very low kids were, but DIBELS is
  helping us identify and follow the strategic
  kids.
• DIBELS is shaking out those strategic kids.
• Using DIBELS has refined our understanding of
  childrens progress towards learning to read.

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Grade-level Team Meetings Beginning of the Year

• This is a time we deal and negotiate. We all own
  all the children. We share kids. We figure what
  is best for our team. We group the children at
  this time. I do not know how teachers can meet
  the needs of all children with wide-spread
  ability in their group.
• I dont know how people do it if they dont
  share kids.

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Grade-level Team Meetings Beginning of the Year

• We make sure that our students with intensive
  needs do not have independent time. That is a
  waste of time for them.
• People are more open to sharing kids. They trust
  each other now, whereas they did not trust each
  other before RF.

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Grade-level Team Meetings Beginning of the Year

• Before RF we had never analyzed any type of
  data. We looked at scores at the beginning and
  end of the year. We had not shared kids before
  either. The first year was a big change.
• The most difficult part was year 1 because we
  were not used to any of the procedures. The last
  couple of years it has gotten easier and easier.
  Its not a piece of cake yet.

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Grade-level Team Meetings Mid-Year

• Our groups are mobile, otherwise it becomes like
  a track system.
• I (the coach) look at the data, notice areas of
  concern, am ready to explain and offer
  instructional ideas. I need to know the
  programs.
• Now in year 3, the teachers have already looked
  at the data before the meeting. They are ready
  with ideas.They are so empowered now they know.
• I make sure that each classroom teacher gets to
  give some type of suggestion that they would have
  for the student. We are building expertise in our
  teachers.

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Grade-level Team Meetings Mid-Year

• We look at each students data, one by one. We
  sit around the computer and look at the progress
  monitoring graphs with the aimlines. We discuss
  children who have fallen below their aimline.We
  talk about things we can do.
• The data have made us aware of kids movement.
  Not every teacher is equally strong in
  understanding movement - data - but there is at
  least one teacher at every grade level.

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Effective Professional Tools Core Programs

• School-wide adoption can result in both problems
  and benefits.
• Grade levels may not be attracted to same
  program.That creates a buy-in problem.
• Common materials facilitate common language and
  common goals within and across grades.
• The first year was very difficult -knowing all
  parts of the program brings comfort.
• Knowing that the program works for our schools
  population brings buy-in.
• The enhancements are extremely important.

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Effective Professional Tools Core Programs

• Everyone used to do their own thing. Now it is
  wonderful how we talk about the same kids we use
  the same programs. There is less confusion. We
  didnt used to have that togetherness, that
  cohesiveness. Now we are a team. We have the same
  language to use now, the same sequence.
• Children are doing better too with the same
  program used in every grade.

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Effective Professional Tools Core Programs

• I (coach) was teaching and said, Im having
  problems, Im going to - child interrupted and
  said - what are you going to do, monitor and
  clarify your reading right now? That child knew
  the strategy because it was taught the same way
  last year.
• Kids hear the same language, they see the same
  alphabet and sound cards year after year - they
  learn and anticipate, they master and school is
  comfortable. We have fewer behavior problems
  now.

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Effective Professional Tools Core Programs

• Teachers have bought in now that they see it
  works. Even this year I have teachers who still
  say that this is not necessarily the method that
  they feel the most comfortable teaching. But,
  they acknowledge the fact that this method is
  what is working for our population. They say they
  are never going to change because they see that
  it works. They see thats its working
  successfully for us. We still have improvements
  to make, but so far we are doing pretty well.

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Effective Professional ToolsInterventions
I think one of the good things we did was not
over implement too many interventions at once.
That would have been very challenging for us. We
have implemented slowly, added new interventions
each year.
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Effective Professional ToolsInterventions

• What helped in my building is that we had
  teachers specialize in the different
  interventions -- according to their strengths and
  interests. That way it wasnt the same amount of
  knowledge doled out to everyone -- but to the few
  who can specialize and be our experts in the
  building.

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Differentiation and Support

• Specificity - As a coach I am to help and
  support - even down to the most minute little
  things in the classroom.
• They (teachers and children) are used to me
  coming into the classroom and modeling specific
  strategies, parts of lessons. I just come in and
  say Id like to try teaching that.

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Differentiation and Support

• Specificity - modeling in the classroom
• I observed a vocabulary lesson. The teacher was
  doing all the Anita Archer things - talking about
  words, giving multiple exposures, giving synonyms
  and examples and non-examples. She missed one
  thing - repeating the vocabulary word enough
  times. But she definitely repeated the definition
  enough times. That was very easy to fix. I
  modeled teaching vocabulary lesson including
  saying the vocabulary words enough times.

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Differentiation and Support

• Respect for individual differences in
  problem-solving
• Some teachers do not feel they have the patience
  to teach the intensive children. Some teachers
  like to teach the interventions. Our 2nd grade
  teachers ability-group for core instruction as
  well. The teacher with intensive students has
  only 12 students and more educational assistants
  than the other teachers. Two teachers teach
  strategic students. One teacher teaches benchmark
  students. Everyone is happy. This way we are
  meeting the needs of all our students, including
  our TAG students. Parents of TAG students are not
  asking to transfer out of the school now.

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Differentiation and Support

• The 1st grade teachers like to keep all their
  children for core instruction until mid-year,
  whereas the 2nd grade team has found that they
  like to ability group for core instruction at the
  first of the year. I spend a lot of time in the
  1st grade rooms during core instruction. The
  enhancements have helped this year.
• We have given the 1st grade teachers more support
  and longer to recognize the advantages to earlier
  ability grouping. It is the third year and they
  are more comfortable this year with my pushing
  them.

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Vision and Sustainability

• Schools continue
• The enthusiasm
• Learning
• Continue to implement and be consistent
• Laying a solid foundation in K and 1st
• Refining how we serve our students - we have
  learned how to serve intensive, now we want to do
  better with strategic.
• Solving our challenges - 2nd 3rd, move-ins

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Vision and Sustainability

• Our challenges are changing
• We used to have 24 students who couldnt move
  and 2 or 3 who could, now its the other way
  around.
• A 3rd grade teacher told me, I dont know what
  to do with a new student I just got. I said,
  whats the problem? The teacher said, Hes
  struggling. He doesnt fit in with the existing
  group. I said, what would you have done before
  RF? He said, it wouldnt have been a problem
  because we would have had 20 like him. But now we
  have 2, so what do we do with them? Later the
  team came up with solution for move-ins.

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Meaningful Differences From an Outsiders View

• Funded supportive environments are important.
  Building a strong foundation in K and 1st is
  important.
• Key factors are attitudes and actions that result
  in customization of RF mechanisms to individual
  school environments and individual children --
  synergy and specificity.

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Power to Progress Knowledge, Attitudes, and
Actions

• RF has raised the knowledge of my staff in
  reading instruction 100. Were doing so much for
  reading, and not that we are experts, but we are
  more knowledgeable so that we are hoping this
  will transfer over to other subjects. Writing and
  math are our next targets.

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