Synergy and Specificity: Ideas From Cohort A Coaches

Oregon Reading First Center Cohort B Leadership Meeting:

Eugene, OregonMarch 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

Appreciation ToCohort A Case Study coaches for content

and “voice” Cohort A coaches’ mindfulness and

concern for Cohort B participantsRuth Kaminski for conceptualizing

children’s 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 hard…I am riding, I’m falling…I’m riding my bike.”

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DefinitionsSynergy – 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

effortsSpecificity– 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 CommitmentGoal: 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 CommitmentGoal: Sufficient improvement for all

children.– “The amount of instructional time

makes a huge difference in our student’s progress - also, the amount of instructional time at each individual’s level, being able to get what they need. We made the time.”

–

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Progress and CommitmentGoal: Sufficient improvement for all children.

– “We decided that 90 minutes wasn’t 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 CommitmentGoal: 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 don’t 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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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…

Progress and Differentiation for Teachers as Well as

Students

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Meaningful DifferencesEffective 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?,

From To

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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 children’s 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 don’t know how people do it if they don’t 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. It’s 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 student’s 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 school’s 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 didn’t 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, “I’m having problems, I’m 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 that’s it’s working successfully for us. We still have improvements to make, but so far we are doing pretty well.”

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Effective Professional Tools:Interventions

“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 Tools:Interventions

“What helped in my building is that we had teachers specialize in the different interventions -- according to their strengths and interests. That way it wasn’t 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 SupportSpecificity - “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 ‘I’d like to try teaching that.

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Differentiation and SupportSpecificity - 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 SustainabilitySchools 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 SustainabilityOur challenges are changing…• “We used to have 24 students who couldn’t

move and 2 or 3 who could, now it’s the other way around.A 3rd grade teacher told me, ‘I don’t know what to do with a new student I just got.’ I said, ‘what’s the problem?’ The teacher said, ‘He’s struggling. He doesn’t fit in with the existing group.’ I said, ‘what would you have done before RF?’ He said, ‘it wouldn’t 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 Outsider’s

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%. We’re 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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