ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS/DRAMA

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1 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS/DRAMA Program Review Self Study Weston Public Schools June 2016 WestonPublicSchools

2 Table&of&Contents& Pre$K$12(English(Language(Arts/Drama(Self$Study(Overview(...(3 Purpose...3 Process...3 StructureofReport...4 ReviewofWestonStandards,LearningGoals&CommonAssessments...5 BeliefStatements...5 Program(...(6 Elementary...6 Secondary...10 SurveyQuestionResults Program...13 Reflections/AnalysisofSurveyKProgram...16 Reflections/AnalysisofResearchandSiteVisitsKProgram...19 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsiderationKProgram...22 Curriculum(...(23 Elementary...23 Secondary...27 SecondaryDrama...31 SurveyQuestionResults Curriculum...32 Reflections/AnalysisofSurveyKCurriculum...34 Reflections/AnalysisofResearchandSiteVisitsKCurriculum...37 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsiderationKCurriculum...39 Instruction(...(40 Elementary...40 Secondary...43 SecondaryDrama...45 SurveyQuestionResults Instruction...46 Reflections/AnalysisofSurveyKInstruction...49 ReflectionsonAnalysisofResearchandSiteVisitsKInstruction...51 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsiderationKInstruction...52 Communication(and(Community:(...(53 Elementary...53 Secondary...53 SurveyQuestionResults CommunicationandCommunity...55 Reflections/AnalysisofSurveyKCommunicationandCommunity...56 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsideration CommunicationandCommunity...57 APPENDICES(...(58 2

3 Pre'K'12EnglishLanguageArts/DramaSelf'Study Overview This self-study of the PreK-12 English Language Arts/Drama program is part of the Weston Public Schools' comprehensive curriculum review process. This report represents a snapshot of the program and reflects its status at a particular point in time. The results of this self-study will help to establish areas of focus for continuous program improvement over the next five to ten years. From this work, the Self-Study Committee will provide input to guide the Weston School Committee s charge to the Program Review Committee that will convene to provide an external assessment of the ELA/Drama program in the fall of Committee The members of the self-study committee are recognized for their contribution to this essential first step of the review process. Committee Members: Co-chairs: Pamela Bator, Kate Lemons, Katharine Odell Members: Elementary: Jane Dolan, Jill Looney, Meghan McLoughlin, Linda Silberberg Secondary: Jennifer Barry, Brenda Hagan, Aidan O Hara Administrators: Jennifer Faber, Karen Hillman Purpose The self-study provides an overview of our current program and what the research undertaken by the committee about our own program, current best practices, and other school districts programs revealed to us. Its purpose is to provide a full assessment of Weston s current program and to set goals for future departmental improvements. Process The committee approached the study through a set of varied lenses each of which explore the department from different vantage points and help to cross-reference ideas, practices, and assumptions guiding departmental practice: Review of Weston Standards, Learning Goals & Common Assessments Reflection on curriculum framework, core goals, and learning experiences In-depth assessment of rigor, relevance, and alignment across the program and with national standards Creation of a set of shared belief statements 3

4 Research Grounding of all practice and vision Development of knowledge and building of a cohesive voice for department Site Visits Extension of ideas and provision of new thinking Surveys of faculty, parents, and students Exploration of assumptions and perceptions. Assessment of current program by users and peers One early step involved obtaining preliminary program feedback from all who provide ELA/Drama education in relation to topics ripe for inquiry, and areas of strength and need (see Appendix). This reflection grounded the work toward completing all elements of the process outlined above. The Self-Study Committee divided into subcommittees to develop plans to undertake all of the process elements above. Sub-committees developed questions for research, site visits, and surveys, and the committee as a whole reviewed those questions and then undertook the work of completing those processes. StructureofReport For this review, we used a multi-lens approach and considered the English Language Arts/Drama Department programmatically and through our curriculum, instruction, and communication between the schools and the community. Each of these areas, or lenses, is explored through the following: 1. A working definition of the lens (Program, Curriculum, Instruction, Communication) 2. Elementary narrative 3. Secondary narrative 4. Survey Question Results 5. Reflections/Analysis of the Survey Results 6. Reflections/Analysis of Research and Site Visits 7. Topics/Questions for Further Consideration Throughout each narrative are comments that parents, students, and teachers shared in the surveys. These comments are representative and illustrate the diversity of opinions expressed. They are meant not to defend a position but to prompt discussion as we move forward in the program review. 4

5 ReviewofWestonStandards,LearningGoals&Common Assessments As the ELA/Drama department undertook revision of their standards, learning goals and common assessments in the years immediately prior to this self-study process, these documents, developed between 2010 and 2013, required minimal revision. There was a need, however, to align the secondary documents more clearly with the Commonwealth s Curriculum Frameworks and grade-level standards as the elementary teachers had done. At the time the secondary documents were created, the Commonwealth had not yet published its revised Frameworks, so those documents are grounded in the previously articulated Weston ELA/Drama Standards. The elementary work was undertaken after the Commonwealth published its revised standards, and those utilize more of that language. By reviewing the Weston Standards used at the secondary level and linking them and the 6-12 learning goals more directly to the Commonwealth s Standards, the documents now represent a more consistent set of Standards and Learning Goals across the PreK-12 ELA experience that are all clearly aligned with the Commonwealth s Standards while maintaining the rigor and focus of those standards to which Weston s ELA program has long held itself. The Weston Public Schools Standards and Learning Goals are published on the Weston Public Schools site under the Curriculum tab: BeliefStatements The Weston Public Schools English/Drama Program is founded on the following essential beliefs: one of the greatest gifts we can give students is to help them see themselves as engaged readers, writers and speakers throughout PreK-12 and beyond; effective communication achieved through reading, writing, speaking and listening is an essential life skill. Thus, students in the WPS English Language Arts/Drama program: build essential 21st Century communication skills through a variety of experiences; benefit from being exposed to a variety of authors voices, opportunities for self-selected reading, and differentiation in major assignments; develop literacy skills to enable them to think critically and to discover new ideas and insights independently; engage in student-centered discussion that teaches students to convey their own ideas, comprehend others' ideas, and re-consider their thinking as they learn from others' perspectives; gain the necessary skills as readers and writers to see the world with a sense of responsibility and belonging; look critically at their own writing and have the tools and expectations for strengthening it with support and independently; and use skills developed through the ELA/drama program to take important stands in the world and to support their beliefs clearly and effectively. 5

6 Program To prepare students to be highly literate citizens of the world, Weston s English-Language Arts (ELA)/Drama program develops students reading, writing, speaking and listening skills across the continuum of their K-12 experience. The foundation for literacy, developed in elementary classrooms, includes instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing across multiple genres through authentic, integrated contexts. The work of these early years forms the foundation for very complex learning in the secondary schools, where students apply and expand these skills in dedicated ELA/English classes. Students develop active listening and oral language skills in all grades, and can enhance those skills through dedicated drama and speech classes in the secondary schools. In middle school students can choose from a wide range of drama classes, while in high school students are offered a range of opportunities in drama and ELA, including varied core and elective classes designed to match a variety of interests and the possibility of placement in Honors and AP English Literature classes. Elementary I have seen my child progress and learn so much about communicating, the love of reading, and writing. -- Parent More time needs to be spent on basics: sentence formation and variation of sentence structure, basic grammar & vocabulary. -- Parent Nationally, the continuum of elementary literacy instruction has shifted back and forth between a skills emphasis and a meaning emphasis. Weston s philosophy of elementary literacy instruction is a balance between the two an approach that is often referred to balanced literacy and blends the strengths of each: explicit decoding instruction from the skills emphasis and explicit comprehension strategy instruction, vocabulary instruction and motivation to read from the meaning-emphasis. It includes using: assessment to inform instruction; the reciprocal processes of reading and writing to reinforce each other; and explicit instruction and application. This approach is the recommendation of both the National Research Council s report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, as well as the recommendation of the authors of Reading Instruction that Works 4th edition by Michael Pressley and Richard Allington. Students who learn in balanced literacy classrooms spend their school day reading, writing, listening and speaking. Instruction progresses along a continuum of direct instruction, through modeling and explicit teaching, and gradually moves toward guided practice, and, ultimately, ends in independent application. This trajectory is commonly referred to as the gradual release of responsibility. Reading and writing workshop are the instructional frameworks that facilitate this kind of learning. Readers read to become more proficient, and writers write. Authentic literature is at the core of the child s experience: Every child, in every classroom, every day has the right to behave like and enjoy the pleasure of being a reader and a writer. Students spend approximately 60 minutes daily in a reading workshop and 45 minutes three times a week in a writing workshop. 6

7 Often people ask why these instructional frameworks are referred to as workshops. The idea comes from the European guild system where an aspiring master would have to pass through the career chain from apprentice to journeyman on his way to personal mastery. Similarly, in our instructional setting, students work with a more experienced adult who guides their progress in the art. The more experienced mentor focuses on helping a learner to learn by doing. The routines and structures of a workshop are kept simple and predictable so that the teacher can focus on the complex work of teaching in a responsive manner to accelerate achievement for all learners. To address students varying need for support on texts, teachers rely on a variety of instructional contexts. Contexts for Learning to Read K Whole Group Interactive Read Aloud Shared Reading Reader s Theater Phonics/Word Study minilessons Reading minilesson Interactive Read Aloud Reader s Theater Word Study minilessons Small Group Individual Guided Reading Literature Clubs Independent Reading Buddy Reading Reading Conference Guided Reading Literature Clubs Independent Reading Buddy Reading Reading Conference The K-3 ELA program would greatly benefit from more collaboration between grade levels. -- Teacher WholeGroupContexts: Reading minilessons are periods of brief, explicit instruct instruction that teach children 1) the procedures of reading workshop, 2) the strategies and skills of the reading process and 3) literary analysis which focuses on the literary aspects of text. Interactive read alouds are fiction and nonfiction texts that are read aloud in an intentional sequence to build background knowledge, vocabulary, literary knowledge, and shared language. Shared/choral reading involves the teacher as well as the entire class reading and rereading in unison from an enlarged version of a text. This context enables students to explore aspects of print or to perform strategic actions on a text that becomes familiar over time. In addition, students improve their reading fluency. Reader s theater involves taking parts from a text and performing them as one reads. This context also helps readers to develop fluency and automaticity with the reading process. 7

8 During my time in Weston Public Schools I have learned so much about reading, writing, and grammar. -- Student At the upper elementary level, there isn t enough reading or writing required. -- Parent Phonics/word study minilessons are concise, explicit instructional lessons on an aspect of phonics or spelling that helps a student to spell or decode words more proficiently. SmallGroupContexts: In guided reading, typically two to five children whose assessments indicate they are reading at the same instructional level come together in a small group to learn more about how to process more complex text. The teacher matches a book to the readers based on her knowledge of the reading process, the demands of the text, and her readers. Students read the text or portions of it, discuss it, and the teacher responds to their understanding by listening to their conversation. Afterwards, she addresses misunderstandings. A literature club is different from guided reading because students are grouped heterogeneously with the goal of helping children to learn to talk with others about text, to learn from the thinking of others, to deepen understanding, and to stretch one s thinking in the company of others. Unlike guided reading where students are responsible for reading the text to themselves, in literature circles, students who may not be able to read the text independently may have it read to them. IndividualContexts: During independent reading, students read a text of their own choice independently. Typically, the text is read at 98% accuracy or above. Teachers provide individual support to students through reading conferences. There are similar contexts for learning to write during the writing workshop: Explicit minilessons for the whole class; small or table group instruction to support learners with a similar set of needs; and individual writing conferences to advance the skills and understandings of the individual writer. In July 2010, the new state standards were adopted. These frameworks incorporate the Common Core State Standards, as well as standards for literacy within the content areas. In addition, they form the basis for our grade level student benchmarks. Through grade level and team discussions with the ELA curriculum specialist, Weston has gradually been implementing the changes that were written into this revision in reading and in writing. Moreover, a recent focus has been for the ELA, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies and Technology integration specialists to write curriculum together so that reading, writing, listening and speaking are taught within the context of science and social studies. Finally, grade levels design lessons to meet these benchmarks. We have used this approach to ensure that each child progressing through the Weston K-5 ELA program will be achieving district level goals while also benefitting from the expertise, ingenuity, and passion of his/her classroom teacher and the grade level team. 8

9 At elementary, the reading recovery program is superb. -- Teacher In addition to a K-5 Literacy Specialist, the reading department consists of two 0.8 Reading Recovery teachers and four early interventionists. The role of these teachers and interventionists is to provide direct service to readers who require additional instruction in order to reach grade level benchmarks. Reading Recovery (RR), a research-based program for first graders, grew out of the work of New Zealand child psychologist, Marie Clay. It serves the lowest achieving readers in a cohort, providing them with a specially trained teacher, 1:1 lessons, five times a week for 30 minutes each, for an average of weeks. The components of the program are consistent from child to child; the lessons are individually tailored to the student. In grades K-5, the district also offers support to struggling readers through the Auxiliary Reading Program (ARP). In this program, children are seen by an early interventionist approximately 3-4 times a week, in a group of three or four students for thirty minutes. The participants and groupings in these interventions are monitored routinely through formal and informal assessments; changes to the group composition are made throughout the year. For both programs, RR and ARP, children are identified through their scores on district assessments, from classroom observations, and from the quality of their work samples. The literacy team, building principal, adjustment counselors, and classroom teachers meet to review data twice a year. In these meetings, the team examines the data and makes decisions matching qualifying students with interventions. Part way through the year, the team reconvenes to review the progress of each student based on the most recent set of data. At this point, some students graduate from our programs, some have their programs intensified, and some continue with their current program. Over the past four years, the number of students needing additional support has dropped significantly after kindergarten as seen on the chart below. This decrease can most likely be attributed to: a staffing change in 2014; the purchase and implementation of Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) kits in 2014 for grades 1 and 2; the purchase and implementation of LLI kits for grades K and 4 in 2015; more robust Instructional Support Team (IST) conversations and decision making about at-risk students; and our teachers knowledge and implementation of the state standards. 9

10 Grade K (RR) 1 (ARP) (extra second grade section at CS) (including three new ELL students) TOTAL (Grades 1-5) Secondary Visiting alums say they felt very well prepared for their college English classes compared to their peers. -- Teacher Students entering Weston s middle and high schools experience two of the most significant transitions during their academic careers. To enable student success during the transition and beyond, ELA teachers at the middle and high schools value collaboration and share a passion for their content area and working with students as individuals. At the middle school, students experience many programmatic elements designed to aid them both with the transition to a new model of learning and through their progression at the school and on to high school. In each grade, students are members of a team of learners and educators, including at least one each ELA, math, science, social studies and special education teacher who share instructional responsibility for the students assigned to their team. Teams meet each week to discuss struggling students, appropriate interventions, and curricular coordination opportunities with the goal of meeting the needs of all students collaboratively. Students in all middle school grades spend between 39 (most Weds.) and 50 (M, T, Th, F) minutes per day, or a total of 239 minutes (nearly 6 hours) per week, in ELA classes, and in 6th grade they spend an additional three periods per week in a Reading & Writing Connections Class, for an additional minutes ( hours) of ELA instruction. This additional class was created in 2009 to 10

11 [We have] knowledgeable, passionate staff who are collaborative -- Teacher replace the former five times per week Reading class and is intended to help 6th graders transition from the elementary model of literacy education to the middle school by offering additional support and development of skills. Students experience different but overlapping curriculum in the 6th grade English and Connections classes as their teachers work closely to link curriculum and to identify the skills that students will study in each class. Most middle school students also choose one arts rotation class per quarter, the offerings for which include drama classes at all grades culminating in a wide range of specialized course offerings in 8th grade (see Curriculum section for more detail). Students in the middle school take ELA and drama classes that are heterogeneously grouped and that provide them with a range of learning experiences related to reading, writing, speaking and listening. All students in grades 6-8 read core texts and experience common units of study across all classes in each grade, and are encouraged (in some cases required) to read books of their own choosing to augment the class reading experience. All students also undertake common assessments in each grade during these years that teachers score collaboratively. The middle school ELA and Drama teacher teams work very closely in weekly meetings to align curriculum and practice so that all students have comparable experiences in their classes. As students transition to high school, all take the same 9th grade course, which is heterogeneous and designed to ensure that all students experience the same curriculum and build the same essential skills to prepare them for the rest of their high school careers. Students attend these classes (and all ELA classes throughout high school) five times per eight-day rotation for either 76 (M-W) or 70 (Th. & F) minutes per meeting. Students are required to take four years of English for graduation, so every student is enrolled in an English class each year. Starting in 10th grade students may be recommended for, or can request an override into, honors or, in 12th grade, AP level classes. To aid in the identification of students preparedness for their first opportunity to work at an honors level, all 9th grade students are required to participate in a reading and writing assessment, overseen and scored by the department head, if they wish to be recommended for placement in English 10 Honors. Students and parents receive an explanation of the difference between CP and honors classes and an explanation of the criteria and process that will be used during the recommendation and override process. In later years, as students become more known to the high school teachers, no honors assessment is required; instead teachers rely on collaborative common assessments to ascertain students optimal placement. On average, based on recommendations and override requests, 25-30% of 10th grade students take honors classes while the rest take CP classes; 30-40% of 11th grade students 11

12 There are levels in mathematics but none in English until 10 th grade that seems almost too late. -- Parent Not enough opportunity for writing exercises; vocabulary development is lacking. -- Parent take honors classes, and in senior year, an average of 15-25% (varies more significantly year-to-year) take AP English Literature, the only advanced course available to seniors. Seniors are offered a range of semester and year-long courses to encourage pursuit of interests developed to that point in their high school careers. All students in grades 9-11, regardless, read core texts in each grade, with supplemental texts available for teacher selection and level differentiation. All students also undertake common assessments in each grade, 9-11, regardless of level, during these years, which teachers score collaboratively. During high school, students can also take elective classes in drama ranging from Technical Theater to various levels of Acting classes to extend an interest developed in middle school or to develop a new interest. The department also offers Journalism 1 and 2 as an elective, and all students are required to take a one-semester public speaking class in 10th grade. While no commercial program is used across the grades to develop students skills in the core areas, the secondary department has articulated grade-by-grade grammar content, common language and rubrics used for assessing and instructing writing, and common assessments within each grade that build on prior grades teaching. The program has grown to become more consistent across all teachers of each grade by implementing these common elements, and by ensuring teachers of the same courses are provided with scheduled meeting time to work collaboratively on planning and assessment. As we look to the future and declining enrollment in the district, our expectation is that the ELA/Drama program at the secondary level will be most affected in relation to the aspects of the program that involve student choice: the secondary Drama curriculum and the senior-year course choices. With fewer total students available to choose among these courses, we will be making strategic decisions year-by-year to run the classes that garner the most interest, balanced as always by what is in the best interest of the student body and the schools overall. All of these elements of the secondary program are intended to provide a range of curricular experiences that develop students reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, along with their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. 12

13 SurveyQuestionResults Program Based on the surveys administered to parents, teachers and administrators about the ELA/Drama program the following overall feedback was provided in relation to the program. 82% (n=134/162) of the overall respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the ELA/Drama program prepares our students to be highly literate citizens of the world as readers, writers, speakers, and listeners. As only three respondents indicated this question Does not Apply, the difference when those responses are removed is negligible (n=134/159 or 84%). 61% (n=96) of the respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the elementary experience has an effective balance of phonics and phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing. It is important to note that 20.5% reported that this question did not apply, indicating that in fact 75% (n=96/128) of respondents for whom this did apply agreed/strongly agreed with this statement. 56% (n=89 out of 158) of all respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the secondary experience has an effective balance of vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing. It should be noted that 40 respondents (25% of the total) reported that this question did not apply, thus indicating that in fact 13

14 75% of respondents for whom this indicator applied agreed/strongly agreed (n=89 out of 118) In relation to the idea of transitioning from elementary to secondary, 67% (n=105/157) of the overall respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the elementary experience provides the foundation for complex learning in the middle school. It should be noted that 30 respondents (19% of the total) reported that this question did not apply, thus indicating that in fact 77% of respondents for whom this indicator applied agreed/strongly agreed. In relation to the middle to high school transition, 51% (n=79/154) of the overall respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the middle school experience provides the foundation for complex learning at the high school; however it should be noted that 54 of these overall respondents replied that this question did not apply (35% of total), indicating that in fact 79% agreed/strongly agreed among those respondents for whom this indicator was relevant. 14

15 Finally, in the transition from high school to post-secondary experiences, 53% (n=80/152) of the overall respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the high school experience provides the foundation for complex learning beyond high school; however it should be noted that 59 respondents (39% of the total) replied that this question did not apply to them, indicating that in fact a full 86% of respondents for whom this question was relevant agreed/disagreed. In relation to the question of engagement and challenge for students, 77% (n=124/162) of the respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the ELA/Drama program provides opportunities for all learners to be engaged and challenged; however it should be noted that 8 respondents replied that this question did not apply, so there is a slight increase to 80% of respondents indicating they agreed/disagreed. 15

16 Reflections/AnalysisofSurvey'Program While the results reported above relate to all respondents to the first, public survey (parents, faculty, staff, administrators), when these survey results are sorted by groups of respondents or when they are compared to the results from the separate student survey, the feedback remains overall positive, with some interesting differentiation. Comparison of question results: Question % of ALL Respondents Agree/Strongly Agree % of ALL Parents Agree/Strongly Agree % of Respondents for whom question was applicable* Agree/Strongly Agree % of Parents for whom question was applicable* Agree/Strongly Agree Program prepares our students to be highly literate citizens Elementary to secondary transition Middle to high school transition * N/A results removed While these results still indicate a strong majority of parents agree with the statements about the ELA/Drama program, it should be noted that there is a lower level of agreement with the first question s overall statement about the ELA/Drama Program, and with the statement that students are prepared for the transition to high school. While the separate student survey asked slightly different questions, the results of those most specifically relevant to Program were more likely to be in agreement than the adult survey respondents: Similar to Questions 4 & 5 above, students were asked about their sense of preparedness from elementary to middle, middle to high, and high school to post-secondary. For simplicity s sake, these numbers are adjusted to remove those who responded N/A : 16

17 Question % Agree/Strongly Agree - All Adults % Agree/Strongly Agree - Parents % Agree/Strongly Agree "Students Elem. experience prepared for MS MS experience prepared for HS HS experience preparing for postsecondary While the number of respondents who Disagreed/Strongly Disagreed with most questions statements about the program were relatively low both empirically and as a percentage of all respondents for whom the question was relevant, those who so indicated were far more likely to add comments about their concerns about the program. Those comments remained consistent throughout the survey as a whole; thus while the data in the chart below is not specific to the Program section questions, it does provide the full picture of the three main areas that emerged as concerns about the program as a whole: an insufficient focus on phonics, grammar, and writing, with the last being the most noted issue. The number of respondents making such comments was relatively low but certainly bears consideration. Area of concern # Elem. Teachers (of a total of 31 resp.) # of Sec. Teachers (of a total of 47 resp.) # of Parents (of a total of 73 resp.) # of Students (of a total of 866 resp.) Phonics Grammar Writing * * NOTE: While 17 students noted concerns about the writing elements of the program, 9 noted it as a strength in their comments. 17

18 Surveyquestionsresults'Drama The questions on the survey of various adults (parents, teachers, etc.) about Program did not differentiate between ELA and Drama for feedback purposes, but several respondents made specific references to the Drama program in comments. Of 18 respondents who specifically mentioned the drama department, 12 made strongly positive comments about the excellence, describing Drama as a highlight of the secondary program and noting how well those classes encourage risk-taking. Of the three negative respondents, all were in fact more negative about the fact that it is not a formal part of the elementary experience and/or that not everyone in middle school is able to take drama classes. Three commenters questioned why Drama was included in the survey, indicating a possible need for better communication about the link in Weston between English and Drama. The Student Survey asked questions specifically of those who have taken drama courses, and the results indicate a very positive feeling of its importance and usefulness. Question % Agree/Strongly Agree Gained skills & confidence in drama classes 81 Feel comfortable taking risks in drama classes 82 Gained understanding: performance & theater 83 18

19 Reflections/AnalysisofResearchandSiteVisits'Program The Self-Study Committee also undertook research on current practices and trends in the field of literacy development and secondary English education (see Appendices # and #), and gained the following insights. Research Reading: There is a need to provide a range of reading experiences (various genre, lengths, and purposes). There is a need to provide texts of varying degrees of difficulty to reach all levels of readers. Fluency is developed through repeated reading experiences of the same or comparable texts Student-selected reading experiences are important (can be curricular - choice reading units - or for pleasure -- sustained silent reading). Cross-curricular programming is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Incorporating non-fiction texts is a central element of a reading program program at all grades and levels. Elementary: High volume of easy reading (98%) is essential. The amount of time reading ( eyes on text ) is the biggest predictor of reading achievement. Secondary: The focus of secondary literacy development, with college and career readiness in mind, is applying reading comprehension and analysis to learning. Writing: Writing for authentic audiences makes writing meaningful for students. Writing linked to student interest and student choice creates strong outcomes for student growth. Elementary: Young writers need long stretches of time to practice writing. Recommended writing times are 45 minutes, 4x a week. Practice is not enough. Young writers also need explicit minilessons and responsive feedback. Secondary: Offering opportunities for students to write for a broad range of purposes (analytical, expository, fiction, memoir, informative, persuasive, etc.) and a wide range of products (quick response [e.g. journaling], short informal and formal pieces, and lengthier essays and other work) is essential to a strong ELA secondary program. Grammar and Vocabulary: Discrepancies in student vocabulary is a significant factor in achievement differences. The single best way to build vocabulary is through a high volume of reading. Reading a diverse range of books allows children to encounter a wider range of words. Students learn new words and new grammatical constructs best when drawn from actual writing, rather than through lists, definitions, and worksheets. Application/use of new words and grammatical constructs immediately after being taught and regularly thereafter, in authentic written products and not simply to demonstrate proficiency on one assessment, leads to the greatest likelihood of internalization. 19

20 Looping of new vocabulary and grammatical constructs from one unit to the next, and from one school year to the next, makes them more likely to become internalized. Speaking and Listening: Speaking and listening skill development must be intentionally and directly addressed as part of the Program. Schools must allow room for the introvert even as they strive to encourage development of these skills. For ELL students, acquisition from input is more effective than conscious language learning. SiteVisits Comparable schools have relatively similar programs: Elementary: In most comparable school districts, there is a range of commercial programs used in elementary curriculum. While several rely on programs for phonics and vocabulary instruction in their primary classrooms, they are similar to Weston in that they incorporate a variety of commercial programs, borrowing from each what is most useful to their grade/student body. Weston uses many of the same assessment tools as our comparable schools: DIBELS, phonics screener, dictation tasks, sight word lists, Benchmark Assessment Kit, Primary/Secondary Spelling inventory. Reading instruction in most of our comparable districts is aligned to the state standards without the use of commercial reading programs, yet teachers across comparable districts cite the need for a stronger, clearer reading progression of skill and strategy instruction. Secondary: Like Weston, none offer Honors classes prior to high school. In relation to class levels in general, in those schools that offer them (note that other than AP offerings, L-S offers no leveled classes per se -- see Curriculum site visit analysis), Honors classes begin in either 9th or 10th grade, overall comparable to Weston. Placement in Honors classes almost always involves teacher recommendation as a first step, with most offering some kind of appeal or override process, though those vary (see below). Differences in key areas of comparable schools programs: Elementary: Newton, Belmont, Wellesley, Sudbury, and Lexington have a full time literacy specialist, as well as interventionists, in each school building. While we may use some of the same assessments, Weston uses the assessments mainly to determine who requires intervention; whereas, other districts use the data to group students into particular interventions. Block scheduling allows for more specific groupings and interventions. While no district visited uses a commercial reading program, Newton, Wellesley, and Belmont have units of study (genre, strategy, and skill) written by literacy specialists that align with the common core standards. Weston and comparable districts teach roughly the same number of minutes of writing, but many of our neighboring towns have created more structured writing learning progressions, mostly using the work of Lucy Calkins. 20

21 Secondary: Some offer additional levels such as Standard/Foundations (lowest at Needham, Wellesley and Wayland ) or Accelerated (Needham, but that is the designation most close to our Honors as they use Honors instead of CP) and some offer AP English Language in 11th. Some offer separate skills development classes for those performing below grade level, particularly in MS (Wayland, Wellesley) but some throughout secondary (L-S). While Weston offers similar opportunities, they are handled through Special Education services, not through ELA classes per se. The override/appeal processes vary significantly from school-to-school. The larger schools who typically offer the most leveling (and who therefore may have fewer scheduling concerns related to the timing of placements) allow anyone who requests an override or placement in an advanced course to be placed in the class requested (Wellesley, Lexington, Needham) regardless of teacher recommendation. Schools closer in student body to Weston (L-S, Wayland, D-S) all require some kind of override or appeals process to be completed with no guarantee of placement arising out of the process. Schools that rely more heavily on teacher recommendation as the foundation of placement for advanced courses typically require a certain GPA achievement for recommendation, and a slightly lower GPA achievement (A- for recommendation/b+ for appeal, for example, at L-S) to be considered for an override or appeal. L-S also requires ALL placed students to maintain this GPA through the end of the year to retain their placement, an intriguing idea, though potentially challenging for scheduling. Several programs offer more complex or just more cross-curricular opportunities, or capstone projects that require cross-curricular study such as Wellesley and Needham. Some of the most innovative ways of re-thinking an ELA program were seen at Parker, a charter school that is structured very differently from our secondary program, but that might nevertheless have some interesting elements for us to consider. 21

22 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsideration'Program 1. How can we improve or clarify the phonics, grammar, and writing experiences in our program grades PreK-12 so that all stakeholders feel confident that we are systematically building students skills in these areas? 2. How might block scheduling help us to offer more specific intervention options? 3. Are there assessments that are more diagnostic than what we are currently using that will enable us to make more focused decisions about intervention? 4. Do we provide sufficient opportunities for students to create products for authentic audiences? 5. Should we adopt commercial programs for the teaching of reading and writing, particularly at the elementary levels? What are the benefits and limitations to such uniformity? 6. What elements of cross-curricular programs seen at other schools might we integrate into our curriculum? 7. What can we learn from other schools course recommendation/override/appeals processes that might benefit Weston students? 8. With declining enrollment, how might we best offer a wide range of experiences for our students? Drama-related: 9. How can we best maintain the current excellence of the secondary Drama program, primarily as a curricular entity but also being mindful that the curricular serves the co-curricular program and vice versa, especially in a time of diminishing enrollment and greater competition for students elective choices? 10. Honors - What would an Honors class at the HS look like? If Acting 2, Acting 3 or Acting 4 was an Honors class, what impact would it have? Maybe an incentive for Acting 3 or 4 students who honor the curricular scope and sequence. All four HSs report positive feedback to this switch. 11. Trimesters - Like Weston, Sharon is experiencing similar patterns of under enrollment when it comes to electives. They are exploring a trimester system which would give students more opportunities to take classes. 22

23 Curriculum The Weston Public Schools ELA/Drama curriculum is designed to provide students with dynamic and diverse experiences that inform and cultivate their abilities to think, read, write, and speak with excellence. The ELA/Drama curriculum aligns with the Weston, Massachusetts, and national frameworks and standards. Grade-specific learning goals identify the particulars of the curriculum related to speaking and listening, reading, writing, and drama including: common assessments and grade-wide learning experiences at the elementary level; and core texts, shared learning experiences, and common assessments at the secondary level. Elementary In Weston, a core curricular belief is that children should spend as much time as possible reading and writing during the literacy blocks. While skill practice can be helpful, we know that children learn to read by reading, and children learn to write by writing. Moreover, reading and writing are not limited to the literacy block. Rather, they are used to support content area learning. In elementary, students at each grade experience curriculum that is designed to meet the grade-specific standards outlined in the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework. These standards fall into the following categories: foundational skills; reading literature; reading informational text; speaking and listening; and language. According to the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework, foundational skills are the necessary and important components of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers with the capacity to comprehend texts across a range of types and disciplines. Foundational skills include knowledge of concepts of print and alphabetic principles, such as syllables, phonemes, upper and lower case letters, high-frequency words, and using all of these skills to read with accuracy and fluency. Through reading instruction in all grades, students are taught how to understand both literature and informational texts 1) key ideas and details; 2) craft and structure; and 3) integration of knowledge of ideas. For each of these categories, the complexity of student thinking increases in tandem with the complexity of text. In addition to applying these skills to texts that are read aloud during whole class instruction, students in first grade and beyond are also expected to read and comprehend text independently within a band of complexity that pertains to their grade level. Similarly, in writing, each year students are expected to build in proficiency in writing different text types; to produce and distribute writing; and to research in order to build and present knowledge. 23

24 There is not enough writing in 4 th -8 th grade to prepare these students for the high school demands. -- Parent Our elementary writers have multiple opportunities over the course of each school year to write narratives, opinion pieces, and informative/explanatory text. With each of these types of text, students become more adept at developing and organizing their pieces with a purpose and audience in mind. They strengthen their command of the writing process which includes planning, revising, and publishing. They are also taught how to use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing, and interact and collaborate with others. Finally, at all grade levels, students participate in class research or conduct research of their own, gather relevant information from print and/or digital sources, and draw evidence from literary or informational texts. 24

25 Examples of Different Types of Writing Type of Writing K Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Functional Labels for block area; notes to classmates & teachers; lists for dramatic play; menus for dramatic play Bus notes; sticky note reminders; list of words other than said; poster to advertise a performance; notes about scientific observations of trees; letter writing; CS/WS pen pal letters; reflections on doing origami Letter writing for Star of the Week; Best Part of Me; recording observations and sketches about fiddlehead ferns, meal worms, painted ladies, and butterflies; goal setting; postcards from different continents; weekly reflections; readers journal; notetaking for People Who Make a Difference Sky Journals; note taking; quick writes; Venn diagram; T-Chart; compare and contrast; reading response; agendas; science notebooks; claim and vvidence; graphic organizers; poetry pre-writes Text summaries; Quote and response to explore character traits, motivation, and theme; graphic organizers to compare and contrast two different types of quadrilaterals in math/two US regions/reasons for immigration; graphic organizers to frame an opinion piece about current events; lists for noticing math attributes; a list to play math games and keep track of clues; thank you notes to guest speakers; reflections on science experiments Agendas; reading notes; Post-its to support responses; Science field journals; Compare and contrast with Patriots and Loyalists and Neutralists; water on the Case Campus notes, observations, research; pre-writes; reading responses; quick-writes; claim and evidence; graphic organizers Narrative Small moment stories Small moment stories; narrative nonfiction stories; narratives from the point of view of a Japanese school child Graphic novels; sequels for favorite narratives; small moment stories; nonfiction narrative account from Person Who Made a Difference; journal entries from Antarctica; comic strips Plot Summaries; reader's theater; personal narratives; creative writing; folk tales; fictional small moment Stories Point of view piece of a bioengineer; point of view piece of an immigrant passenger on a ship sailing from Europe to the US; daily life as an immigrant; personal narratives Rewriting a portion of a chapter with the point of view of a different character; write from a Patriot s point of view, a Loyalists, etc.; movie scripts for battles; memoir unit; story epilogue; letters from the battlefield Informational Science journals; scientific sketches and labeling; How to books; All About books Science notebooks; responses to testable questions; book reviews; haiku about Japan; brochures about Japan; tree journals; family trees; family books; pill bug experiments; bird research; Japan passport; math journals; Science blog; Box and T chart; How to Have a Good vacation; Biography reports from People Who Make a Difference; classmate interviews; opinion writing; persuasive travel brochures; How To on the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly Literary essay; biography; google slides; reports; Persuasive pieces; book reviews; recommendations PowerPoints; Google slides; reports; Prezis; opinion writing about regions/states/china/ immigration; book reviews; Science journals/sketches; bioengineering design for a frog membrane with scientific justifications; Human systems report; Case Campus Field study; water systems for watersheds; Native American cultural regions Power Point; 13 Colonies research and Prezi presentation; Wax Museum research and speech; debates; opinion writing; battle research and movie storyboard and script; science blog posts; persuasive commercials about the 13 colonies 25

26 I am so impressed with the ability kids [have to] get up and talk in front of a group of people. I think that is in part because they practice it from a young age. -- Parent There seems to be little [emphasis on] public speaking/verbal communication. -- Parent We are lacking a coherent K-5 phonics instruction program. -- Teacher I believe that students in the lower grades would benefit from more phonemic instruction. -- Teacher Because we think of reading and writing as reciprocal processes, we expect that our K-5 writers, like our K-5 readers, will write routinely and independently over time for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. Other skills that are built into the ELA curriculum are speaking/listening and language. Through speaking and listening, we encourage comprehension and collaboration. Students become more proficient in conversations through preparation, following agreed upon rules, building on the talk of others, asking questions to check for understanding, and explaining their own ideas. They listen and communicate the main ideas and supporting ideas from information from diverse formats, while also being able to ask and answer questions of a speaker. Moreover, students learn to report on a topic, and share their information in an organized manner with relevant details, pacing, and voice control. Finally, as speakers and listeners and depending on the grade level students learn to use drawings, create audio recordings, and visual displays with multimedia components to enhance what they are saying. Our language curriculum, which includes language that is both spoken and written, includes a continuum for the command of English grammar and usage, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and vocabulary acquisition and use. In the past, Weston has not relied on commercial phonics, vocabulary, or spelling programs.while grade level expectations are spelled out in the state frameworks, the survey results echo the sentiments of many teachers who want greater specificity, coherence and consistency in this curriculum area. A recent focus for elementary curriculum has been the creation of integrated units. These units combine content from science and/or social studies and build in ELA, technology, and mathematical concepts and skills to support the learning. Along with using time more efficiently, integrated units help to ensure that we are building student vocabulary, the skill of mediating content area reading material, and student capacity for using reading and writing as tools for learning. When students experience this kind of curriculum, the school day is no longer divided into discrete subject areas. Teachers do not blink the lights and announce that it s time to transition from reading to math. Instead, the day feels seamless. For example, first graders study Japan and learn about the country, and its values and customs as part of their social studies curriculum. They view Japan through the eyes of a Japanese elementary school student focusing on questions that are relevant their lives: What do children study in school? How do children spend their day? What colors are their backpacks? What is served at lunchtime and by whom? Later in the day, Weston students write a narrative placing themselves in the center of the story as a Japanese child, and they spend time during reading gathering information from texts. Meanwhile, in the fourth grade study of China, students consider the best combination of materials for building a wall. During and after experimentation, they record their observations in a journal which they later use to write persuasively about the combination of materials they would recommend. Or, at a 26

27 Would like to see more standardized materials provided for lower elementary teaching of literacy. -- Teacher fifth grade level, students in a classroom each think of a research question about the health of the Case Campus. To research, students use primary sources from the community library and our Case Campus itself; they analyze and synthesize their findings in the classroom. In a culminating project, students disseminate their research and learning in speeches to the class and members of the community. These kinds of experiences account for 76.9% of ELA/literacy teacher respondents stating that they strongly agree/agree that they have the opportunity to create cross-curricular experiences for their grade/course. With regard to curricular materials, Weston teachers use a wide range of resources rather than relying solely on one commercial program. Ultimately, our teachers are charged with being thoughtful decision makers. Adhering closely to a commercial program deprives them of the right to exercise this value. Secondary I am very surprised that in 8 th and 9 th grade, there are few texts read, and even fewer papers written. -- Parent At the secondary level, students also experience curriculum that is built in relation to standards and learning goals specific to each grade level (see Appendix #), and made up of individual units of study related to texts (e.g. novels or plays) or constructs (e.g. poetry, short story, memoir, etc.). During all such units students engage in a range of learning experiences that include opportunities to build reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Reading/Literature At each grade level students read to comprehend, interpret, and analyze a broad range of texts that act as the foundation for much of the curriculum per unit. 27

28 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 Core Texts Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Seedfolks; The Lightning Thief; Home of the Brave The Giver; The Diary of Anne Frank (play); The Outsiders Pathways (anthology); Of Mice and Men; To Kill a Mockingbird; Night; Animal Farm; A Midsummer Night s Dream The Odyssey; Romeo & Juliet; The Absolutely True Diary of a Parttime Indian; The Catcher in the Rye Macbeth; Things Fall Apart; The Things They Carried; The Scarlet Letter; The Great Gatsby; Their Eyes Were Watching God; Citizen; Walden (excerpts) Varies due to range of course offerings. Samples include: Beloved; Beowulf; The Glass Castle; The Stranger; various plays by Shakespeare. Supplemental/ optional texts and/or units of study Short stories (focus on the elements of fiction); Graphic Novel Book Club (choice book unit); various nonfiction articles, memoirs, etc.; weekly Sustained Silent Reading of books students select I used to think that writing was not stressed at all. In fact, now that I have kids who have graduated and kids still in middle school and high school, I better appreciate the developmental nature of the curriculum. -- Parent Short Stories; poetry; Sustained Silent Reading of books students select; various nonfiction articles and other works related to the core texts. Short stories; poetry; memoir; various nonfiction articles and other works related to fiction taught. The House on Mango Street; American Born Chinese; A Raisin in the Sun; short stories; nonfiction works; poetry The Dew Breaker; The Interpreter of Maladies; Antigone; Brave New World; Franken- Stein; Under the Feet of Jesus; poetry; nonfiction works; A Tale of Two Cities (H); literary criticism (H) The Things I Never Told You; The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; poetry; nonfiction works; Ragtime (H); literary criticism (H). Essays; poetry; short stories; blogs and other nonfiction works; graphic novels; memoir. As the chart makes clear, the core texts are only one facet of the reading experiences included in the ELA curriculum. While the number of core texts may appear low in some grades, the supplemental curriculum becomes more pronounced, leading to, for example: a unit in which students delve deeply into student-chosen memoirs and undertake relevant informational text research in 6th grade; a start-of-the-year unit on the short story in 7th grade during which students review key literary concepts learned the year before by applying them to a range of texts; the use of an anthology that includes short stories, memoirs, poetry and informational pieces at the start of 8th grade to build students understanding of how various genres can share common themes. Writing During their 6-12th grade ELA classes, students experience writing instruction that is aligned with district and state standards and that is based around common language and assessment elements developed collaboratively by grade/courselevel teachers and the department as a whole. This common language and these 28

29 I would like to write more for free writing instead of free reading. -- Student My freshman in college received an A- on her first paper. She credits this to the written communication skills she learning in the K-12 Weston system. -- Parent assessment tools, including the Universal Writing Rubric developed by the department in 2010, have cemented a shared focus for all classes so that as students progress from one year to the next, they can expect to apply previous writing concepts and constructs to the next year s class(es) (see Appendix). Students write regularly in the 6-12 ELA classroom. In middle school, students undertake 1-2 major pieces of writing per quarter, and these are supplemented by regular work in Writers Notebooks (6th), journals (7th-8th), in-class formal and informal writing in all grades (essays, personal response, short analytical responses as practice of skills and on quizzes and tests) and many opportunities for a range of expression, including creative writing, poetry, and presentations. In high school, these various forms of writing continue even as the analytical essay/paper becomes more of the focus of writing instruction. Skills in this area are developed both through work on full multi-paragraph essays along with shorter, focused pieces of writing to work on specific elements of analysis, including embedding evidence effectively, direct analysis of evidence, and crafting of analytical thesis statements and topic sentences. By the end of a student s secondary school career, he/she will be writing lengthy papers in a variety of forms, including multi-page analytic papers balanced with personal response and creative products. Opportunities to express ideas in other non-written forms (presentations, video, artistic products) are almost always accompanied by written explanation/analysis to ensure that the focus on writing is not lost even in these projects. 29

30 # of Assignments for Each Type of Writing per Quarter/Term (est.) Type of Writing Grade 6 - Eng Grade 6 - R&W Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 - CP Grade 10-H Grade 11-CP Grade 11-H Analytical/Essays - multi-paragraph 2/year 1 1 to to 2 (6-7/year) 1.5 (6 total/yr) 2 Analytical - short 1-2/term to to to 5 Narrative/other creative products 1 major/2-3 minor 1 major 1-2 major 1 to 2 approx to 2 (6-7/year) 1 narr./1 other 1 Informational (nonessays) 1 major research/ yr 0 1/year 2/year Journal/freewrite/informal writing 7-10 on avg. 12 on avg. approx to 2 4 to Cross-curricular collaboration opportunities [are needed]. Also, an increase of writing/reading in the other content areas, especially when it comes to nonfiction. -- Teacher Note:inHS,blockschedulingmeansclassesmeet 25x/term While the ELA curriculum is a key component of building students writing skills at the secondary level, students are honing those skills in other disciplines/classes including history and science, among others. Crossdiscipline teams have undertaken summer workshops to align their writing instruction in recent years, further ensuring that students skill-building is seen as cumulative, not linear. Thus the need for students to write constantly is achieved not only in English class but also in other classes throughout the day, week, quarter, and year. Speaking&Listening Developing students speaking and listening skills is fully integrated into the ELA secondary curriculum through the inclusion of a variety of experiences. Some of these include: Oral presentations about student-choice reading or shared texts Repetition is the key to learning undertaken individually or in groups. good writing, and the 5 Creation of video presentations demonstrating students interpretation paragraph essay does not of literature, poetry or other sources. suffice when in 9 th grade. Formalized class discussion experiences used as formative assessments -- Parent of students reading comprehension and critical thinking, including Socratic Seminar, group work, and individual contributions to wholeclass discussion. These are based on set curricular elements provided by the teacher including selected passages from texts, guiding questions 30

31 related to reading or other sources, or broad topics of inquiry/course or unit themes applied to multiple texts. A required Speech class at the high school level, designed for sophomores and required for all prior to graduation. This class focuses on developing students formal oral communication abilities through development of three core skill sets -- vocal delivery, physical delivery, and audience engagement. SecondaryDrama Students explore the dramatic process by working together to sharpen their acting skills. These include body movement, vocal expression, listening and concentration, imagination and spontaneity. They learn how to stage their ideas to communicate to an audience, and in turn, they learn to look critically at the performances of others. Students work as a team to create improvisational dramas and prepared scenes and monologues, using their own experiences as sources, as well as poems, music, and written dialogue. 31

32 SurveyQuestionResults Curriculum The(ELA/Drama(Curriculum(provides(dynamic(and(diverse(experiences(that(inform(and(cultivate(students (ability(to(think,( read,(write,(and(speak(with(excellence. In relation to the diversity and dynamism of the ELA/Drama curriculum, 78% (n=125 of 161 total) of respondents strongly agreed/agreed that the curriculum provides a diverse, dynamic experience; however as 9 respondents indicated the question did not apply, in fact 82% (n=125 of 152) of those for whom it did apply strongly agreed/agreed. 71% of all respondents (n=113 of 158) strongly agreed/agreed that the curriculum is aligned with standards and learning goals; however, 29 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (18%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, a full 87% strongly agreed/agreed (n=113 out of 129). 54% of all respondents (n=80 of 149) strongly agreed/agreed that assessments inform curricular changes; however it should be noted that a total of 49 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (31%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, a full 78% strongly agreed/agreed (n=80 out of 103). 32

33 69% of all respondents (n=109 of 157) strongly agreed/agreed that students experience coherent and sequenced curriculum; however it should be noted that 14 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (9%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, a full 76% strongly agreed/agreed (n=109 out of 143). 33

34 Reflections/AnalysisofSurvey'Curriculum Parents The results indicate that the majority of parents who felt they could answer these questions (see next item) agree or strongly agree with the descriptions of the ELA/Drama curriculum contained in the survey, though the large number who did not answer or answered N/A to the question regarding assessments informing curriculum was somewhat striking (see chart below). Question % of ALL parents who Agree/Strongly Agree % of parents for whom question was applicable who Agree/Strongly Agree Diversity and dynamism of the ELA/Drama curriculum Aligned with standards and learning goals Assessments inform curricular changes Students experience coherent and sequenced curriculum The results of the assessment question above and the comments parents offered in this section indicate a lack of clarity about the ELA curriculum and a need for greater communication about how it is developed and how it is impacted by results from student assessments. For the first three questions, from 72 parent respondents, 22 comments of I don t know, I have no way of knowing this, or asking a question indicating a lack of knowledge was the single most common thread in this section. Student survey results While, again, the questions for students were not identical to those on the survey for faculty and parents, the results indicate a greater understanding of the curriculum and an appreciation for its overall design. Question % Agree/Strongly Agree Provides a variety of engaging experience 94 Elementary curriculum balanced 94 Secondary curriculum balanced 92 Understand/can explain purpose of work 89 Demonstrate what I know through assessment 83 Find reading engaging 77 Clearly one area for consideration is the level of engagement students feel when reading assigned texts. 34

35 According to the survey questions that were directed at and answered only by teachers who have responsibility for ELA/literacy education, 98% of teachers report having clear knowledge of the Massachusetts standards and learning goals relevant to their course/grade. In addition, 80% state that the standards account for % of what they teach compared to 18% of teachers who report that the standards inform 50-74% of what they teach and a mere 2% of teachers who responded that the standards account for only 25-49% of what they teach. While teachers report strong knowledge of the standards and their application to reading and writing curriculum, the survey also reveals that there is less certainty about the language/grammar/vocabulary and the foundational skills standards. % Responding Agree/Strongly Agree to Curriculum Survey Questions Reading Writing Language [grammar, vocabulary, mechanics] Foundational Skills [phonics, word recognition, fluency] Knowledge of the standards Sufficient standardsaligned curricular materials Common assessments within in the same grade or course, regardless of instructor Common content within the same grade or course regardless of instructor These results align with themes that emerged in comments from other stakeholders (see chart on page 17) about Weston s implementation of the language and the foundational skills standards. Teachers report diminished consistency in assessments and course content in these areas, which could result in a student having an uneven experience through the grades. Although approximately 40% of respondents reported that they do not feel that curricular materials, assessment, or content are employed or delivered consistently. While 95% of teachers report a high degree of satisfaction with curricular materials to support our typically achieving students, 18% and 24% of teachers report dissatisfaction with curricular materials to support our lowest and highest achieving students, respectively. 35

36 Degree of satisfaction with curricular materials to support the following groups of students: Agree/Strongly Agree/NA Disagree/Strongly disagree Lowest achieving students 82% 18% Typically achieving students 95% 5% High achieving students 76% 24% Overall, feedback from teachers about the ELA/Drama curriculum indicates the following: A very high % of teachers report clear knowledge of the standards taught. Writing curriculum has undergone recent shifts in K-5 to include genres that are standards aligned. The writing in the secondary classes has become more uniform horizontally (across teachers of the same grade) and vertically (more clearly developmental from one year to the next) Most teachers report having sufficient curricular support. 36

37 Reflections/AnalysisofResearchandSiteVisits'Curriculum Research Creating engagement through curricular choices for both reading and writing is central to student productivity and success. Incorporating more choice across reading and writing experiences is one key way to increase engagement. Communication of the purpose of work and its relevance to standards and learning goals aids in creating relevancy for students. Curriculum should include a wide range of reading genres and writing tasks, including non-fiction reading and persuasive writing, which has been undertaken horizontally in Weston PreK-12 but not yet vertically to best spiral skill development. Learning progressions have been shown to significantly strengthen student learning. Interactive read alouds/the use of text sets lead to increased literary understanding and strengthen students ability to synthesize across texts, a major goal of the state standards. Integrated curriculum leads to increased strategy use, conceptual learning, and text understanding. It also builds vocabulary. Students benefit from writing constantly, best achieved by incorporating writing experiences that range from quick-write to lengthier, multi-step products (as grade-appropriate). SiteVisits The curriculum at all levels is relatively comparable to that of like districts. Elementary: The elementary level is integrating more nonfiction texts and short texts rather than focusing heavily on chapter books. Comparable districts have adopted Fundations to address phonics needs in the primary and continue to struggle with programmatic choices for the intermediate. Like Weston, most comparable school districts are exploring viable options for spelling and word study at the intermediate level. Other districts have more developed reading curriculum, based mostly on mentor text sets that are used during interactive read alouds. Research strongly supports the practice of interactive read alouds. The same is true of writing: comparable districts have developed and implemented more explicit learning progressions based on the work of Lucy Calkins Writing Pathways. A couple of districts use Text Talk for vocabulary instruction, but none indicated that they are seeing great efficacy as a result of its implementation. In the elementary schools, Weston has been moving towards more integrated units of curriculum, whereas others have maintained more distinct times during the school day for teaching the different curricular areas. Secondary: At the secondary level, many of the core texts are the same or comparable by grade level, and most of the writing products are similar and occur, taking into account varying schedules, with comparable frequency. 37

38 Most districts with Honors level high school classes incorporate more canonical texts at the higher level, sometimes jettisoning the high-interest, less traditional texts read in CP. In comparison, Weston retains more common reading experiences between CP and Honors, in part to better enable movement between levels from one year to the next without creating significant gaps in learning. Lincoln-Sudbury offers a wide range of semester courses from 10th grade on, while most others have a more similar model to ours with consistent curriculum through at least 11th grade (shared themes/genres for each year). 38

39 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsideration'Curriculum 1. Given that slightly over 20% of the teachers surveyed indicate that less than 75% of their curriculum is standards-aligned, what is the optimal amount of alignment to ensure students are achieving at or beyond the State standards? 2. How can we meet the apparent need for more professional development, materials, and curriculum planning around Language and Foundational standards? 3. How can we best achieve consistent calibration of what student achievement looks like as part of addressing the need for greater vertical alignment? 4. How can we ensure that teachers have sufficient standards-aligned materials for low- and high-achieving students? 5. Does our curriculum include sufficient writing experiences of sufficiently varied types? 6. Does our elementary reading curriculum need more definition that can be provided through units structured around text sets/author studies/genre? 7. How might we best address the concern for higher standards in oral presentations regarding student clarity, volume, and pacing? 8. Does our reading curriculum include sufficiently engaging texts at varying levels for all learners? Drama-related: 9. Courses like Musical Theater, Theater for Social Issues, and Playwriting are offered in thriving HS drama programs. WHS could consider how to facilitate offering similar classes, which could also be considered for Honors credit as appropriate, to provide students with these kinds of specialized interests an outlet to pursue them. 39

40 Instruction While encouraging students to take risks and become critical thinkers, teachers use knowledge of the ELA/Drama standards to educate, assess and motivate through a wide range of instructional strategies, including whole-class, small group, and individualized instruction. Teachers endeavor to meet the needs of all learners by providing support for struggling students and extension activities for those demonstrating mastery of content to allow for differentiated learning, enhanced by the creative use of technology. Assessments, formal and informal, formative and summative, are embedded into these instructional practices, and shared grading of common assessments aids in creating a consistent instructional practice across teachers of each grade. Elementary In Weston, the goal of literacy instruction is meaningful communication and higher level thinking skills. Teachers plan for student learning to be based on authentic acts of reading, writing, and communicating. Skills and strategies are taught to support these acts, not as isolated activities. They are taught explicitly, and teachers determine what level of support to provide based on how an individual child is performing. The workshop model enables teachers to have a structure through which they can teach the whole class, small groups, and individuals in flexible groupings. Clearly defined routines help to move students through daily literacy experiences. These experiences incorporate choice, student backgrounds, and interests. Teachers differentiate instruction so that all students are taught in their zone of proximal development, and extra support is provided for those who are learning more slowly and need more opportunities to receive explicit instruction or to practice. In the elementary classroom, teachers aim to spend roughly sixty to seventy-five minutes a day in the reading workshop and forty-five minutes three to four times a week in the writing workshop. Within these time frames, there is variation in the percentage of time individual teachers spend on whole class, small group, and individual instruction, as well as reading and writing in the content areas. 40

41 Average Weekly Instructional Time for Reading and Writing in the Elementary Classrooms Grade Reading Writing Additional Instructional Moments K minutes minutes 180 minutes interactive read aloud; 100 minutes word work minutes includes read alouds, word study, phonics, content area reading 180 minutes Phonics built into morning meeting; Independent reading time minutes 135 minutes 60 minutes for word study/phonics; minutes for read alouds plus content area learning Average of 150 minutes in the workshop plus content area writing minutes independent reading; reading conferences; spelling club; read aloud minutes 180 minutes 90 minutes spelling/word work minutes 200 minutes, plus content area writing The choices of texts are very good and represent diverse backgrounds and stories. -- Parent 20 minutes for word study/grammar In the primary and intermediate grades, instruction begins with the analysis of assessment results. Teachers administer the Teacher s College reading assessment three times a year. Based on the results, teachers are able to determine what kinds of strategic actions students apply to text of different complexity levels. Teachers can group this data to ascertain what skills and strategies they will teach to the whole class, a small group, or individuals. Texts that the child reads with an accuracy between 94-97% are in the instructional range; whereas those the child can read with a higher level of accuracy and comprehension are considered independent reading. Students read by themselves at their independent level and receive guidance in the form of teaching, prompting and reinforcing from the teacher to their instructional level. In addition to the Teachers College assessment, teachers at different grade levels also assess a students knowledge of letters, concepts about print, understanding of sound/symbol connections, sight words, phonological awareness/phonemic awareness/phonics, spelling, and the automaticity with which they are able to perform these functions. (See appendix for details) Whole class instruction usually takes the form of interactive read alouds and explicit minilessons. In an interactive read aloud, a teacher selects a book or a portion of text that has some combination of the following attributes: it connects to curriculum; it contains interesting language; it connects to children s lives; it reflects our diverse world; it helps students to learn about genre; or it helps to expand student thinking. She introduces it in a way that engages the listeners, activates their background knowledge, reveals the writer s literary devices, or asks children to to draw conclusions, etc. From time to time, the teacher will stop reading and give time for the students to engage in text related talk. At the end of the text, the discussion focuses on what they have learned, the meaning of the text, and a reflection about their conversation. 41

42 Teach cursive Assign papers at the lower levels to be written by hand, not typed. -- Parent I think cursive writing should continue to be taught not as an afterthought or add-on. -- Teacher Teachers will often cluster several texts together in a text set. The purpose of a text set is to create an opportunity for children to synthesize across texts to explore different treatments of character, theme, literary devices, etc. Hence, through interactive read aloud, students and their teacher create a literate culture. When a teacher determines that roughly half the class could benefit from a specific point of explicit instruction, she may refrain from presenting this to the whole class and instead provide the necessary instruction to small groups of students. These can take the form of guided reading groups, skills groups, or book clubs. In guided reading, students who are reading at roughly the same instructional level work together in a group with the teacher and learn how to read more complex text. In the other two instructional contexts, the level of text does not play a role. Here, the teacher works on particular skill or students are grouped heterogeneously to read a text and study its literary elements. Thus, the literate community that is cultivated through interactive read aloud deepens through small group meetings. When a student is not meeting with a teacher in a small group or for whole class instruction, the student is expected to read independently and write in response to that reading. The research on reading achievement and independent reading is unequivocal: a high volume of easy, engaging reading makes the biggest difference in helping a student to become a fluent, proficient reader. During this time, the teacher may conference with the individual and, based on what the child is saying and doing, will re-teach, prompt for, or reinforce cutting edge learning. Writing Writing instruction has many similarities with reading instruction. In writing, students are instructed in whole class, small group, and individual contexts. Like reading, there is often an exemplar text that is used in a whole class context in order for students to have a collective experience to share, to discuss, and from which to construct additional knowledge about writing skills and strategies. In a whole class lesson, the teacher models, thinks aloud, and demonstrates the skill or strategy using her own writing in an explicit minilesson. Small group instruction takes place in different ways. In one method, a teacher gathers all of the children who need instruction on a similar writing strategy and teaches them together at a table. In another small group instructional context, a teacher asks students to stay with her on the rug after whole class instruction. Here, she might repeat the lesson for particular students, if necessary, or she might engage them in guided practice. In guided practice, the teacher and students might write a piece together using the strategy or skill that was taught to the whole group. Once students feel they have more control over the new learning, they leave the rug area and work on their own individual piece of writing. Finally, students take what they have learned in whole class and small group contexts and apply it to their own individual writing. In writing, students complete a Developmental Writer s Assessment each year. In addition to informing the instruction of the current year s teacher, this work sample is scored and passed on in a progress monitoring/assessment folder to next year s teacher. Teachers do not typically use this assessment to create 42

43 Writing curriculum is standardized, but phonemic awareness and reading instruction is all over the place. -- Teacher groupings the way they do with reading assessments. Instead, it gives the classroom teacher a general look at a student s preferred genre and skills. In K-5, students are taught to write narrative, opinion, and informative pieces. Each year, there is an expectation that student writing will grow in sophistication in these genres. These changes are shaped by the Massachusetts State Frameworks. While we do not have a commercial or packaged curriculum with lessons to advance this learning, many teachers use the work of Lucy Calkins or Tony Stead (two leading experts in the teaching of writing) to guide daily instruction. In addition to the types of writing mentioned thus far, students spend time applying the skills they have learned during writing workshop in the content areas. They also write in response to their reading. Often times, these responses take the form of letters to their teachers about their reading. These journals enable a teacher to see the kind of thinking a student is doing about reading and provide feedback on that thinking. Grammar,Vocabulary Phonics,WordStudy,Spelling At the elementary level, the state English Language Arts Language Standards guide our teaching of grammar and vocabulary acquisition and usage. Likewise, the Foundational Skills standards guide our teaching of alphabetic principles, concepts about print, and other basic conventions of the English writing system. These broad guidelines help us to define the understandings our students should have at the end of each grade. However, it has been an ongoing discussion amongst the faculty that we need more clarity and consistency when it comes to teaching these skills. Currently, our faculty uses a variety of resources for instruction. They include lessons from Words Their Way, Fountas and Pinnell Phonics Lessons, Fundations, Scholastic, consumable spelling books, Pinterest, and other sources. Likewise, for vocabulary instruction, teachers instruct in the context of science and social studies units and through words that are encountered in text. Secondary I have been awed by the complexity of questions asked of English students at the high school level. -- Parent At the secondary level students develop their critical thinking, speaking, reading and writing skills through instruction that, while variable by course and teacher particularly in the high school grades with its wider range of course offerings, is grounded on grade-wide standards, learning goals, and practices developed by teams of teachers. Students experience a range of classroom approaches to the study of literature, writing, grammar, and vocabulary. These include collaborative learning opportunities, including group work, Socratic Seminar, pair work, and other student-to-student processing opportunities. All of this student-centered learning is grounded in the teachers goal-setting for the lesson, unit, and course. 43

44 The literature the kids read is very thoughtful. -- Parent I wish the reading list once you get into high school was not so depressing. -- Parent The feedback that the teachers give is thought-provoking. Many teachers give critiques in the form of questions. While at first it seems frustrating, I ve come to appreciate this form of correction as it makes you think and become more selfsufficient. -- Student I find the teachers vary in their emphasis on writing well One pushed for writing and rewriting assignments; the other did not. -- Parent Reading Teachers design reading instruction at the secondary level to focus on literacy development in relation to interpretation and critical thinking. While instruction is intended first to ensure that students understand the facts of the text, teachers scaffold from there to provide a range of entry points to the interpretation of texts. Approaches to reading instruction may include: Reading aloud by the teacher as students read along, including paused moments to check for understanding, followed by small group work answering questions that require both comprehension and interpretation. Socratic Seminar directed by the teacher: the teacher develops a starting question/series of questions about a key passage or section of a text, and students, usually in a fishbowl seating arrangement (inner circle discusses/outer circle observes, and later they switch places) use the teacher s questions to analyze the text. Provision of visual or other related media that provide an extension of students understanding of core texts and units. Teachers collect such resources and use them strategically throughout a unit of study to guide class discussion or other activities. Examples include primary source materials students compare to a fictional account of a historical event in groups; videos of author interviews students are asked to interpret in relation to a text to gain an understanding of authorial intent; graphic novel representations of challenging texts (such as The Odyssey) to provide students (particularly visual learners, ELL students, and others for whom texts are challenging) with an additional reading resource. Writing For their lengthier pieces of writing undertaken in grades 6-8 and in grades 9-12 in all CP level classes, students are provided with scaffolding to include in-class brainstorming/thesis writing, outlining or other organization of ideas, drafting, peer and teacher feedback, and revision in and out of class. Examples of common instructional approaches include: Reviewing models of the various elements of the assignment (thesis, topic sentences, embedding of evidence, concluding paragraphs, etc.) as a class that are either exemplary, about which the students will discuss what makes them so, or that need improvement, for which the students will work collaboratively to identify problems and paths to improvement. Being guided through peer editing experiences, which again often begin with teacher modeling of how to identify strengths and weaknesses and how to apply teacher-created checklists, questions, or the assignment rubric to this editing process. As students work to provide useful feedback to their peers, teachers circulate to verify their work and its usefulness. Conferencing one-on-one with teachers during the drafting and polishing phases of writing. This may include teachers checking in with each student on one key component (circulating and checking thesis statements of all students, for example), or if students are writing in-class over multiple days, teachers may set up a conference for five or more minutes with each student to review their full document. 44

45 I think more time should be spent on grammar. -- Student Vocabulary is covered well. -- Student GrammarandVocabulary Grammar: The department articulated a scope and sequence for core and supplemental grammar concepts to be taught grades Teachers use this document, augmented by what they identify as areas of weakness based on student writing, to provide focused instruction in grammar. Students undertake this study through both stand-alone grammar lessons/units and through minilessons used to work on specific areas of weakness. Examples of instructional approaches include: A minilesson about a grammar concept followed by work with traditional grammar texts (Warriner s is most common) exercises. A series of lessons focused on comma usage that explain the various rules and purposes related to commas followed by focus evaluation of comma usage in the next major writing assignment. Instruction of a grammatical construct, such as sentence structure variety, followed by a revision process of a current work-in-progress to include as many useful sentence structures as possible (ex. not simply subject-verb-object but also compound, compound-complex, etc.) Vocabulary: Students generally study vocabulary words that are culled from the texts they read in each grade. These are therefore reading-level appropriate words that students will encounter both in their texts and elsewhere, maximizing their usefulness to students literacy development. The one exception to this approach is that in 11th grade students study words that are most likely to appear on the current version of the SAT to aid them in their preparation for that test. Instructional approaches to the study of vocabulary include: Provision of lists of words, source citations, and definitions that students review with teacher guidance as a whole class and/or in small groups, referencing their texts to see the word in context, and then discussing how the formal definition is or is not exactly how the word is being used by the author. At the middle school, review activities in which students create skits that incorporate either the actual words, used correctly, or scenes that relate to a word that their audience must then identify. At the high school, review activities include creation of sentences or stories using all words on a list correctly (may be done individually or in groups). SecondaryDrama The Weston drama program has During their 6-8th grade Drama classes, each middle school student experiences three nine-week long courses of drama. Each course is helped me grow as a speaker anchored in experiences that range from stand alone lessons to weeklong projects that are designed to include everyone in class, and their and interpret text better than any English class ever could. broad set of experiences and comfort levels. -- Student The drama classroom is a community, where instructional time is given to build trust and respect systematically, and to encourage and protect appropriate risk-taking by all students. High school students can choose to build on the middle school experiences and access an acting instruction strand and a technical The drama program certainly theater strand. Students will develop, create, produce, write and encourages students to take perform in projects ranging from self-scripted pieces to a range of risks. established dramatic works. -- Parent 45

46 SurveyQuestionResults Instruction 69% of all respondents (n=109 out of 159) strongly agreed/agreed that students are encouraged to take risks and think critically; only 5 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (3%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, the statistical difference is minor: 71% (109/154). 82% of all respondents (n=129 out of 157) strongly agreed/agreed that instructional approaches are varied and engaging; only 7 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (5%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, the statistical difference is relatively minor: 84% (129/150). 46

47 68% of all respondents (n=107 out of 157) strongly agreed/agreed that students experience sufficient differentiation; however, it should be noted that 12 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (8%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, the a full 74% (107/145) agreed with the statement. 67% of all respondents (n=101 out of 155) strongly agreed/agreed that assessments provide feedback and inform instruction; however, it should be noted that 20 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (13%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, the a full 75% (101/135) agreed with the statement. 47

48 A very high percentage of respondents believe that the teaching of handwriting and keyboarding are important: 90% and 86% Agree/Strongly Agree that they value this instruction respectively. 48

49 Reflections/AnalysisofSurvey'Instruction While the overall results are positive in relation to questions about instruction, when the parent responses are analyzed separately, some clear differences in the degree of agreement arise: Question % of ALL Respondents Agree/Strongly Agree % of ALL Parents Agree/Strongly Agree % of Respondents for whom question was applicable* Agree/Strongly Agree % of Parents for whom question was applicable* Agree/Strongly Agree students are encouraged to take risks and think critically instructional approaches are varied and engaging students experience sufficient differentiation assessments provide feedback and inform instruction * N/A results removed Parents feel a need for greater differentiation in instruction and more effective feedback on assessments. One issue that arose through the comments, particularly of students who disagreed with some statements, is that instructional practices and abilities vary grade to grade and teacher to teacher. The community as a whole supports the continuation of the direct instruction of handwriting and keyboarding. While no consistent pattern of comments appeared in relation to these questions from parents, a few did mention their perception that at the secondary level, teachers rely too heavily on one-onone meetings with students to provide differentiation, rather than incorporating it into the classroom. 49

50 Students, however, report a very different experience in response to similar questions about feedback and variety of instructional practices: Question (Student Survey) % Agree/Strongly Agree Have grown as a learner due to feedback 91 Feel able to take risks 80 Range of activities to help learning 90 In the questions pertaining to feedback, parents expressed great concern while students indicate that they find the feedback very useful. This indicates either a disconnect between student experience and parent perception, a lack of clear communication about feedback to parents, or some other issue that should be examined further. 50

51 ReflectionsonAnalysisofResearchandSiteVisits'Instruction Research SiteVisits Instruction in reading and writing should be based on building independence within a system of scaffolded support; instruction at all levels should be based on the teacher s gradual release of responsibility in which the teacher creates the framework for learning (articulation of purpose and goals, modeling of practices, formative assessment, etc.) and scaffolding that allows each student to achieve independence at his/her optimal moment. The differentiation of instruction necessary for this to occur effectively is extensive, and something teachers need to develop collaboratively to ensure that it occurs for as wide a range of learners as possible. More learning progress is made through engaging in authentic reading and writing tasks such as shared reading, choral reading, and interactive writing compared to instruction in isolation such as rote tasks and assignments. Research favors teaching the integration of strategic moves on text rather than single strand teaching because good readers use strategies simultaneously. Much research has been done on the dangers of teaching to the test as compared to building comprehension, analytical, and other expressive skills. Weston has a history of strong results on MCAS without teaching to the test, and yet we must find the balance between that intention and ensuring our students learning prepares them for new computer-based test experiences and content. Reading instruction at the secondary level must continue to employ literacy skill building, to enhance skills related to comprehension coupled with critical thinking. Elementary: The reading and writing workshop models are widely used. Weston averages 290 minutes of reading instruction a week, while our comparable districts average closer to 450 minutes a week. The use of Leveled Literacy Intervention, an intervention teaching tool, has significantly decreased the number of at risk readers in Weston and surrounding areas. Secondary: The most innovative instructional practices we observed were taking place at those schools with the least similarity to Weston, most notably the Francis Parker charter school. Instruction occurred in arts/humanities teams of teachers, who can thus instruct collaboratively, better differentiating to meet the needs of their students. Students also study with their arts/humanities teachers for a 2-hour block, creating time for a wider range of instructional activities, small-group instruction, etc. Many, if not most, of the comparable school districts employ the same kinds of instructional practices we observe within the classes in Weston -- direct instruction/lecture, small group, fishbowl/socratic Seminar, mini-lessons, and the like. Many comparable schools report struggling with differentiation of instruction, similar to what our survey results indicate. 51

52 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsideration'Instruction 1. How well do we provide sufficient differentiation in instruction to reach all learners? How can we support teachers so that they feel they can effectively differentiate? 2. Are we using the best assessment tools? What next steps are need to identify benchmarks and thresholds for each tool in order to evaluate the risk/progress of particular students and to make informed intervention choices? 3. How well do we use assessment effectively to provide useful feedback and make instructional choices to benefit students? 4. How can we reconcile that parents and students feel differently about feedback? 5. Are increased instructional minutes for reading necessary? If so, how might that be achieved? 6. What additional methodologies (shared reading, guided writing, interactive writing) might we want to consider adding in the workshop model? 7. What gets in the way of students feeling like they can be risk-takers and critical thinkers? How might we remove these obstacles? 8. To what extent is the student experience from teacher to teacher and/or year to year as variable in quality as some respondents (parents and students) report? What might we do to address inconsistencies? 52

53 CommunicationandCommunity: Weston s ELA/Drama department works to communicate with and respond to the community it serves consistently and effectively. It works to incorporate the history and interests of the community, which extend beyond Weston town lines to include the varied backgrounds and experiences of our students, their families, our faculty and staff. By partnering and communicating with families, teachers grow their understandings of our students capabilities, communities and cultures. This knowledge enables us to enrich conversations, refine curricular decisions, and match instructional practices to the children we serve. Through various publications and performances, the community is invited to celebrate the development of our students highly literate lives. The PreK-12 ELA/Drama program works to integrate the community in order to be responsive to the needs and interests of the wide range of students we serve. This includes but is not limited to: Elementary Very little comes back in the course of the year, especially for the kids that are on track. -- Parent Integration of the Case campus into science/literacy units. Grades K, 1, 4, and 5 now visit and use the vernal pools as part of their science units. These units include reading and writing in the content areas Development of the fifth grade integrated unit: Exploring the Health of the Case Estates All grade levels host celebrations of learning that highlight the literacy accomplishments of our students: Frog Blog (Grade K); High School Reading Buddies (Grade K); Eric Carle Celebration ELA/Art integration (K); Children s Day (grade 1); People Who Make a Difference (grade 2); Bug Play (grade 3); Poetry Morning (grade 3); Habitat Project (grade 3); Young Author s Celebration (grade 4); Wax Museum (grade 5) Many grades host local guest authors and illustrators as a result of generous funding through WEEFC: David Biedrzcki, Giles Laroche, Lyn Littlefield Hoopes, Alastair Moock, Bill Harley, and Judith Moffatt Classroom blogs, websites, newsletters ELA parent forums at most grade levels about grade level expectations/curriculum; transitions to new assessments (standards based report card, PARCC) Secondary The [drama] program fosters an appreciation of performance as a participant and as a viewer. -- Parent Public performances of dramatic pieces that, while originating out of the drama co-curricular experience overall, are supported and informed by the students curricular experiences Poetry Slams at the high school at which students read their own poetry or otherwise perform poetic-related pieces (their own songs, for instance), held twice per year Participation in middle school in the Scripps Spelling Bee since 2014 Publication of the high school student newspaper, Wildcat Tracks, both in printed form and on-line, making the news of the school along with students writing available to all Publication of the annual literary magazine, The Current, showcasing students creative writing 53

54 Invitations to parents to attend various events, including presentations of major projects at the middle school, parents as visiting speakers to talk about their family history in relation to a text, etc. Teachers regularly send parents updates on their classes in the form of newsletters, s, blogs, and updates to Infinite Campus Special events involving authors to link to curricular moments in various grades, such as Jack Gantos and poets who work with high school classes during poetry units/classes 54

55 SurveyQuestionResults CommunicationandCommunity 69% of all respondents (n=108 out of 156) strongly agreed/agreed that the department incorporates the community s interests; however, it should be noted that 18 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (12%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, a full 78% (108/138) agreed with the statement. 78% of all respondents (n=122 out of 156) strongly agreed/agreed that the department invites the community to celebrate student literacy; however, it should be noted that 11 respondents indicated that this question Does not Apply (7%). Thus for those respondents for whom it did apply, 84% (122/145) agreed with the statement. 55

56 Reflections/AnalysisofSurvey'CommunicationandCommunity When parent response to the questions above is compared to the overall responses, the results remain quite positive: Question % of ALL Respondents Agree/Strongly Agree % of ALL Parents Agree/Strongly Agree % of Respondents for whom question was applicable* Agree/Strongly Agree % of Parents for whom question was applicable* Agree/Strongly Agree incorporates the community s interests invites the community to celebrate student literacy * N/A results removed While no consistent comment strand emerged in relation to these questions, a few comments did express dissatisfaction with how much graded work and other student products come home with their children across all grades. 56

57 Topics/QuestionsforFurtherConsideration Communicationand Community 1. Do we offer sufficient opportunities for the community we serve to celebrate our students work and to engage with the learning that occurs in our classrooms? 2. How might we more effectively communicate with parents about the program and their child s work? 3. How might we better communicate and engage in both dialogue and celebration about the literary lives of our students? 57

58 APPENDICES AppendixA Assessments OverviewofAssessments MCAS PARCC AdvancedPlacement(AP) AppendixB Research Elementary Secondary AppendixC Surveys Instruments Demographics Teacher'specificResults AppendixD ComparableCommunities Overview SiteVisitReports AppendixE HighSchoolCourseOfferings AppendixF UniversalWritingRubric 58

59 Assessment Name Teachers College Reading Assessment (TCT) Developing Writer s Assessment (DWA) Benchmark Assessment System (BAS) DIBELS Phonemic Awareness task Clay s letter task Observation Survey Phonics Screener (Isabel Beck) Kindergarten word list; Ohio Word test; WARP Subject Grades OVERVIEWOFASSESSMENTS Administrations per year Reading K-5 3 Writing K-5 1 Reading K-5 As needed basis Same as TCT. Early literacy skills Rhyming, Alliteratives, Onset/rimes, phoneme substitution, phoneme isolation Letter names and sounds Early literacy skills K 2-3 K 2-3 K Phonics 1-5 As needed basis Sight Words K-5 3 Names Test Phonics Dictation tasks Sound/ symbol K-3 3 Purpose Ascertain student s strengths and areas of need on text. Specifically focuses on fluency and comprehension performance at independent reading level and instructional reading level. Documents student growth over time. Assesses individual strengths and weaknesses so that student writers may be grouped according to common needs. Examines growth in the following areas: sentence structure; punctuation; letter formation; spelling; supporting details; word choice; sentence variation; opening; transitions; development of ideas; closing. Documents student growth over time. Measures student accuracy and fluency on first sound and phoneme segmentation, letter naming, blending Measures student s ability to hear and manipulate units of sounds in words. Documents student growth over time. Measures a student s ability to recognize and name upper and lower case letter forms and match them with sounds Measures student knowledge of letter names/sounds; concepts about print; sight words; sound symbol understanding; text reading (includes the Ohio Word test) Measures a student s knowledge of short vowel sounds, consonant sounds, long vowel patterns, silent e, blends, digraphs, diphthongs in real and nonsense words as well as their ability to decode 2, 3, and multisyllabic words Measures the student s knowledge of a continuum of increasingly complex sight words Measures a student s ability to decode a name composed of specific letter configurations such as blends, welded sounds, suffixes, use of silent e, etc. Measures a student s ability to segment the phonemes in a word and match the phonemes with a corresponding letter symbol or group of symbols AppendixA Participants All students K-5 All students K-5 Students identified as below grade level whose progress is being monitored more frequently Students identified as below grade level All K students All K students Students identified as below grade level Students with poor spelling or decoding on TCT or BAS All students K-3; Grades 4&5: Students identified as below grade level Students identified as below grade level K/1: All students Grades 2&3: students identified as below grade level

60 MCAS (as of ) MCAS (prior to ) PARCC ( / ) District Determined Measures (DDMs) Common Assessments AP English Literature Exam ELA 10 1 ELA ELA 3-8/3-8 2/1 ELA 6-12 ELA 6-12 Varies; each at least twice for baseline and summative data, usually with one or more formative assessments in between Once as summative assessment of a unit of study ELA 12 1 To determine student s ELA knowledge and skills in reading and writing development as measured against MA Curriculum Frameworks and Standards To determine student s ELA knowledge and skills in reading and writing development as measured against MA Curriculum Frameworks and Standards To determine student s ELA knowledge and skills in reading and writing development as measured against the Common Core State Standards To determine, across a course or grade, each student s ability to demonstrate understanding of a key skill or concept for that course/grade. To determine each student s proficiency with a specific assessment task or knowledge of a set of information. To determine student s comprehension and analytical understanding of literary constructs (prose, poetry, fiction, nonfiction), their ability to apply literary terminology effectively to such constructs, and their skill at writing effectively about what they have read. All grade 10 students All grades 3-10 students All grades 3-8 students All students at each grade level/course. All students of a grade level/course Students enrolled in AP English Literature during their senior year

61 MCASELAResults,2011'2014&2015(Grade10,only) Grade 3 (CS) Grade 3 (WS) Grade 4

62 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7

63 Grade 8 Grade 10 Grade

64 PARCCELAResults WestonPublicSchools AllStudents ByGrade'2015 %(OF(STUDENTS(SCORING(AT(EACH(LEVEL Level1 Level2 Level3 Level4 Level GRADE(3 GRADE(4 GRADE(5 GRADE(6 GRADE(7 GRADE(8

65 APEnglishLiteratureExamResults WestonHighSchool 2011'2015 Year % of scores 3 or above Avg. Score % % % % % 4

66 AppendixB ElementaryLiteracyResearch What helps students to become readers? High volumes of text read with strong comprehension and accuracy, >98% In school, eyes on text independent reading lasting at least minutes The amount of time reading is the best predictor of reading achievement. Readers must have protected time to read a lot of texts which are at their independent level. What helps students to become writers? Like readers, writers need long stretches of time to practice writing. Quantitatively, this amounts to 4 days a week, 45 minutes each time. This amount of time on writing practice has been shown to get children to compose even when they aren t composing (Newkirk, 2013). It also helps students to become fluent and build stamina. Checklists are useful tools to support goal setting and self-assessment. The emphasis on the writing process that surfaced in the 1970s is still supported by research today. This approach allows students to experience the authentic progress of published authors. Practice is not enough, though. It must be supplemented with explicit minilessons which teach writing strategies, along with responsive teaching and feedback through small groups and individual conferences. Is integration between ELA and content areas a luxury or a necessity? Cervetti and colleagues (2007) found that an approach that enabled students to make connections between experience and reading, strategies and content, literary and scientific texts led to increased student s strategy use, conceptual learning and text comprehension compared to those who received more traditional models of instruction. According to Pearson, Moje, and Greenleaf (2010), science provides a setting in which students are intellectually obligated to make sense of data, draw inferences, construct arguments based on evidence, infer word meanings, and, of course, construct meanings for text the very dispositions required of as good readers and writers. Why is vocabulary acquisition important? Do students build knowledge and vocabulary through reading? Research has shown that differences in students vocabulary banks is a significant factor in achievement disparities. Embedding conversations during the day (minilessons, book clubs, text talks) involves students in meaningful talk which builds vocabulary. According to Columbia Teachers College s review of the research, the single most important thing you can do to enhance your children s knowledge of words is to lure your children into lots and lots and lots of reading. If children read a diverse range of books, they ll encounter a wider range of words. Reading curriculum units support students as they learn how to grasp new ideas and concepts that pertain to specific topics.

67 These units also support both domain specific vocabulary and academic vocabulary. With reading units, children with limited reading skills build vocabulary and knowledge. Krashen study states, conscious language learning does not appear to be as efficient as acquisition from input. How are comprehension skills and strategies best taught to support reading achievement? Modeling strategies used by proficient readers is far more effective than assigning tasks during a workshop. Modeling strategies enables readers to use them when they are negotiating their own text reading. Strategies need to be taught as coordinated moves, not singly, because good readers use strategies simultaneously, not one at a time. Are interactive read alouds for entertainment or are they an effective teaching tool? Interactive read alouds create opportunities for students and teachers to talk about text. These exchanges enable teachers to model the invisible thinking moves of strategic readers. They give students opportunities to practice these moves and skills. Specifically, read alouds help students to self-monitor and comprehend better. Titles must be selected with intentionality and planning is essential. Studies have shown that read alouds resulted in more responses that demonstrated a more advanced literary understanding and a better understanding of how the text was crafted for the reader (Flint, 2013). Which approach to phonics/foundational skills has the biggest impact on student learning? Phonics and foundational skills can be taught through balanced literacy components such as shared and choral reading, shared writing, and interactive writing. There have been studies conducted which have compared reading growth between classrooms where students engage primarily in learning phonics, and classrooms where students are engaged in authentic reading and writing which have concluded that the students in classrooms who were engaged in authentic activities made more progress (Allington, 2012). [C]hildren who reflected upon and discussed the value, the application, and utility of phonemic awareness for the activity of reading at an explicit level performed significantly better on a transfer measure of reading achievement than the skill and drill experimental group (Cunningham, 1990). How do learning progressions benefit literacy instruction and student progress? Student learning is strengthened through clear goals, actionable feedback, and routes for reaching the goals. Learning progressions also help teachers to 1) recognize when students are not on track to meet the goals and to 2) understand how to get them back on a productive path. Learning progressions offer a sense of when to teach what to whom (Daro, 2011).

68 Elementary Research Bibliography Allington, R. L. (2012). What really matters for struggling readers: Designing research-based programs (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Allington, R.L. McCuiston, K & Billen, M. (2014).What research says about text complexity and learning to read. Unpublished. The Reading Teacher, pp Allington, R. L. & Pressley, M. (2015). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. 4 th ed. New York. NUY: The Guilford Press. Anderson, R. C., Wilson, P.T., & Fielding, L. G. (1988). Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. Guilford Press. Brotherton, S., & Williams, C. (2002). Interactive Writing Instruction in a First Grade Title I Literacy Program. Journal of Reading Education, 27(3), Calkins, L. (1994). The Art of Teaching Writing, 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Cervetti, G. N., Pearson, P. D., Barber, J., Hiebert, E., & Bravo, M. (2007). Shaping Literacy Achievement, Integrating Literacy and Science, The Research We Have. In M. Pressley, A. Billman, K. Perry, K. Reffit, & J. Morrehead-Reynolds (Eds.), Shaping Literacy Achievement, Integrating Literacy and Science, The Research We Have (pp ). New York, New York: The Guilford Press. Retrieved from Integrating Literacy and Science. Daro, P., Mosher, F.A., & Corcoran, T. (2011). Learning trajectories in mathematics: A foundation for standards, curriculum, assessment, and instruction (CPRE Research Report #68). Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Cullinan, B. (2000). Independent reading and school achievement. School Library Media Research, 3, Cunningham, A.E. (1990). Explicit versus implicit instruction in phonemic awareness. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 50, Dole, J. A., Brown, K. J., & Trathen, W. (1996). The effects of strategy instruction on the comprehension performance of atkrisk students. Reading research quarterly, 31(1), Duke, N. K., & Pearson, P. D. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. What research has to say about reading instruction, 3, Elley,W. B. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, Flint, A. (2013). The Social Construction of Literary Understanding in a 3rd Grade Classroom During Interactive Read-Alouds. In BSU Honors Program Theses and Projects. Item 17. Available at:

69 Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G. (2006). Teaching for comprehending and fluency: Thinking, talking, and writing about reading. K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Graves, D. (1994). A Fresh Look at Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Krashen, S. D. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional evidence for the Input Hypothesis. Modern Language Journal 73, Lennox, S. (2013). Interactive Read-Alouds An Avenue for Enhancing Children s Language for Thinking and Understanding: A Review of Recent Research. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(5), Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2011). Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy. Moss, B. & Young, T.A. (2010). Creating lifelong readers through independent reading. International Reading Association. Newkirk, T., & Kittle, P. (Eds.). (2013). Children Want to Write: Donald Graves and the Revolution in Children s Writing. Heinemann. Oster, L. (2001). Using the think-aloud for reading instruction. The Reading Teacher, Owocki, G. (2012). The Common Core lesson book K-5: Working with increasingly complex literature, informational text, and foundational reading skills. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Patterson, E., Schaller, M., & Clemens, J. (2008). A closer look at interactive writing. The Reading Teacher, 61(6), Pearson, P. D., Moje, E., Greenleaf, C. (2010). Literacy and science: Each in the service of the other. Science, 328(23), Radencich, M. C., McKay, L. J., & Paratore, J. R. (1995). Keeping flexible groups flexible: Grouping options. Flexible grouping for literacy in the elementary grades, Ukrainetz, T. A., Cooney, M. H., Dyer, S. K., Kysar, A. J., & Harris, T. J. (2000). An investigation into teaching phonemic awareness through shared reading and writing. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15(3),

70 SecondaryLiteracyResearch Teaching Writing The NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing : Writing instruction must include ample in-class and out-of-class opportunities for writing and should include writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. According to Graham and Perrin (2007b), highly effective literacy teachers ask students to write for real audiences, encourage personal responsibility and ownership of writing projects, promote high levels of student interactions, and encourage self reflection and evaluation. They create routines in which students are asked to plan, draft, revise, and edit their text. This overall approach has been scientifically proven to improve how students grades 1-12 write Best practices include: Writing often and for many different purposes Make personal choices about what they write, including encouraging them to develop unique interpretations of assigned writing topics Write for extended periods of time about a single topic Students need to learn how to write for multiple purposes (to persuade, inform, narrate) Encourage students to see writing as a process Teaching students strategies for writing has been scientifically proven to improve the quality of writing. Such strategies include explaining the purpose and rationale of the strategy, modeling how to use it, providing assistance facilitating continued and adaptive use of the strategy. (From: Best Practices in Writing Instruction, Second Edition edited by Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur Guilford Press, Mar 19, 2013) Teaching students to write for multiple audiences Closing the Gap between High School Writing Instruction and College Writing Expectations discusses at length the dangers of spending so much time on preparing students for standardized tests: Students are products, mass-produced and measured everywhere by the same instrument. We are turning out Big Macs instead of the lifelong learners for which every school s mission statement seems to indicate a desire. (80) College professors are saying that kids are arriving to college not knowing how to write, and that they are churning out 5 paragraph essays with a stale formula. Importance of Persuasive Writing A 2009 ACT national curriculum survey of postsecondary instructors of composition, freshman English, and survey of American literature courses (ACT, Inc., 2009) found that write to argue or persuade readers was virtually tied with write to convey information as the most important type of writing needed by incoming college students. (Common Core Appendix p.24) Reading Comprehension at the Secondary Level Research for the Classroom: Shouldn't They Already Know How to Read? Comprehension Strategies in High School Author(s): Julie Gorlewski Source: The English Journal, Vol. 98, No. 4 (Mar., 2009), pp Published by: National Council of Teachers of English Stable URL: Accessed: 30/06/ :41 This article discusses teaching strategies that facilitate text comprehension in struggling high school readers including active, explicit engagement of higher order thinking skills coupled with the application of the gradual release of responsibility model. First they describe the effects of looking at text structure. For example, When we explore fiction, we teach our students about character, setting, problem and solution. When we investigate nonfiction, we share expository text structures, such as "compare and contrast" and "cause and effect." We teach visual and text features so that students will have the background knowledge to better comprehend a specific

71 genre (Gorlewski 128). The studies recommend that teachers explicate text structures and provide strategies to help students engage with different types of texts. Next, the article discusses the gradual release of responsibility framework described in Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis. This strategy is a combination of modeling and guided practice that requires a "delicate balance (32) between releasing responsibility too soon - resulting in frustration - and providing excessive instruction - resulting in boredom and disengagement. Harvey and Goudvis identify five phases of the Gradual Release of Responsibility model: Teacher modeling Guided practice Collaborative practice Independent practice Application of the strategy in authentic reading situations. The article then discusses comprehension strategies as outlined by Harvey and Goudvis: Making Connections Questioning Visualizing and Inferring Determining Importance Summarizing and Synthesizing. Each strategy should be taught and assessed for understanding. For example, teachers should first introduce the making connections strategy by modeling that approach to a text. Students then practice, individually and collaboratively, under the teacher's supervision. During this process, teachers assess both the use of the comprehension strategy (in this case, the students' ability to make meaningful connections to texts) as well as the students' understanding of the text itself. In this way, teaching the comprehension strategy reinforces the teaching of content; it is a productive use of instructional time, not an "add-on" that squanders precious class minutes. (Gorlewski 129). To help these students develop reading fluency, teachers should give them lots of practice with reading the same text, as well as instruction to help them develop a stronger sense of where to pause in sentences, how to group words, and how their voices should rise or fall at various junctures when reading aloud. (Shanahan 4) Shanahan, T., Frey, N., & Fischer, D. (2012). The challenge of challenging text. Educational Leadership,69(6), Ideal literacy environments ask students to identify main concepts and details as they read by using concept maps, compare-contrast charts, or other graphic representations related to the text (Phillips 51). Phillips, Melvina. (2005). Creating a Culture of Literacy: A Guide for Middle and High School Principals. Reston: National Association of Secondary School Principals. Many experts also assert that questioning strategies and annotation to help students think more critically (Zywica and Gomez 156). A lot of the resources stress that teachers need to spend time modeling how they think about texts and how they look for evidence in the text when responding to questions. ( Text Dependent Questions Fisher and Frey) A Guide to Creating Text Dependent Questions for Close Analytic Reading very useful in outlining the steps to creating strong questions. The steps provide a concrete guide that can be adapted for any piece. To ensure that we develop questions that take students deeper we need to: 1. Identify the core understandings and key ideas of the text. 2. Start small to build confidence 3. Target vocabulary and text structure 4. Tackle tough sections head on 5. Create coherent sequences of text dependent questions 6. Identify the standards that are being addressed 7. Create a culminating assessment ( A Guide to Creating Text Dependent Questions for Close Analytic Reading 1-2) Leisure reading --Research shows that leisure reading enhances students reading comprehension (e.g., Cox & Guthrie, 2001), language (e.g., Krashen, 2004), vocabulary development (e.g., Angelos & McGriff,

72 2002), general knowledge (e.g., Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998), and empathy for others (e.g., McGinley et al., 1997), as well as their self-confidence as readers, motivation to read throughout their lives, and positive attitudes toward reading (e.g., Allington & McGillFranzen, 2003; Eurydice Network, 2011). Across the grade levels, teachers should provide daily opportunities for leisure reading. They should model fiction and nonfiction book selection, conference with students during SSR, and hold students accountable for their reading (Reutzel, Fawson, & Smith, 2008). The benefits to students fluency, comprehension, and motivation from engaging in leisure reading are increased when teachers scaffold school-based leisure reading by incorporating reflection, response, and sharing in a wide range of ways that are not evaluated (Parr & Maguiness, 2005; Pilgreen, 2000; Reutzel, Jones, Fawson, & Smith, 2008; Walker, 2013) and when students home environments support their selfselected reading (Sonnenschein, Baker, Serpell, & Schmidt, 2000). Complex texts Without explicit instruction in how to cope with the evolving complexity of these texts, too many adolescents fall behind in their reading development, and their ability to learn from text suffers. (Biancarosa 1). 1. Biancarosa, G. (2012). Adolescent literacy more than remediation. Educational Leadership, 69(6), Adolescent Literacy: More Than Remediation. Author: Gina Biancarosa. Educational Leadership. March 2012 Volume 69 Number 6. Accessed 7/3/2014 Biancarosa posits that the heart of adolescent literacy reform must be ensuring that students leave high school with the reading and writing skills they need to thrive in the 21st century career and college landscape. (Biancarosa 1). In order to make the shift from learning to read to reading to learn, students must learn to organize and apply their background knowledge as a context for their reading. Biancarosa then goes on to illustrate the increasing complexity of texts as students get older, citing 3 examples (elementary, middle, and high school level) of textbook excerpts on seedless reproduction in plants. She then leads up to her point that experience with texts in earlier grades does little to prepare students for the increasing demands of the texts they must learn from in middle and high school. Without explicit instruction in how to cope with the evolving complexity of these texts, too many adolescents fall behind in their reading development, and the ability to learn from text suffers (Biancarosa 1). Teachers many times do not teach students how the reasoning processes, strategies, and rules for achieving comprehension vary across the content areas, for example, the term characteristic has different meanings in different disciplines. On content area teachers teaching students to read complex texts: It takes more than classroom teachers alone to make this shift. For example, content-area teaching materials and professional development also must change dramatically. As long as curriculums do not include explicit teaching of disciplinary norms for reading, it will be difficult for teachers to include this crucial aspect of content-area learning (Biancarosa 2). Teaching Non-Fiction David Coleman in his video advocates for a balance of literature and literary non-fiction and discusses the benefits. He believes that literary non-fiction provides models for student thinking and their own writing, and that reading these texts will better prepare them for college and their careers by teaching them how to understand dense arguments and rich information (Hunt Institute Video). I think some of the specific changes we need to make in our curriculum is not only adding literary non-fiction titles but also developing

73 strategies for teaching students how to read them and how to use different kinds of writing assignments to engage with the texts. Thomas Newkirk also has some recommendations about how we should teach these literary non-fiction texts. He argues that good non-fiction is essentially narrative and that we should be teaching students how narrative works in their reading and how to employ narrative in their writing. (Newkirk 3). Newkirk s ways to engage with non-fiction include looking for trouble or conflict, identifying the players, attending to patterns of thought, engaging with a teller, etc. Formative Assessments In Fostering High Quality Formative Assessment the NCTE states that students should be given more immediate formative assessment for new and difficult tasks so that they don t become too overwhelmed or frustrated. (2) Formative Assessment That Truly Informs Instruction-- NCTE Position Statement: Diversity From: Grounding Our Teaching in Research: Implications from Research in the Teaching of English, From , Eurocentric and Anglo-centric literature and texts of US origin dominated the curriculums of both US and Canadian schools and did not equally represent the historical and contemporary backgrounds of the students in the schools (Skerrett). From NCTE s Position Statement: Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children's and Young Adult Books The Importance of Student Choice/Connection to Student Interests James Baumann asserts that Students should be provided with a range of choices in activities, in reading material, and in subject matter in all aspects of their learning and that the parameters for projects are established by the teacher, but they are flexible parameters, subject to change if students' interest and students' learning can increase (Baumann 35). Baumann, James F.; Duffy, Amy M. (1997). Engaged Reading for Pleasure and Learning: A Report from the National Reading Research Center. National Reading Research Center, Athens, GA. Student learning should have connections to the world outside school or be integrated into a meaningful context (Baumann 35). Increase the amount of time independent reading and include time to talk and share because Student need time for self-selected independent reading and [they need] high-quality literature across a wide range of genres (Gambrell 21). Gambrell, L.B. Malloy, J.A., & Mazzoni, S.A. (2007). Evidence-based practices for comprehensive literacy instruction. In L. Gambrell, L.M. Morrow, & M. Pressley (Eds.), Best Practices in Literacy Instruction, 3 rd edition (pp ). New York: Guilford Press. Integrating Technology and New Media An essential skill in today s world to teach students to use both print and multimedia to synthesize information into new understandings, evaluate evidence used in arguments, and observe how authors respond to one another (27) These skills will directly help to prepare students for workplace expectations. Using the Joy Luck Club to Teach Core Standards and 21 st Century Literacies by Leslie David Burns and Stergios G. Botzakis. To be literate tomorrow will be defined by even newer technologies that have yet to appear and even newer social practices that we will create to meet unanticipated needs. Thus, the very nature of literacy continuously changes; literacy is deictic. It is becoming increasingly clear that the deictic nature of literacy will require us to continuously rethink traditional notions of literacy.

74 Leu, D. J., Kiili, C., Zawilinski, L., Everett-Cacopardo, H., Kennedy, C., Forzani, E., et al. (2012). The New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension: Expanding the Literacy and Leaning Curriculum. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 55(1), Good literacy teachers show students how to navigate the digital world to foster digital literacy: reading in digital environments introduces nonlinear options for proceeding through texts. This nonlinearity can be a boon or a barrier to struggling readers. It gives readers access to background knowledge, definitions of unfamiliar terms, efficient location of relevant information through the use of search tools, and motivating choices for personal inquiry (Biancarosa 2). Integration of multiple modes of communication and expression can enhance or transform the meaning of the work beyond illustration or decoration. (NCTE Position Statement on Multimodal literacies) Teaching Vocabulary When students make multiple connections between a new word and their own experiences, they develop a nuanced and flexible understanding of the word they are learning. In this way, students learn not only what a word means but also how to use that word in a variety of contexts, and they can apply appropriate senses of the word s meaning in order to understand the word in different contexts (Landauer & Dumais, 1997; Landauer, McNamara, Dennis, & Kintsch, 2007; Nagy, Herman, & Anderson,1985). (Appendix p.32) Speaking and Listening Children need direct guidance and structured practice in speaking and listening. Throughout the curriculum there is a strong emphasis on enabling children to use language to work together effectively. One reason for both these developments is that recent research has shown the importance of the link between spoken language, learning and cognitive development (e.g. Mercer, Wegerif & Dawes, 1999; Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif & Sams, 2004 see below). Through using language and hearing how others use it, children become able to describe the world, make sense of life's experiences and get things done. They learn to use language as a tool for thinking, collectively and alone. However, children will not learn how to make the best use of language as a tool for communicating and thinking without guidance from their teachers. School may provide the only opportunity many children have for acquiring some extremely important speaking, listening and thinking skills. For the research findings which underpin these claims, see: Mercer, N., Wegerif, R. and Dawes, L. (1999) 'Children's talk and the development of reasoning in the classroom', British Educational Research Journal, 25, 1, Mercer, N., Dawes, L., Wegerif, R., & Sams, C. (2004). Reasoning as a scientist: ways of helping children to use language to learn science. British Educational Research Journal, 30, 3, While many realize that children need instruction in literacy and numeracy, educators may not realize that spoken language skills can, and should, be directly taught to children. Despite references to the development of children's language skills, National Curriculum guidance does not make it clear that such direct teaching may often be required. There seems to be an implicit belief that the subtle skills of active listening and reasoned speaking will develop simply through children's involvement in whole class and small group dialogues. To some degree, the children will develop their language use through practice. But all children can benefit from exposure to good models for speaking and listening. They also gain from guidance about how to communicate effectively and from taking part in structured activities for practicing communicating (including, crucially, group interactions with light supervision from a teacher). It is therefore very important that student teachers become aware of this and learn how to guide children's spoken language development. This will include learning how to: 1. assess children's language skills 2. engage children in dialogues in which they are encouraged to develop and use spoken language skills. This means more than the capacity to provide brief answers to questions in whole class settings. Children need more of the kind of interaction which is generated by what Robin Alexander calls 'dialogic teaching' use varied lessons as a basis for raising children's awareness

75 about how talk can be used most effectively to share ideas, negotiate thinking, challenge and agree, build relationships and generally get things done 3. design pair and group activities based on interesting problem-solving tasks or creative endeavors which will stretch children's communication skills and help them practice what they are learning about language as a tool for communicating. Children need direct guidance and structured practice in speaking and listening. Use of ground rules to establish a clear, constructive, context for talk is important these rules can provide a structure of mutual respect, and encourage Thinking Together, and Exploratory Talk, as opposed to dismissive disputational, or cumulative talk which just restates the already known. -- Dawes, Lyn and Mercer, Neil. The Importance of Speaking and Listening. Orbit. Cambridge University. Cambridge. Need to acknowledge the introvert in the classroom Depending on which study you consult, one third to one half of Americans are introverts in other words, one out of every two or three people you know. (Given that the United States is among the most extroverted of nations, the number must be at least as high in other parts of the world.) If you're not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married to, or coupled with one...we live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The archetypal extrovert prefers action to contemplation, risk- taking to heedtaking, certainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. She works well in teams and socializes in groups. We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual the kind who's comfortable putting himself out there. From: Cain, Susan. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Random House; New York. 2012

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91 AppendixC SurveyDemographics(non'student):

92 ResultsfromSurveyQuestionsSpecifictoELA/LiteracyTeachersPre'K'12

93 AppendixC OverallInsightsGainedfromSurveys,ResearchandSiteVisits 1. A strong majority of parents, educators, and students agree with the statements describing ELA/Drama Department s Program, Curriculum, Instruction and Communication/Community. As the chart below demonstrates, the overall percentage of respondents for whom each question was relevant, where % = n (strongly agree/agree) / [n (all respondents) - n (Does not Apply/NA)], who strongly agreed/agreed with the questions statements was consistently over 70%. 2. When one considers student responses, an even higher level of agreement with various descriptors of the ELA/Drama program is found. All responders strongly agreed/agreed to the statements about all areas of the program at a rate of 90% or higher and in relation to the drama experience, at 81% or higher. 3. Given this overall concurrence between the survey-takers and the statements of the work of the ELA/Drama program, it is important to attend to those instances when sub-sets of data (responses from one set of stakeholders, such as parents or ELA/literacy teachers) are significantly different. Overall those discrepancies were noted most often in relation to the following: Teachers of ELA/Literacy: Lack of confidence about curricular materials for lowest and highest ability students Some inconsistency of alignment of curriculum with standards The need for more professional development opportunities, particularly to create crosscurricular experiences Parents: Need for more writing experiences throughout the program Concerns about phonics and grammar teaching and learning

94 Inconsistency of students experience among teachers of same grade/course and from one grade to another. 4. The greatest strengths that emerge from the survey results (highest percentage of Strongly Agree and/or most positive strands of comments) are: Overall: We are preparing students to be highly literate citizens (39% Strongly Agree) The Program provides opportunities for all learners to be engaged (34% Strongly Agree) The program provides dynamic and diverse experiences (32% Strongly Agree) Student: Find feedback useful for growth (41% Strongly Agree) (HS Students) Feel they are being prepared for complex learning beyond HS (40% Strongly Agree) Teacher: Curriculum is in place for typically achieving students (49% Strongly Agree) Curriculum includes common assessments within same grade/course (60% Strongly Agree) Writing and reading curriculum content is consistent across the same grade/course (53% [writing] and 55% [reading] Strongly Agree) Parent: Curriculum is dynamic and diverse (26% Strongly Agree) Community is invited to celebrate students literacy (28% Strongly Agree) Many comments single out the excellence of the Drama program both for its curricular and co-curricular work.

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101 QUESTION Belmont Dover3Sherborn6(6312) Lexington Programs6used6for6reading,6 writing,6etc. Lexia,'Calkins'referenced'writing'units,' Great'Books,'read'alouds'with'mentor' texts,'shared'reading,'interactive'writing,' guided'reading'and'writing, independent'reading'and'writing,'and' reading'and'writing'across'the'content' areas<'shared'inquiry Units'of'Study,'Lucy'Caulkins<'common' writing'prompts'and'scoring'methods<'ms' Write'Source'2000 Guided'Reading,'Fountas'and'Pinnell<' Comprehension'Tool'Kit,'Stephanie' Harvey<'Words'Their'Way,'Templeton,' Johnston,'Bear'&'Invernizzi<'the' Developmental'Reading'Assessment' (DRA2<)'and'Aimsweb'assessment How6is6vocabulary6taught? Text'Talk'in'Grades'KT2.'Based'on'read' alouds'by'isabel'beck.'embedded'in' stories'and'social'studies'and'science.'no' purchased'program.'many'using' strategies'from'sei.''"alltwrite"'used'in' Grammar6instruction6in6 secondary Reading6Assessment/DDM6 used? Elementary6time6on6ELA6 learning? Middle6School6time6on6ELA6 learning? High6School6time6on6ELA6 learning? 5th. Middle'SchoolTSadlierTOxford'Vocab' Workshop'as'well'as'Vocabulary'in' Context. Varies'by'teachre Teachers'seem'to'use'different'programs' or'lessonstsome'sat'prep,'others' For'reading'these'will'include:'DIBELS'for' grades'kt2<'tmp'for'grades'2t4<'fountas' and'pinnell,'2x''a'year<'sight' words/dictation 90'minutes'daily'for'phonics,'word'study,' minitlesson,'guided'reading,'independent' reading.'for'writing,'3x'45'minutes Varies'between'two'and'three'"mods"'of' 25'minutes'each. In'Context'(MS)<'Varies'at'HS Ad'hoc'overall,'though'in'9th'grade'they' are'working'to'create'a'more'uniform' program'to'transition'from'8th'grade'work. comma'splices,'etc. N/A DDMs'TT'Not'currently'in'use.' N/A minutes per da 55'mins.'6'out'of'7'days'per'cycle minutes per day High'School'classes'meet'6'times'per'8' day'rotation'for'almost'1'hour High'School'classes'meet'4'times'per'5' day'rotation'for'55'minutes. Secondary6student:teacher6 17: :1 12.6:1 ratio? Elementary6class6size? Average'24 N/A 23'max Curriculum6Specialist?6 KT4'Literacy'Jaynene<'Literacy'specialist' One'6T12'English'Department'Head A'department'head'at'each'level'(KT5r,'6T Coach?6Department6Head? in'each'building'to'coach'and'teach'tier'3' 8,'9T12) groups Interesting/Innovative6 Every'year'literacy'coordinator'brings' PLCsT'Formative'and'Summative' Professional6Development6 something'that'has'surfaced'in'the'prior' Assessments'(MS) year.'looking'at'sara'ward'for'ef' Specific6to6ELA? training'bc'they'are'seeing'a'lot'fo' children'struggling'with'ef'as'readers.' Teachers'21'has'come'in.'

102 QUESTION Belmont Dover3Sherborn6(6312) Lexington Universal6screening? Dibels,'KT2,'3x'a'year<'PSI'grade'1<'BAS' grades'kt2?<'tmp'grades'3t4 Not'in'secondary Not'at'HS'level. Use6of6common6assessments dibels,'fp,tmp Some'common'assessments'across' same'courses/levels'but'nothing'universal. All'high'school'courses'have'common' final'exams Levels6of6classes6offered6at6 secondary CP,'Honors'and'AP'(only'in'12th) 3'levels'in'9th'and'10th'grades'(Skills,' CP,'Honors)'and'4'levels'in'11th'and'12th' grades'(skills,'cp,'honors,'ap).'' MS:''no'levels<''9th'grade'unleveled,'10th' and'11th'grade'honors,'cp1'and'cp2.' 12th'grade'unleveled.'No'AP'classes'at' all. Placement6process6for6 advanced6level6courses Teacher'recommendation'for'level<' parent/student'can'request'override'to'be' reviewed'by'dh<'if'placed,'must'stay'in' course'for'a'quarter'before'dropping'level. UpperTclass'students'in'CP'with'a'B+' average'who'desire'to'enter'the'honors' program'may'submit'a'writing'portfolio' that'includes'both'int'and'outtofclass' writing'for'review'and'consideration'by'the' English'Department.'The'English' Department'will'also'seek'comments'rom' the'student s'present'and'past'english' teachers.' Must'have'teacher'recommendation'but' parents'can'request'override<'students' must'complete'a'writing'sample'process' for'placement'review'by'committee.'' Teachers'also'explain'why'NOT' recommended,'student'has'to'write' something'about'why'they'want'it,'and' Guidance'has'some'input,'too.''A'small'%' of'students'are'placed'out'of'this.''about' 40T50%'of'students'take'Honors'in'10th'&' 11th.'' Core6texts6for6secondary6by6 grade 6TThe'Breadwinner,'Picture'Hollis'Woods,' The'Phantom'Tollbooth'(screenplay)<'7'T' The'Old'Man'and'the'Sea,'The'Outsiders,' one'choice'book<'8't'to'kill'a' Mockingbird,'Night,'Of'Mice'and'Men<'9'T' The'House'on'Mango'Street,'The'Catcher' in'the'rye,'romeo'&'juliet,'the'lord'of' the'flies<'10't'macbeth,'things'fall'apart' (H),'SlaughterhouseTFive,'A'Thousand' Splendid'Suns<'11'T'The'Adventures'of' Huckleberry'Finn,'The'Awakening,'Their' Eyes'Were'Watching'God,'The'Great' Gatsby,'Death'of'a'Salesman,'Fences,' Red'Badge'of'Courage'(H)<'12'T'The' Things'They'Carried,'Hamlet,'No'Exit' (play) 6'T'Stargirl,'Dave'at'Night,'var.'authors'for' fantasy'&'survival'units<'7&8't' unavailable<''9t'romeo'and'juliet,'our Town,'The'Catcher'in'the'Rye,'The'Bean' Trees,'The'Odyssey'(Honors'only)'10T Oedipus'Rex,'Antigone,'Siddhartha,' Night,'Macbeth,'The'Kite'Runner,'11T Walden,'The'Great'Gatsby,'The' Adventures'of'Huckleberry'Finn,'Death'of' A'Salesman,'The'Scarlet'Letter,'Their' Eyes'Were'Watching'God,'One'Flew' Over'the'Cuckoo s'nest,'a'streetcar' Named'Desire,'The'Things'They'Carried' 12THouse'of'Sand and'fog,'in'the'lake'of'the'woods,'snow' Falling'on'Cedars,'Like'Water'for' Chocolate,'The'Geography'of'Bliss,' Never'Let'Me'Go,'Doubt,'Yellow'Raft'on' Blue'Water,'Let'the'Great'World'Spin 6'T'student'choice'for'major'works<'7'T' varies'by'teacher<'''8t'of'mice'and'men,' A'Midsummer'Night s'dream'and'to'kill'a' Mockingbird<'9'T'Oedipus,'The'Odyssey,' Romeo'&'Juliet,'In'the'Time'of'the' Butterflies<'10'T'(teachers'select'from)' Frankenstein,'Things'Fall'Apart,' Fahrenheit'451,'Macbeth,'Great' Expectations,'Lord'of'the'Flies'(and' others)<'11't'the'great'gatsby,'death'of' a'salesman,'their'eyes'were'watching' God'(H),'The'Adventures'of'Huckleberry' Finn'(H)'and'selections'from'Thoreau'and' Emerson<'12'T'electives'so'variable'

103 QUESTION Programs6used6for6reading,6 writing,6etc. How6is6vocabulary6taught? Grammar6instruction6in6 secondary Reading6Assessment/DDM6 used? Elementary6time6on6ELA6 learning? Middle6School6time6on6ELA6 learning? High6School6time6on6ELA6 learning? Secondary6student:teacher6 ratio? Elementary6class6size? Curriculum6Specialist?6 Coach?6Department6Head? Interesting/Innovative6 Professional6Development6 Specific6to6ELA? Lincoln6(PK38) Lincoln3Sudbury6(9312) Needham Nothing'programmatic<'varies'by' teacher/grade Writer's Workshop - Resources for individual units of study- Lucy Caulkins, Katie Wood Ray, Ralph Fletcher, etc. Reader's Workshop, Lucy Caulkins Units of Study for Teaching Reading, lndependent Reading minutes per day- word Study minutes per day GradeTlevel'lists'and/or'in'context No'on'program'T'7th'focuses'on' Greek/Latin'roots<'all'others'inTcontext'or' from'teachertdeveloped'lists Ad'hoc'as'far'as'described'in'published' materials. Nothing'programmatic. The'Fountas'and'Pinnell'Benchmark' Assessment'is'used'for'students'in' grades'1'through'5 N/A 50'mins'during'6'of'8'days N/A' 50'min'blocks N/A Block schedule depending on day in rota60t90'min'blocks 10.4:1 10:01 MS'T'12.1:1<'14.1:1 Gwen'Blumberg'Eng'T'Lang'Arts'Literacy' Specialist N/A 19T22 Department'Coordinator'for'grades'9T12 One'ELA'Insructional'Coordinator'for'MS<' DH'for'HS Semester'courses'open'to'all'after'9th' grade'with'broad'"2'credits'in' American/British'and'1'in'World' Literature."''Otherwise'open'to'student' choice.

104 QUESTION Universal6screening? Use6of6common6assessments Levels6of6classes6offered6at6 secondary Placement6process6for6 advanced6level6courses Core6texts6for6secondary6by6 grade Lincoln6(PK38) Lincoln3Sudbury6(9312) Needham None'in'secondary'beyond'that'used'to' identify'students'who'might'need'"small' Group'English." Have'done'some'work'on'DDMs,'but' nothing'fully'implemented. Common'assessments'in'most'grades. N/A'T'no'levels'at'MS. 9th'grade'TT'all'take'same'course'(one' level)<'after'9th'students'take'range'of' semester'courses'that'are'identified'with' a'scale'of'difficult'(1t5,'1='most'difficult)' but'that'are'not'leveled'per'se. Standard,'Honors,'Acc'(equivalent'to' honors)'advancement'placement N/A Incoming'freshmen'must'have'AT'avg.' and'teacher'rec.'for'automatic'placement' in'honors<'those'with'a'b+'average'may' request'a'portfolio'review'by'the' department<''in'all'other'years,'students' must'have'at'average'at'the'end'of'first' semester'in'order'to'be'recommended,' and'they'must'maintain'that'average'2nd' semester'to'secure'their'placement.'' Those'with'B+'can'request'a'portfolio' review'for'consideration.'' Teachers'make'recommendations'based' on'what'they'consider'the'most' appropriate'level/course<'students'can' select'other'levels'if'they'disagree Unknown'for'6T8'(not'published) 9TRomeo'and'Juliet,'Our'Town,'The' Catcher'in'the'Rye,'The'Curious'Incident' of'the'dog'in'the'nightttime,'big'mouth,' Ugly'Girl,'Great'Expectations'(H)'10T Oedipus'Rex,'Antigone,'Siddhartha,' Night,'Macbeth,'The'Kite'Runner,'Cat's' Cradle'(H),'The'Glass'Castle'(H),'This' Boy's'Life'(H)<'11'T'Feed,'The'Crucible,' The'Great'Gatsby,'The'Things'They' Carried,'Walden'(H),'Their'Eyes'Were' Watching'God'(H),'The'Great'Gatsby'(H),' The'Crucible'(H)<'12'T'Varies'depending' on'course'and'level'quite'significantly. 6'T'The'Necklace,'The'Breadwinner,'The' Giver'7'T'Roll'of'Thunder,'Hear'My'Cry'8'T' A'Midsummer'Night's'Dream,'Farenheit' 451,'The'House'on'Mango'Street'9'T'To' Kill'a'Mockingbird, 'Of'Mice'and'Men,''Animal'Farm,' Romeo'and'Juliet,'10'T'The'Catcher'in'the' Rye,'Macbeth,'One'Flew'Over'the' Cuckoo's'Next'11'T

105 QUESTION Programs6used6for6reading,6 writing,6etc. How6is6vocabulary6taught? Grammar6instruction6in6 secondary Reading6Assessment/DDM6 used? Elementary6time6on6ELA6 learning? Middle6School6time6on6ELA6 learning? High6School6time6on6ELA6 learning? Secondary6student:teacher6 ratio? Elementary6class6size? Curriculum6Specialist?6 Coach?6Department6Head? Interesting/Innovative6 Professional6Development6 Specific6to6ELA? Sudbury6(PK38) Wayland Wellesley66(6312) Elem:''Reader's'Workshop'&'Writer's' Workshop'''MS:''No'formal'program Do'interactive'read'alouds,'guided' reading,'independent'reading'for'reading' workshop.'for'writing,'use'lucy'calkins' and'srsd.' Word'Study,'Interactive/Shared'Writing,' Writers 'Workshop,'and'Reader' Response'Journal<'None'in'secondary Elem:'Through'close'reading'strategies''' MS'T'Through'close'reading'and'as'part' of'the'writing'process No'structured'program.'Some'use' Password'which'is'vocab'words'in' content'areas.'some'pd'on'isabel'beck.' Teachers'use'some'of'these'strategies,' but'not'widespread.' At'secondary'level,'varies'by'teacher.'' Some'use'Sadlier<'others'use'their'own' lists. done'within'writing'and'close'reading' strategies Not'formalized Not'formalized K,'1,'2:'Dibels'3,4,5:'MAP'NWEA'''''''''''''''' ''''KT5:'Fountas'and'Pinnell'Benchmarks Benchmark'Assessment'kit'and'DIBELS. DDMs'used'in'secondary'level'per'MA' guidelines.''still'in'early'stages'of'full' implementation.''no'time'scheduled'for' 60'minutes'a'day:'K'&'90'minutes'daily' for'reading'and'writing,'1t5.'includes'word' study.' Meets'each'day'for'56'mins'generaly'in' 6th<'4/5'days'for'56'mins'in'7th'&'8th. shared'grading<'happens'ad'hoc 90'minutes'reading<'45'minutes'x4'for' writing 1x'per'day<'45'mins.'per'class. N/A 6/8'days'for'54'mins.'per'period'='324' minutes'per'8tday'rotation'(or'5'hrs,'24' minutes) 13.7:1 13:1'(approx.) 23:1'(approx.) 7'day'rotation<'English'meets'5x'per' rotation'for'59'mins'per'meeting. 18T25 Average'20T25 1:24 MS'T'"coordinator"'for'ELA Curric.'Ldr.'elem'&'MS:'DH'for'HS DH'for'ELA'at'each'level'TT'elementary,' middle'and'high'school. Literacy'Institute'in'June.'Bring'wellT known'literacy'speaker'for'2'days.''also' have'"literacy'boost"'in'ms'tt'similar'to' R&W'Connections'in'Weston'but'only'for' those'below'grade'level'in'reading'skills. See'Site'visit'report

106 QUESTION Universal6screening? Use6of6common6assessments Levels6of6classes6offered6at6 secondary Placement6process6for6 advanced6level6courses Core6texts6for6secondary6by6 grade Sudbury6(PK38) Wayland Wellesley66(6312) DIBELS,'KT5<'Grade'2T5.'BAS'in'grades'KT 3. None'in'secondary.'In'elementary'they' use'dibels,'aimsweb'and'bas In'writing:'Pre'and'post'assessments' write'to'prompt.'teach'unit'and'then'apply' specific'scoring'guidelines.' DDMs'first'attempt'at'this. N/A MS:''one'level'but'"Literacy'Boost"' supplemental'for'those'below'grade'level.'' 'HS:'AP/Honors<'CP:'Intro<'Foundations'' Foundations,'CP,'Advanced'CP,'Honors N/A For'Honors/AP:'must'have'BT'in'same' level'prior'year'or'at'in'lower'level'and' obtain'teacher'recommendation<' overrides'can'be'requested'but'are'not' guaranteed,'and'not'allowed'if'student' received'less'than'a'c+'at'honors'level'or' a'b+'in'cp'level'in'prior'year. Teachers'make'recommendations,'but' students'can'select'based'on'their'choice 6T'Teachers'choose'from'long'list'of' books'such'as:''the'breadwinner,' Homeless'Bird,'Ask'Me'No'Questions,' Maniac'Magee,'Pictures'of'Hollis'Woods' (among'others)<'also'units'on'mythology''''' '7th'T'Teachers'choose'from'among:'' Trouble,'My'Antonia,'Beacon'Hill'Boys,' The'Outsiders'Weedflowert,'Homecoming''' ''''''8th'T'To'Kill'A'Mockingbird,''A' Midsummer'Night's'Dream,'Civil'War'unit' (teachers'select'from'list),'nontfiction'unit 6'T'Granny'Torrelli'Makes'Soup,'The' Giver,'and'The'Watsons'Go'to' Birmingham<'7'T'Roll'of'Thunder'Hear'My' Cry,'The'Adventures'of'Tom'Sawyer,' Seedfolks<'8'T'True'North,'Romeo'&' Juliet,'I'Am'the'Cheese,'Locomotion<'9'T' To'Kill'a'Mockingbird,'Catcher'in'the'Rye,' Farenheit'451,'The'House'on'Mango' Street,'A'Midsummer'Night's'Dream,'The' Odyssey'(H'only)<'10'T'Antigone,'Othello,' Animal'Farm,'A'Tale'of'Two'Cities'(H),' The'Things'They'Carried'(H)<'11'T'Black' Boy,'The'Great'Gatsby,'Death'of'a' Salesman,'Fences,'The'Adventures'of' Huckleberry'Finn'(H),'The'graeps'of' Wrath'(H)<'12'T'Electives 6T'N/A<'7'T'Tangerine,'Mississippi'Trial' 1955,'study'of'Shakespeare<'8'T'To'Kill'a' Mockingbird,'Animal'Farm,'Farenheit'451<' 9T12'books'vary'by'level<'9'T'Romeo'&' Juliet,'Great'Expectations,'Raisin'in'the' Sun,'A'Separate'Peace<'10'T'The'Scarlet' Letter,'Native'Son,'The'Catcher'in'the' Rye,'The'Great'Gatsby,'Adventures'of' Huckleberry'Finn<'11'T'CatchT22,' Macbeth,'Oedipus/Antigone,'Song'of' Solomon,'Maus<'12'T'Heart'of'Darkness,' The'Stranger,'The'Color'Purple,'Hamlet

107 AppendixD SiteVisitReports'ELA/Drama 1. Belmont 2. Dover-Sherborn (6-12) 3. Eliot School (BPS Innovation School) 4. Newton (PK-5) 5. Francis Parker School, Devens, MA (Charter School) 6. Sudbury (PK-8) 7. Wayland 8. Wellesley 9. Summary of drama programs visited ELA/Drama Program Review -- Questions for Site Visits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? To what does your school/district attribute success? What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? What type of universal screening tool do you use? What does your intervention (RTI) look like? What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? Assessment Other than standardized tests, how to teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep?

108 Belmont ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? We encourage trying which leads people to experiment. That serves as a path for district-wide change. Once people try and succeed, we can expect it from others. Established the value that literature is a vehicle for understanding the world; Students own their ideas about what they are reading. Cultivating gritty, reflective teachers who ask, What can I do differently. What can I improve? No paid workshop time. We rely on the generosity and professional dedication of teachers. Standards with perspective. Working to understand the world. Themes for each grade level. Understanding and using the work of Daniel Pink to motivate. Establishing a responsibility for students to think beyond their own experience. Professional development on questioning. Collaboration with Fred Hang of Great Books. To what does your school/district attribute success? Lots of teachers are certified literacy specialists. They have a background in reading workshop. Emphasis of time on task for instruction and learning. VERY careful hiring. Clarity about teaching objectives. Feedback is a good word. Knowledge and attention to standards. Development of well organized writing units in the elementary. What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Defining instructional minutes Standards based report cards Building stamina in readers Core texts Readers workshop vs. whole class books Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? Basic guidelines: o Reading: 90 minutes, includes 30 minute mini-lesson or phonics study; minutes Daily 5 (in grades k-3) or Guided reading o Writing: Not everyday. 3x a week. 45 minutes for each block. o Have integrated science and social studies with writing and reading, too. You can enter a classroom and not know whether it s SS/Sci/writing.

109 Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? They own Lucy Calkins units. Teams have studied them. District refers to Calkins minilessons; they are redrafted. Talked through their scope and embedded what was missing. They have their own writing units. This is because of money. They would use it as a resource. District has reading units from Calkins. There are some teachers who are open to it. Reading has been loose; they have standards and work towards them individually. Would like to use more Calkins minilessons. Have a bunch of lessons that have been drafted by teachers and teams and have been shared. They lead to the standards. Very homegrown and based off of standards. Writing is more solid and more their own; coming back to reading. Explore work of Nancy Boyles (close reading). Great Books, Fred Hang; shared inquiry process, 2-4 grade. 1 week a month. Questions are not answerable. Students have to come to their own thinking and write about it afterwards as narrative, opinion. Also included listening and speaking standards. All children had to be included. Kids need to read carefully, teacher discussion circle, be able to discuss text deeply. No basal, either. What type of universal screening tool do you use? Huge testing sweeps, 3x a year. Track My Progress-for grades 3 and 4. Dibels, K-2, 3x a year. If kids pop up on Dibels, they got to PASI.(Phonological Awareness Screener for Intervention) Benchmark Assessment System 2x a year Dictation Sight words Phonics (PSI) for all grade 1. Give it to Grade 2 for at risk/those who have had intervention. May track some third/fourth graders who have been at risk in the past. What does your intervention (RTI) look like? Walk to time. Sacred time for intervention. They have a menu of interventions. They highly qualified aides, retired teachers, and use literacy specialist students from Lesley. K intervention starts by October. They do not wait. Tier 2: Outside of the core block of time with teacher, they get 3x-4 30 minute blocks. Lesson planned by literacy specialist and delivered by aide. Tier 3: have additional minutes of instruction. Can be with special educator or literacy specialist. They have at least one extra block. Sometimes, two. Should get 60 minutes extra to supplement core. They actually get 6, 30 minute blocks with literacy specialist. LLI is a tier 3 piece. No one else touches this intervention. Wilson, too. o Lasts 4-6 weeks. o Use elements of reading fluency. What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) Each school has a literacy specialist who does faculty coaching and tier 2 intervention. District has an ELA curriculum specialist who oversees the work of the literacy specialists.

110 Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? Great Books, Fred Hang Use data sweeps, PASI, PSI to differentiate. Massachusetts State Standards Lucy Calkins units to inform writing. Fundations K-2, repaced in grades 1, 2 to cover more. Too slow for CORE. Kids who need to slow down, slow down in tier 2. Need more word study and spelling in grade 3.4 Needs revamping and they are working on it. Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? Social studies and Science kits come with leveled texts Integration of ELA/SS How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? Most teams meet 1x per week while classes in specials. Can end up being about 20 minutes a week. Data meetings, 3x a year. In between reading teachers meet individually with teachers. Lots of independent meeting times before and after school. Not paid. What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? Data meetings with strong, transparent protocols Assessment sweeps Strong RTI structure Lots of attention paid to decoding early on. Naming the difference between progress and proficiency. Working towards proficiency. Huge emphasis on sub-group investigation focused on our experiences of African American/Black students. Surveys, feedback from parents. Lots of work on ELL. English tutor program at High School. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how to teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? See above. For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? Try not to promote anything for test prep. Expect teachers that prepare students for structure of the test using the prepared items. After the test, they look in data analysis teams at strengths and weaknesses. They value good teaching. Heavy emphasis on the standards.

111 Dover'SherbornRegionalHighSchool ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? The Department Head mentioned his department was most proud of their autonomy. To what does your school/district attribute success? What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Both teachers we met with mentioned the Challenge Success program developed at Stanford, as something they are implementing district-wide. Students are struggling with stress, and this is one of the ways the District is trying to address the problem. Both teachers discussed the Growth mindset as something that is becoming a big focus in the way that they discuss progress and grades with students. Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? Students meet 6 out of the 8 days in a rotation for Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? NO What type of universal screening tool do you use? N/A for High School What does your intervention (RTI) look like? DSHS has IST in place and it works similarly to how it does a WHS. What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) English Department Head 9-12 The Middle school has a Curriculum Specialist. There is not collaboration between MS & HS Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? The department head described their curriculum as constantly evolving, with all of the new ideas and development coming from the teachers. Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? Interdisciplinary teaching is done informally, mostly between teachers in the Humanities How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together?

112 There are nine teachers in the English department at the high school. Four teachers teach 9th grade and four teach 10th grade. They divide the teaching of the junior and senior electives amongst them. The English Department seems to be very collaborative, but they do not have specific blocks designated for Common Planning Time. What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? We did not discuss any formal steps Department Head: We haven t addressed this well. We haven t prioritized this but should. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how to teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? DDMs- Students at every grade level complete CTA s (Close Textual Analysis) exercises at least 5 times per year. The department head attributes much of the students academic success (including their high AP and MCAS scores) to this practice. One teacher mentioned writing conferences, self-assessment, and revision as a way to increase student growth. For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? A few weeks before the MCAS and PSAT, teachers preview sample test questions with students, practice reading comprehension questions and open response questions. Comments/Observations from visit in general: They have an open and inclusive AP program, with more than half of the Juniors taking AP English Language. They use the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Program in 9th and 10th grade. Teachers teach 5 classes, and the Department Chair teaches four. The 11th and 12th grade classes (with the exception of the AP classes) are heterogeneously grouped (CP and Honors students in the same class). One teacher I spoke with seemed to like the mixed classes even though she admitted that differentiation is challenging. Teachers were proud of their commitment to integrate more contemporary books into their curriculum (ex. The Kite Runner, Still Alice, and All the Light we Cannot See) The teacher whom I observed has 4 preps (English 9 Skills, English 9 Honors, AP Language, and Poetry). Her 21 11th grade students were engaged,willing to take risks, and invested in their learning. The teacher seemed to have a wide repertoire of skills and activities, and used many strategies to engage students for the entire period (ex. Write around, pair share, group work, read aloud, etc.) Both the Department Chair and the teacher I observed are interested in a partnership/further collaboration with WHS English teachers. We discussed sharing best practices and curriculum ideas as well as collaborating on grant writing, etc.

113 EliotSchool''PK'8''BostonInnovationSchool ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? Student achievement Principal is the instructional coach Family involvement in the school Grit, commitment of the teachers Unified around school values To what does your school/district attribute success? Teacher planning Team planning time Using data to inform instruction on a regular basis Time on task What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Maintaining building intimacy and consistency across two school buildings Fidelity to their values in the face of competing demands for attention Program/Structure Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? Writing is based off the work of Lucy Calkins Reading units are based off the work on Kathy Collins, Growing Readers What type of universal screening tool do you use? Benchmark Assessment Kit for reading Words Their Way for spelling/word study DIBELS (Nonsense word fluency, Oral reading fluency) What does your intervention (RTI) look like? In a given grade level, students switch classes according to instructional reading levels. Each teacher has 2, maybe 3, levels to work with. This structure enables students to be seen every day in reading groups regardless of the reading level. Students who need additional support read with the classroom teacher first. Then, they read with a volunteer or an interventionist. For the older children who come at a later entry point from a different BPS school, there is a language academy that gives them more time on task and focused instruction. What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) There is a reading specialist and 2 interventionists to support grades K-3, 4 classrooms each (16 classrooms).

114 Principal and vice principal see themselves as instructional coaches. Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? Writing is based off the work of Lucy Calkins Reading units are based off the work on Kathy Collins, Growing Readers Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? During the elective block, teachers bring their passion to course selection. These short studies rotate every three weeks. At the end of the three week cycle, the course topics change. All electives integrate literacy. For example, study or art, social studies, science (study of organisms) How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? LOTS of meetings. Mondays=meeting of teacher leaders that focus on student work Tuesdays=meeting to provide for vertical alignment Wednesday=meetings of grade levels Teachers give up lunch for meetings/working lunches What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? Use consulting group called ANet to look at student data/achievement and use their instructional coaches to help move the school forward. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how to teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? Teachers progress monitor regularly. They regularly take running records (once a week on each child) and use it to inform instruction. Faculty uses data from Edwin Analytics. They use the early warning indicator system.

115 FrancisParkerCharterSchool''7'12 ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? Knowing students well Less is more Depth over breadth Students go out into the world with the skills they need To what does your school/district attribute success? Connecting with and knowing kids What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Technology, differentiation, RTI, shadow sessions to attract more students of color Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? 2 hours a day of arts/humanities Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? Facing history Writer s Workshop time in class Brown university choices curriculum What type of universal screening tool do you use? Gates Mcginnitie TOMAS All incoming 7th graders Reading/Math with MCAS data points What does your intervention (RTI) look like? Big push; differentiation; having 2 teachers, formative assessment, assigned spaces to pull kids Talking about shared kids all the time; collaboration both formal and informal Reading specialist/remediation Move forward with next steps as needed with parents, specialists, etc. What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas?

116 Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? All day long How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? Treat standardized tests as one data point Some remediation/enrichment: academic block at end of day All students are held to the same standard but there is wiggle room too. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how to teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? Some- look at MCAS examples This is the type of writing we do Kids do very well Comments/Observations from visit in general: 3,000 vocab words a year to move a grade level Reading every day

117 Newton'Elementary ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? Diverse students, diverse staff Roll out of Lucy Calkins units of study for writing, K-5. All grades have gotten to the last unit. Consistency. To what does your school/district attribute success? They use data to prove that something is working. What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Just started using Seravallo Reading Strategies book, after long--4 year-- focus on writing. Using the new BAS rubric Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? 60 minutes of reading (grades K-3). Includes minilesson, Fundations, text talk, guided reading. 30 minutes read of tier 2 support (grades K-3) 60 minutes of reading (grades 4, 5) Includes minilesson, Fundations, text talk, guided reading. 30 minutes of tier 2, 3x a week (grades 4, 5) 50 minutes writing, 4x a week Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? Fundations, K-3 for phonics instruction. Follow the program as written. Text Talk, K-2 for vocabulary. Follow the program as written. Lively Letters, K/1 as a resource. Grade 1 is for intervention. Professional texts from Fountas and Pinnell, Notice and Note, Seravallo Calkins for Writing What type of universal screening tool do you use? K/1: Marie Clay letters; Newton sight word lists; Fundations word list; BAS/Newton benchmarks Grades 2&3: Newton sight word lists; Fundations word list; BAS/Newton benchmarks; Read Naturally (AIMSWEB equivalent). For all students in grade 2. For grade 3, just those below benchmark. Also grade 3, Gates (vocab and comprehension) Grades 4 & 5: BAS; Gates (vocab and comprehension); Read Naturally for at risk students. What does your intervention (RTI) look like? Block scheduling allows for creative groupings. Any child who scores in 6th stanine on Gates, considered for intervention Follow LLI program for K in January, 1-3 starting in October. Flexible groups: responding to writing, fluency, retelling in sequence groups.

118 Grade 1: see 20-22% of the cohort Grade 2: see 15-20% of the cohort Grade 3: see 10-15% of the cohort What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) Literacy Specialists are supposed to coach teachers and not provide direct service. Interventionists provide direct service to students. Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? Some use of programs (see above) They have reading units for each grade level written by literacy specialists. Each grade has 3-4 units. Grade 3: mystery, King-Smith, informational text. Units are revised. These units guide the instructional decisions. Suggested texts for guided reading that integrate content or theme. Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? Some of the units referenced above have integration built into them. Historical fiction unit combines SS and ELA. 5th graders and Revolution. How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? Teachers have 2 PLC. One during a lunch. They work on planning. The second is with coverage. That s when math and literacy coach join the team, look at data, instructional decisions about reteaching, introducing an upcoming unit. What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? Have structured intervention times built into block scheduling. Some paid before school work where teachers work with students. Math and ELA team work with Jim Knight protocols. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how do teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? Every literacy specialist and principal has data sheets with data compiled for each grade. Constant monitoring. Have measurable intervention goals. Google drive has data recorded. Very specific benchmarks. 80% threshold. Each child must be scoring at 80%. Will share these benchmarks with me. For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? PARCC district on computer on paper. Looked at previous year s data, and selected students for before school work. Used iready. Instruction through computer program. 6-8 weeks, 3x a week, for 30 minutes. Students could also log in at home. Teachers showed practice items.

119 Used If/then book from Calkins. Used the section of baby literary essays for grade 3. Literacy specialists taught a few lessons.

120 Sudbury'PK'8 ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? Academic rigor combined with meeting the needs of the whole child. To what does your school/district attribute success? Similarly to the first answer, developing strong relationships with students and focusing on developmental as well as academic needs. The coordinator also mentioned a strong, conscientious staff. What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? More writing about reading. Building up the level of reading and writing that is done in Social Studies and Science classrooms. Differentiation - meeting the needs of all learners; closing achievement gap. Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? At elementary level minutes of literacy instruction ( Daily Five /Writer s Workshop) Middle school - 45 minute blocks with additional reading support class for identified 6th graders (not sure how often this class meets.) Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? Fountas and Pinnell - moving toward MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) for higher level readers. Grades k-2: Lucy Calkins selected units Daily Five Flexibility is allowed within these programs and curriculum has been outlined by the Curriculum Coordinator for each grade level (K-8.) What type of universal screening tool do you use? Fountas and Pinnell What does your intervention (RTI) look like? Fountas and Pinnell Wilson (Tier 3 students) What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) Curriculum Coordinator o oversees ELA curriculum (watcher, influencer, and steerer of the ship. o Evaluates teachers at middle school level o In charge of literacy coaching program o Runs PD program with superintendents and teacher input. Literacy Specialists (aka coaches)

121 o One per building. o Role is transitioning from providing intervention to students to literacy coaches who work with teachers to provide curricular and lesson ideas. Middle school reading specialist(s) teach Reading 6 program for struggling readers. Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? Literacy is locally developed and incorporates outside resources (F&P etc. Common assessments are designed by teams with Curriculum Coordinator input. Coordinator was hired to align curriculum K-8 with teacher input. All units are stored in a Google Document/Site that can be accessed internally by staff and can be updated/tweaked as needed. Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? Work on this is in progress. There has been resistance from content area teachers. How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? Specific details are forthcoming. We think about one hour per week at the elementary level. What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? There is acknowledgement that there is a problem and that more could be done to close the gaps that exist. Many other issues seem to be addressed while this one gets pushed aside. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how to teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? Teachers use common assessments and state tests to measure and assess student growth. For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? While we didn t get into the specifics, we have been told that Sudbury does lots of test preparation. Comments/Observations from visit in general: Sudbury is a strong district that is doing many things well. We observed high-level readers/writers at the elementary level. Stations for literacy Daily Five mini-lessons Guided reading groups Appears to be a strong sense of community within the younger grades and Haynes has high-standards for its youngest learners. Saw two varied approaches to instruction at the middle school: Grade 8: Tech-focused lesson for Shakespeare - Schoology, Chromebooks, group discussion via online forums, online quiz homework Grade 7: more traditional/ low-tech approach - targeted grammar instruction, four-corners discussion for The Giver. We were all impressed by how well-behaved and focused the students were in both classrooms. While we all agreed we did not see anything revolutionary, we found the experience validating and rewarding.

122 For further discussion: Leadership structure and the role of literacy coaches or specialists and what this might look like in Weston.

123 Wayland'Elementary ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? Collaboration between special education, teachers, reading specialists on behalf of kids. Coming together to look at student achievement and make plans for all students. To what does your school/district attribute success? Strong teachers Ability to collaboration What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? Finding the balance of achievement with the love of reading. How do we push students but not have it feel like too much pressure. Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? Reading, writing, word study: 90 minute block Read alouds are separate. Some reading and writing integrated into content areas. Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource? Mainly not. Open Court phonics: K, 1 Words Their Way for spelling 2-5 Tammy Mulligan brought in Reading workshop and have strategic actions binders. Will incorporate Harvey and Goudvis Comprehension Toolkit. What type of universal screening tool do you use? DIBELS NEXT, K-5, all the tasks Grade 2-5 Spelling Inventory Fountas and Pinnell BAS Grades 1&2: 3x a year Grades 3, only the beginning of the year for all students. End of year, only low achieving readers Grades 4&5, only given to low achieving readers What does your intervention (RTI) look like? RTI Blocks, Grades 1,2. Two groups of 45 minutes each or 30 minutes for 3 groups.. Work across classes: Group A, 45 minutes, 2x a week. Then, group B, 45 minutes, 2x a week. Grades 3-5, the same model, but 2x, 45. Just one group. Read Naturally for fluency intervention.

124 Have LLI kits. In the process of figuring out how to use consistently. They require 4x a week, and these groups meet 2x a week. Grades 4,5. Small group literacy with novel and literacy specialist. Some short text. What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) SS/ELA K-5. Two 1.0 literacy specialists. Two.8 One.5 Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? Yes, mostly. In K,1 Lucy Calkins units SRSD (Self regulated strategy development) Use mnemonics to remember the key parts of each genre for writing. Some teachers use Aimee Buckner s materials. Writing Fluency: one grade piloting an approach. No results yet. No Tony Stead Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? Have gotten more realistic fiction and nonfiction to go with social studies. Biography project in fifth grade. Lucy Calkins, grade 2 lab Writing for informational unit. Experiment and report on what you found. Combined STEM lessons with this unit. How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? At each building, there is 1x a week PLC. There are TA s who cover the classroom. Go from 8:15-9:15. School day starts at 8:30. Some teams meet from 2:30-3:30. School day ends at 3:00. Every Wednesday is early release: Some Wednesdays used for conferences. 5 Wednesdays given over to grade Levels meetings. 5 Wednesday PD days run by Curriculum. Shared with Math/Science Some district-wide days, 2-3 What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? Achievement gap work goes along with RTI work. Look at needs rather than race, special groups. Trying to look at trends of data. Where do students come in? Any particular grade levels where achievement levels plateau off. Affinity groups what work with METCO program/coordinator. Literacy specialist and METCO coordinator meet and discuss students. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how do teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth?

125 Use universal screeners. How do students grow from beginning to end of year. For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? Nothing, really. Just practice tests. Have used MCAS and PARCC.

126 Wellesley'Secondary ELA/DramaProgramReview''QuestionsforSiteVisits Overall Of what is your school/district most proud? HS: They are most proud of the fact that graduates report being completely prepared for the college experience in terms of writing, even those who were not in the highest level classes. Students report being exemplars in their classes and being able to help their peers with writing. College readiness in general is a strong suit of the high school. MS: Project-based-learning focused around Home of the Brave (6th); I-Search (Research project based on personal interest) (7th) -- integrating one-to-one into it this year (ipads) and added presentations to community (again PBL); Choice units also being pushed into the curriculum across the grades. To what does your school/district attribute success? The culture of the department has long created a strong ELA program, and it is a culture of pushing kids hard but supporting them just as hard. Extensive feedback on writing along with providing scaffolding and supports to enable students to reach high standards all create a culture of excellence that the majority of students reach by the time they graduate. The district as a whole has maintained this culture across the curriculum, and while once upon a time the English department was the stand-out rigorous department, that rigor has become more uniform across curricula in the middle school and high school. There is generally seen to be more homework in English, but the rigor of expectations are uniform. What is the school/district working on (striving to improve)? The district as a whole is working on how to provide rigor and extended learning without adding to student stress and even how to decrease stress within the current situation. They have been working in faculty/district meetings to look at this issue, though it impacts the high school students the most. MS: Integrating more and more choice units and cutting down on time spent on core novels to encourage more student engagement in the curriculum. Has already come a long way. We choose a book; now you choose a book. Program/Structure What portion of each day is spent on ELA instruction? Middle School: 45 minutes every day. 6th grade -- all teachers in the grade (all disciplines) host literacy workshop -- student choice reading and journaling, though some of the choices can be subject-relevant. Also all teachers teach additional block in all grades around various literacies -- High School: 7-day rotating schedule, English meets 5 times for 59 minutes during that rotation. Is your literacy experience for students based on commercial programs? If so, are they used as a program or as a resource?

127 H.S. -- Nothing is used universally -- Some teachers at the HS use Sadlier vocab, but otherwise, nothing programmatic at the high school level. Notice and Notes -- Beers et al. This is being piloted from middle school into high school, but again, not universally. What type of universal screening tool do you use? MS: Four reading specialists in the department who teach reading intervention classes -- QRI is the system they use for screening. Not undertaken at high school. What does your intervention (RTI) look like? MS: See the info above for screening. And from there assigned to specialists classes either 3 or 6 times per cycle. H.S. - Nothing official -- writing lab is available some blocks (not every block). The Writing Lab is a drop-in center but also English teachers can send students there with specific tasks to complete/areas to work on, and the writing lab teacher can be signed out to come into English classes to work with small groups on specific skills. What is the K-12 structure of curricular support/leadership in ELA? (Literacy coaches, curriculum specialists? Department Head? etc.) K-5 Department Head 6-8 Dept. Head 9-12 Dept. Head teachers (some PT FTEs) Curriculum Is your literacy experience locally developed? If so, what is your curriculum development process? Where do you get your ideas? At the MS: Locally. New books are adopted by piloting in a class and then transitions into core. At the high school: Totally locally developed. No formal curriculum development process other than when a new class is proposed; that has to be articulated by team proposing it, approved by supervisors, and approved by School Committee. Revisions to programs such as Summer Reading are shared with Asst. Supt. of Curriculum and Development, but other revisions of texts or assessments come out of department meetings/teams, and then they develop their plans. They do as much in-house as they can. Can you share successes you have had in integrating the ELA curriculum with other curricula areas? MS: Nothing systematic. Varies team-to-team based on a particular book or interest of the teachers. HS: The department has one long-standing humanities class -- co-taught by English and history teachers; two blocks long, two classes. Larger class size -- up to 30s. Only available for seniors. Focuses on balancing social/psychological/historical elements of a text with the literary elements. Focuses on range of literature (Hamlet & The Odyssey along with contemporary works) but links all to current events/issues. Newer programs:

128 Just started last year with SPED: 9th grade CP (lowest level) had a group of kids who were well behind grade level in reading (all with IEPs), so they created a co-taught class with and English teacher working with a Reading Specialist to incorporate skill development and accommodations. In year two, so no clear determination of effectiveness (this year s MCAS will be first set of available data). Diverse American Voices -- all non-white literature; English teacher working with METCO director as co-teacher. Focuses on race in the U.S. -- attractive to students across the population. Evolutions -- all subjects -- English, math, science, social studies, & art -- based on Concord- Carlisle s semester-long program, but year long. Experiential, project-based. Big undertaking that is in its first year and still shaking out. How do teachers at the same grade level (or who teach the same course) plan and work together? MS: Scheduled time once per cycle within departmental teams. But team model still overwhelms that time sometimes. So English curriculum happens only 2-3 times per month. HS: Ad hoc meetings -- shared expectations to do a few of the same books, but then they choose. Shared expectations for key skills, but for the most part collaboration takes place when one can find time. No scheduled time to meet. For example, creating DDMs happened in department meeting time, but no real team time assigned. What steps has your school system taken to close any achievement gaps? MS: Principal has been focused on the issue of race in general -- speakers, discussions around bias (department has read Rankine Citizen). Trying to make teachers more aware of microaggressions and how they talk about race in the classroom. Also plan to ask teachers to focus on students of color in their common grading/common assessments to work on growth. HS: Strong United Scholars program that has been building over time -- some teachers volunteer to help with that (on their own time -- tutoring). As a school, have looked at the D, F & I list and looked for trends and initiatives that might help. Trying to get funding for a non-special ed learning center (like Weston HS TEC). The Diverse American Voices class also helps with that -- heightens engagement for students of color. Assessment Other than standardized tests, how do teachers and administrators assess and use data for student growth? MS: Some common assessment -- PARCC practice test was used to help prepare them for MCAS question stems. HS: Most universal data analysis is through goal-setting for new evaluation system -- Student Learning Goal and DDMs are in the works (have done them for two years and used the data but as not yet formalized, not yet fully implemented). For standardized tests, what do you do for test prep? MS: See above for Common Assessment based on PARCC.

129 At HS -- mostly done sophomore teachers work to familiarize kids with the test. No mandated requirements or programs. Comments/Observations from visit in general: The cross-curricular classes can provide us with the most interesting elements to consider for our program as we move forward.

130 DramaSiteVisitSummary Contents: CreatedbyAidanO HaraonbehalfoftheSelf'StudyCommittee 1. Summaryof15'16 2. DramaProgramInformationfor: a. Belmont,Dover'Sherborn,Framingham,Lexington,Lincoln,Lincoln'Sudbury, 3. Observations 4. Takeaways Natick,Needham,Sharon,Sudbury,Wayland,andWellesley '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 1. Summaryof15'16 Throughoutthe2015'2016schoolyear,Self'StudyCommitteeMemberAidanO Hara researcheddrama,dance,andtheperformingartsintheseschooldistricts:belmont,dover' Sherborn,Framingham,Lexington,Lincoln,Lincoln'Sudbury,Natick,Needham,Sharon, Sudbury,Wayland,andWellesley.Amajorityoftheresearchbeganon'line.Aidanvisited WaylandHS,LexingtonHS,ClarkeMS(Lexington),FraminghamHS,andNatickHSforsite visits. 2.DRAMAPROGRAMINFORMATION SCHOOL DEPARTMENT HighSchoolCourses Middle School Courses Speech/ PublicSpeaking Belmont FineandPerforming Arts CONTACT: DepartmentHead: DramaTeacher: IntroductiontoActing&Technical Theater TheModernActor TheaterProduction& Design TheaterArts (Grade8 only) In2010,electivesin Speechand Debatewere discontinued. Dover- Sherborn TheaterArtsin Living,Fine,and TechnicalArtsf PublicSpeakingin English DramaonthePageandStage (ELA) InProgramofStudies,butnolonger offered. Speech& Drama (Grade8 only) PublicSpeaking (Elective) InProgramof

131 CONTACT: ELADepartmentHead: KCPotts K'12ArtsCoordinator: JaniceBarry DramaDirectorCarmelBergeron PublicSpeaking(ELA) InProgramofStudies,butnolonger offered.standardsintegratedintoother classes. AmericanMusicalTheater(Music) Stagecraft(VisualArt) ActingWorkshop(TV/Media) Studies,butno longeroffered. Framingham FineandPerforming Arts Acting1 Acting2 (Honors) Musical Theater1 Musical Theater2 Advanced Acting TheaterforSocial Change ActingandPlay Study Performance Workshop Grade7 Drama Grade8 Drama Notoffered curricularly. CONTACT: DepartmentHead: DramaTeachers:DianaBlue(MS), ChrisBrindley(HS),StephanieHenry (HS),TeriShea(MS) Lexington PerformingArts PublicSpeakingin English ThePlay sthe Thing Artofthe Theater Advanced Drama Workshop Directing Playwriting Improvisational Theater DramaasSocial Issues: Performance Workshop IndependentStudy indrama Drama6 Drama7 Drama8 Public Speaking1 Public Speaking2 (Electives) CONTACT: PACoordinator,JeffreyLeonard DramaTeachers:AlysonBrown(MS), KateBromley(MS),SandyDiMartino (HS),JillianSinger'Wong(HS) Lincoln (K- 8) K?8Curriculum& Instruction NA Grades6,7 and8 Electives: Drama Ensemble and Festival Ensemble Grade5 Drama NA CONTACT: KristinHall,Grades5'8Drama Lincoln- Sudbury (9-12) ActinginFine, Appliedand TechnicalArtsf OtherDramain English Ideasin Drama(ELA) Shakespeare Actingand DirectingforFilm Production(Fine, Appliedand TechnicalArts, NA Speechand DebateClub Speechclasscutin

132 CONTACT: EnglishDept.Coordinator: (ELA) Dramain Production (ELA) Semester Electives FATA) Natick FineandPerforming Arts Theater:Games,ScriptingWriting, andscenework Theater:Performance,Exercises, andimprov Grades5,6, 7and8 Drama (KennedyMS only) Grade8 electiveat Wilson NoSpeechor PublicSpeakingin ProgramofStudies, butincredibly strongco'curricular program CONTACT: DepartmentHead,SteveMiller: Needham FineandPerforming Arts SpeechinEnglish TheaterArts1 TheaterArts2 TechnicalTheater TheaterforSocialChange TheaterArts (Grade8 only) Speech(Elective) CONTACT: DepartmentHead,DavidNeves: Sharon ELA/Drama IntroductiontoTheater Improv HonorsAdvancedActing HonorsTheaterProduction PublicSpeaking Drama7 Drama8 PublicSpeaking (ELA/Drama Elective) CONTACT: HSDramaTeacher, SandraDennis: MSDramaTeacher,Ms.Sammons Sudbury (K- 8) NA NA NA NA Wayland FineandPerforming Arts Improvisation Actingfor Stage,TV andfilm Honors Dramatics1 Honors Dramatics2 Communication Skills HonorsScriptto Screen Shakespeare through Performance Drama6 Drama7 Drama8 Communication Skills (DramaElective) CONTACT: DepartmentHead,SusanMemoli: HSDramaTeacher: Wellesley PerformingArts Acting1 Acting2 MusicalTheater PlayReading Drama7 Drama8 Notoffered curricularly.

133 Observations Acting3 Acting4 (Honors) Stagecraft Theatrical Design Stagecraft anddesign Intensive Seminar Playwright s Workshop Dance1 Dance2 TheMoving Company 1. For the majority of schools researched, the drama course offerings are not considered part of the ELA department, but rather an iteration of Fine and Performing Arts, with the lone exception of Lincoln-Sudbury. Outside our area, I researched Sharon MS and HS because they are a comparable model to Weston (i.e. ELA as department for theater arts classes). That being said, I would say throughout Massachusetts, it is the size of the school that drives the home for Drama. The larger the school, the more likely it lives in a Fine and Performing Arts program. 2. Most curricular content is anchored in the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Frameworks (November, 1999), the National Arts Standards, and the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for ELA (March 2011). The more specific documents, like Learning Goals, Assessments, standards are home grown. 3. No Elementary programs or curriculum (outside a Grade 5 Drama in Middle Schools that run Grades 5 to 8.) 4. While there was no required Speech or Public Speaking course in any of the 12 programs researched, many had electives or co-curricular programs. 5. Wayland High School, Wellesley High School, Wellesley Middle School (and soon Belmont) all employ FTE release time for Drama teachers to execute the co-curricular program, similar to WHS. 6. Honors - Framingham HS, Wellesley HS, Wayland HS, Sharon HS have Honors level Drama classes.

134

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