Maplewood Elementary School

Literacy Education Reform: Our Action Plan for School-Wide Change

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Students First

At Maplewood Elementary School administrators, classroom teachers, and support staff work together to ensure instruction meets the needs of all students. As a school we are moving forward with our plan for literacy education reform, which we designed to improve the reading, writing, and language skills of our students. Our literacy team will support and guide our staff throughout the process. Our goal is to raise the level of achievement for all students. We hope this reform effort will help our students to be better equipped as learners in the classroom and the world beyond, and as a result, increase reading comprehension scores. The goal of this newsletter is to provide an overview of our action plan for how we will structure change in our school. We want to share our plan for change for our school, because we want parents to be a part of the change process. It is our hope that parents will partner with us, offering support and encouragement, as well as ideas and inspiration. We know our parents want what is best for their children, and it is our goal to continually put the students first at Maplewood. You can also check out our schools website for more information. http://ed573school-reform.weebly.com/

Change is never easy, yet for teachers at Maplewood Elementary motivation to change comes from a deep desire to see all students succeed. Teachers and administrators at Maplewood are working together to develop a shared vision for literacy improvement. Staff members motivation and commitment to instructional excellence grows stronger as students reading scores improve. This is critical, because without proper motivation and genuine investment, reform efforts cannot be successful. Real change takes time, often a few years, and teachers must recognize the value and necessity of their efforts in order to stay committed. Often, teachers do not have opportunities to engage in professional learning that is teacher directed, focused on practice, intellectually stimulating, and immediately useful in their daily teaching. Teachers need such professional

Motivation

! learning opportunities, so they can feel enthusiastic and energized by the idea of participating in collaborative, professional development.

Learning
Teachers at Maplewood teach and learn together, and they play an active role in decision-making related to their schoolwide reading program. These collaborative experiences help teachers and administrators develop ownership and help to sustain ongoing literacy improvement efforts. At Maplewood, teachers constantly strive to improve their understanding of successful reading instruction and to engage in collaborative learning experiences in order to become increasingly effective teachers of reading. Teachers regularly self-evaluate their instruction or receive feedback on their teaching. This reflection on practice helps teachers make their instruction even more effective. Ongoing, well-planned, relevant professional learning experiences also lead to increasingly effective reading instruction within teachers classrooms. Teachers learn about research-based literacy curriculum instruction and assessment. They reflect on and work to modify their reading instruction based on their ongoing learning. Through workshops and study groups, teachers and administrators learn about and discuss topics determined by teachers based on their needs and the needs of their students. Networking with other schools is also very valuable. Multiple times each year, teachers from Maplewood attend conferences where they learn from other teachers, including national literacy experts, at roundtables and presentations. Leadership team members across schools in our area also meet several times a year to learn about effective leadership and sustainability and to share successes and concerns. Literacy coordinators meet every six weeks to improve their leadership and coaching skills.

Support
Supportive leadership is necessary to develop and sustain professional community. In order to keep our reform effort moving forward at Maplewood, we have a strong leadership team to guide us in our efforts toward change. Our leadership team members include a lead teacher who serves as a literacy coordinator and coach; teacher leaders representing different grade levels, special areas and resource teacher groups such as special education, ELL, and Title 1; and our principals.

! The leadership team typically meets once or twice a month, and is a vital group with many responsibilities to get the reform effort up and running as well as moving forward over time in a productive way. The team has a number of purposes and duties including the following: ! Look at data on students, reading instruction, and school climate, to plan for whole-group meetings, study groups, and data retreats. ! Bring existing school data to the teaching staff, so the entire group can set priorities for whole-group meetings and study group sessions. ! Schedule and plan large-group meetings, as well as set agendas for whole-school meetings to discuss and act upon aspects of the schoolwide reading program. ! Get study groups underway and help them to succeed. ! Take the lead by trying out new professional development techniques, such as video sharing of their lessons or peer coaching, designed to help teachers reflect on their practice. ! Foster partnerships with parents and promote community involvement. ! Reflecting on what is working within the school as well as what needs attention in the reform effort. ! Support and encourage new teachers. The literacy coordinator oversees the reform process, visiting classrooms regularly to model effective teaching practices, observe, and coach. The principals make sure reform activities and our district standards align. Teachers on our leadership team orchestrate the day-to-day activities of the reform effort. A very important role of our leadership team members is to inspire other teachers to become increasingly engaged in and committed to our schools literacy improvement efforts.

Indentifying, Implementing, and Sustaining Change

Teachers must become expert and confident in looking at and evaluating school, teacher, and student data. Looking at data at these three levels makes it easier for teachers and administrators involved in reform efforts to recognize just where instructional changes are needed, and then track how these changes affect students reading abilities. These three levels of data will shed light on which students are excelling, which are struggling and why, and what texts and additional support might help them. Such a highly differentiated look at individual students is incredibly valuable.

Identifying

! Purposeful use of student data helps teachers become more responsive. They can adjust their instruction to improve student achievement. Teachers should: ! Systematically collect student data three times a year across the school. ! Look at data at retreats three times a year. ! Attend grade-level meetings and discuss students needs once a month. ! Share student data at whole-group cross-grade-level meetings two or three times a year. ! Identify and support students requiring systematic reading intervention. ! Identify and support students reading at or above grade level.

Teachers at Maplewood recognize the importance of having necessary time to collect and collaboratively study student performance data in order to make necessary modifications to their instruction to improve students reading progress and success. They also need time to gather data that will help them reflect on and modify their reading instruction, Maplewoods schoolwide reading program, and the success of the schools reform efforts, to maximize students reading success.

Implementing

To improve students reading teachers must improve their instruction. In order for this to happen, teachers need time and encouragement to reflect on their teaching practices. Reflection on instruction and in-depth conversations with fellow teachers about instruction, along with changes in practices based on these reflections and conversations are the core of professional learning. Study groups are the primary forum for professional development in the reform process at Maplewood. Some study group topics lend themselves to grade-level groups. Other topics are appropriate for cross-grade groups and enable teachers to build a common language and scope and sequence to teach reading strategies effectively from one grade level to the next. Reflection on practice is a key element in all study group sessions. Members reflect on practice, looking at their teaching and at student work, and discussing what went well and what they may do differently next time to improve students reading achievement. Collaboration in study group sessions helps teachers develop a common language, a core set of practices, and a sense of community and trust. Overcoming and removing barriers is very difficult, but it is possible. Many schools have had teachers remain very positive about their ongoing professional learning after a year of a formal reform process. Involvement in

Sustaining

! reform processes can be a very positive thing, making teachers step outside their comfort zones and take some risks. Teachers grow through all aspects of the reform process, and are encouraged as they see growth in their students.

Resources
Louis, K. S., Marks, H. M., & Kruse, S. (1996). Teachers professional community in restructuring schools. American Educational Research Journal, 33(4), 757-798. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1163415 Taylor, B. M. (2011). Catching schools: An action guide to schoolwide reading improvement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann