1. Reading First in Georgia: A professional development system to improve differentiated instruction Georgia Reading First Team

4. Overall Goals: 1.Share the vision for differentiated instruction that we’ve developed together 2.Introduce large-scale professional support initiatives to serve multiple stakeholders 3.Invite you to talk with a member of our team

6. Strategies  We’ll do some theory building work  We’ll provide models of use of time in small groups  We’ll direct you to additional resources

7. Approaches to Differentiation By instructional level By fluency level By assessed needs

8. Approaches to Differentiation By instructional level By fluency level By assessed needs Informal reading inventories Traditional basal instruction Groups move at same pace Groups are all but permanent Differentiation is in all areas Parallel skill “strands” used

9. Approaches to Differentiation By instructional level By fluency level By assessed needs

10. Approaches to Differentiation By instructional level By fluency level By assessed needs Differentiation by leveled books Decoding skills not a target Fountas & Pinnell

11. Approaches to Differentiation By instructional level By fluency level By assessed needs

12. Approaches to Differentiation By instructional level By fluency level By assessed needs Assess for differentiation Screening + diagnostic Groups are temporary Groups are flexible Target areas of greatest need Goal is “upward mobility”

13. Differentiation is “instruction that helps [children] accomplish challenging tasks that are just out of their reach” “instruction that targets a particular group of children’s needs directly and temporarily” “instruction that applies a developmental model” Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2007). Differentiated reading instruction: Strategies for the primary grades. New York: Guilford Press.

14. A Basic Template Whole-Group Instruction Lowest GroupCenter or Intervention Center Middle GroupCenter Highest Group Whole-Group Instruction

15. The concept of three tiers of instruction The 3-tier model (University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency, 2005) is a general framework — and just a framework — for explaining how any research-based program can be executed in a school. (http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/ materials/3tier_letter.asp)

16. Tier I: Core Classroom Reading Instruction 1.A core reading program grounded in scientifically based reading research 2.Benchmark testing of all kindergarten through third-grade students to determine instructional needs at least three times per year (fall, winter, and spring) 3.Ongoing professional development to provide teachers with the necessary tools to ensure every student receives quality reading instruction

17. Tier II: Supplemental Instruction For some students, core classroom reading instruction is not enough. Tier II is designed to meet the needs of these students by providing them with additional small-group reading instruction daily.

18. Tier III: Instruction for Intensive Intervention A small percentage of students require more support in acquiring vital reading skills than Tier II instruction can provide. For these students, Tier III provides instruction that is more explicit, more intensive, and specifically designed to meet their individual needs.

19. Setting the stage for differentiation requires careful analysis of the curriculum.

20. Decide what to teach when. We are more likely to achieve improvements in vocabulary and comprehension for K and 1st grade during whole-group read-alouds, both from the core selection and from children’s literature. We can introduce and practice phonemic awareness and phonics concepts during whole group, but we’re more likely to achieve mastery during small-group time.

21. Decide what to teach when. We are more likely to achieve improvements in fluency and comprehension in 2nd and 3rd grade if we introduce them in whole-group and practice in small- group time. We can introduce word recognition concepts during whole-group time, but we will likely achieve mastery only during small-group time.

22. Make more time for small groups.  Literacy coaches and grade-level teams must determine exactly how to use the core program  Sort core instructional components from extension and enrichment activities  Moderate and control instructional pacing so that early introductions and reviews are fast

23. Make a very simple centers rotation  Look for materials already in the core.  Consider daily paired readings and re-readings.  Consider a daily activity linked directly to your read-aloud. Your children can write in response to that text every day.  Consider a daily activity linked directly to your small group instruction. Your children can practice the things you’ve introduced.

24. Now you have set the stage for differentiated reading instruction It’s time to plan. 1.Gather your resources. 2.Consider your children’s needs. 3.Try it out.

25. Gather your instructional resources  Review the state standards and the scope and sequence in your instructional materials  Review the state assessments, the district assessments, and any assessments that come with your core; fill in gaps with informal assessments

26. Consider your children’s needs  Given your screening data, you will know that some portion of children are likely at benchmark, some are just below grade level, and some are well below grade level  For children at benchmark, you can decide to focus small-group time on fluency and comprehension or on vocabulary and comprehension  Only the below-grade-level children need additional assessments

27. Consider your children’s needs Using the Cognitive Model of Reading Assessment (McKenna and Stahl, 2003) choose your two- part focus for each group:  Phonemic awareness and phonics  Phonics and fluency  Fluency and comprehension  Vocabulary and comprehension

28. PA and Word Recognition Word Recognition and Fluency Fluency and Comprehension Vocabulary & Comprehension A Stairway to Proficiency

29. These Assignments are Temporary! Challenging Instruction, not practice Explicit Every item modeled; Clear instructional talk Engaged Every pupil response strategies Systematic Repetitive instructional strategies each day; New content each day; Cumulative review each day

30. Phonemic awareness and phonics  These children still need to work on learning letter names and sounds, and they are not yet able to segment phonemes automatically  They will work on coordinated activities to manipulate phonemes, learn new letters and sounds and review letters previously taught  They will work with letters and words during small-group time

31. Every Day for 3 Weeks Alphabet Review3 Minutes Initial Sound Sorting3 Minutes 2 New Letter Sounds; Review Old Letter Sounds 3 Minutes 2 New HF Words; Review Old High Frequency Words 3 Minutes Concept of Word3 Minutes Phonemic Awareness and Word Recognition Group

32. Every Day for 3 Weeks Oral Segmenting and Blending 3 Minutes Short Vowel Patterns6 Minutes 4 New HF Words; Review Old High Frequency Words 6 Minutes Phonemic Awareness and Word Recognition Group 2

33. Phonics and fluency  These children still need to work on decoding, but they can segment and blend phonemes to read some words  They will work on coordinated activities to learn new letter patterns and review patterns previously taught  They will work with words and with phonics-focused texts during small- group time

34. Every Day for 3 Weeks Decodable text Whisper Reading 3 Minutes Sounding and Blending 4 Minutes New HF Words; Review Old High Frequency Words 4 Minutes Decodable text Whisper Reading 4 Minutes Word Recognition and Fluency Group 1

35. Every Day for 3 Weeks Teaching Letter Patterns 6 Minutes New HF Words; Review Old High Frequency Words 3 Minutes Decodable text Whisper Reading 6 Minutes Word Recognition and Fluency Group 2

36. Fluency and comprehension  These children have relatively few decoding problems, but they lack automaticity  They will work in a guided reading format; they may review particularly challenging words (for their pronunciation or their meaning) but they will use most of their time reading and rereading challenging leveled texts and discussing text meaning

37. Every Day for 3 Weeks Preteach Difficult Words 2 Minutes Choral or Echo Read New Text Portion 5 Minutes Partner or Whisper Read Same Text Portion 5 Minutes Summary or Inference Questions 3 Minutes Fluency and Comprehension Group

38. Vocabulary and comprehension  These children are at grade level in the areas of decoding and fluency  They will extend what they know into new texts and new text types; they will write in response to reading

39. Every Day Preteach Vocabulary3 Minutes Review Comprehension Strategy 1 Minute Teacher Read-Aloud or Children Whisper Read 7 Minutes Comprehension Discussion 4 Minutes Vocabulary and Comprehension Group

40. Take a minute -- how does this differ from differentiated instruction in your school?

41. We will give you an overview of specific initiatives and invite you into conversation Building Leadership SupportJulie Morrill, Reading First Program Manager Building Coaching ExpertiseDeborah Haney, Reading First Program Specialist Building Statewide Infrastructure Amanda Beaty, Reading First Program Specialist Linking to StandardsDr. Sallie Mills, Reading First Program Specialist

42. Building Leadership Support

43. Vision  Leaders see themselves as the catalyst of support for all educators in their project.  Leaders look upon assessment as the key to improvement.  Leaders understand the need for collegiality among staff in their building–and they participate.  Leaders take on the responsibility of student achievement and encourage project implementation and development.

44. Strategies  Administration agreed to participate in professional learning as assured in the approved state grant application.  Administration and coaches worked with GARF staff to develop schedules that promote solid project implementation.  Principals and system leaders attend “Leadership Forums.”  Principals brief and debrief with state staff on their monthly visits.

45. Lessons Learned  Effective GARF programs have a dedicated, strong instructional leader.  Principals and APs need to attend professional learning in order to provide support for the coach.  State staff must view their role as the support to the administration.  Steps need to be in place to assist new leaders in taking over the “helm” of an existing project.

46. Building Coaching Expertise

47. Vision  In recognition of research on effective professional development  Literacy Coaches work directly with the teachers in implementation of a research-based literacy program in the school, including best practices in reading instruction, assessment and intervention for struggling students.  “The coach’s school day will be composed of staff development, meetings, and diagnostic testing of identified children…”(From Georgia’s Reading First Grant Proposal, 2003)

48. Strategies  Literacy Coaches will receive training under direction of PD Architects, Regional Consultants and Georgia Reading First project manager  Literacy Coaches form Cohort Teams to provide instruction in SBRR to teachers in Georgia through Teacher Academies  Literacy Coaches will provide continued support for SBRI in their schools through study groups, explanation, demonstrating and modeling best practices  Literacy Coaches will facilitate monthly assessment meeting identify instructional needs of students.

49. Lessons Learned  Change is difficult!  Literacy Coach success depends on administrative support and/or consistency;  Professional development is not always re-delivered to coaches and/or teachers consistently;  Literacy Coach must become an expert in curriculum and professional development;  It takes many repetitions and revisits to really implement the strategies suggested by the professional development;

50. Building Statewide Infrastructure

51. Nonfunded Schools 1224 Elementary Schools in Georgia -150 Funded Schools over the life of the project 1074 Elementary Unfunded Schools in Georgia 51 Vision

52. Director Architects Coordinators Regional Reading First Consultants State Reading First Consultants 52

53. Statewide Reading First  Purpose :  To build capacity throughout the state for reading instruction grounded in scientifically based reading research (SBRR) by disseminating the information available to RF schools throughout the state.  Plan:  To provide monthly or quarterly training through the Regional Education Support Agencies (RESAs) to personnel from non-RF systems and schools. 53 VISION:

54.  Provided GARF with a series of day-long workshops teaching scientific principles of reading instruction  State RF Consultants deliver this series of workshops throughout the state  Over 1000 educators have participated in this series of workshops 54 Strategy Professional Learning Architects

55. Strategy Statewide Professional Learning  During Year 1 of GARF implementation, the PL Architects provided Regional Consultants with seven workshops and book studies:  Assessment and Curriculum: Assessment for Reading Instruction, McKenna & Stahl; The Literacy Coach’s Handbook, Walpole & McKenna  Phonemic Awareness: The Phonological Awareness Handbook for Kindergarten and Primary Teachers, Ericson & Juliebö  Phonics: Word Identification Strategies, Fox.  Fluency: The Fluent Reader, Rasinski.  Vocabulary: Bringing Words to Life, Beck et al.  Comprehension: Explaining Reading, Duffy.  Summary: Reading Instruction that Works, Pressley. 55

56. Challenges and Responses Challenge: Initially, schools were unaware of the opportunity.  Response:  Consultants approached RESAs, described the training and offered services  Workshops are provided free of charge  All materials are free as well  Participants at each workshop receive a professional book and frequently also receive books for teachers to read-aloud to students  Over time, word of mouth convinced increasing numbers of schools and systems that they needed this training. 56

57. Challenges and Responses Challenge: Schools were not convinced of the need for this information  Response:  The new Georgia Performance Standards were mapped from the five dimensions outlined by the National Reading Panel  Response to Intervention (RtI) has given new impetus to the need for documentation of initial status of student achievement along with a means of obtaining formative data to document progress 57

58. Challenges and Responses Challenge: Sheer numbers of teachers who need this professional learning (1000 have participated in the entire series—may leave 20,000 more)  Response:  Some systems have elected to participate in a train-the-trainer model  GARF has trained personnel from the systems who then redeliver the information to personnel in their schools  Many systems are availing themselves of the online academy 58

59. Unmet Challenges  Challenges:  Documenting change as a result of this training  Participation in these workshops is often sporadic within a school or system; it is therefore difficult to track data  Little follow-up in the school setting because the administrators are frequently unaware of what the participants are learning 59

60. Linking to Standards

61. Vision  To revise Georgia’s Curriculum after an audit determined that it did not meet national standards and could not be covered in a reasonable amount of time  To provide a usable and effective curriculum that would drive both instruction and assessment in Georgia’s schools  To move from content standards to performance standards for greater depth and understanding  To make the five dimensions of reading the cornerstone for the K-3 Georgia Performance Standards

62. Strategy: The Plan  Review and reorganize original K-3 Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) draft using a variety of resources  Comments from national experts  Legal advice  Reading staff comments  Original committee draft  National Reading Panel Report  Put Reading First  Standards from other states  Post revised K-3 GPS for comments from teachers, national reading experts, and other stakeholders  K-3 GPS adopted by State Board

63. Strategy: Statewide GPS Training  Implementation Year One  Day 1 : Become familiar with the standards  Days 2-5 : Work on Best Practices and Assessment, Instruction, and Curriculum Mapping  Implementation Year Two  Three additional days of training to work on extension and enrichment

64. Lessons Learned  Train-the-trainer model was not the best way to train the teachers  Administrators’ and Literacy Coaches’ attendance at the GPS training was crucial to the successful implementation of the K-3 Georgia Performance Standards and Reading First  The importance of teachers seeing the connection between GPS and Reading First became evident

66. Time to Talk Please join one of our team members for an in-depth look at our work

67. How to find out more http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_services.aspx?PageReq=C IServReading http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/reading/projects/garf/