1. October 26, 2011 Principal’s Meeting Stan Warren Annual Growth, Catch-up Growth

3. Kennewick Portland

4. Over arching concept today: These are pretty ordinary guys. Kennewick is a pretty ordinary district. If they can achieve these kinds of results, we should be able to.

5. Kennewick School District Enrollment: 15,000 Schools: 13 Elementary 4 Middle Schools 3 High Schools 1 Vocational Center 50% Free and Reduced: Budget $152 M Ethnic Make- up Anglo 74% Hispanic 22% Asian 2% African-American 2% Staff: Teachers 960 Classified 774 Administrators 60

6. Stating the Obvious Reading is our most basic academic skill. 85% of curriculum is delivered by reading including math--there are far more words than numbers in math textbooks. No other educational success can compensate for failure to teach reading early and well. Change must affect classroom practice.

7. It takes about an hour of normal classroom instruction for 180 days to make up each year a student is behind.

8. Behind: 1 year60 minutes x 180 days 2 years 120 minutes x 180 days 3 years120 minutes x 180 days

9. Summary: Everything here is common sense 5 year range by kindergarten caused results at home Annual growth keeps 70%+ students in the band they start in. With catch-up growth and differences in teaching and motivation 30% of students move bands.

10. Your current structure, resource allocation and beliefs are perfectly designed to create your current results.

11. 64% of parents believe: “Child will catch up to other children within a year or two.” 27% of parents believe: “Child will be behind other children throughout school years.” 9% of parents: “Not sure”.

12. The highly visible 90% Reading Goal created a clear line of sight from where we were to where we need to go. White paper-basis for subsequent change (page 239) Coming to grips with disparity between what we believed and what we lead our community to believe

13. Created by solid reading programs emphasizing accuracy, fluency, comprehension, phonemic awareness and explicit phonics. “In primary grades, a minimum of 2 …hours of instruction is recommended.” CORE Sourcebook 22.6

14. Eye-ball to eye ball Perhaps twice as effective at Washington than ten years before District instructional conferences Instruction is our craft

15. “In primary grades, a minimum of 2 …hours of instruction is recommended.” CORE Sourcebook 22.6 “120 minutes of eyeball to eyeball instruction Kennewick practice

16. Diagnostic testing to determine the deficient sub-skills of those behind Proportional increases in direct instruction time Teaching to the deficient sub-skill Retesting to assure that adequate catch-up growth actually occurred

17. Catch-up Growth When students leave kindergarten three years behind in reading, they must make six years of growth in three years to catch-up by 3 rd grade. When students leave kindergarten three years behind in reading, they must make six years of growth in three years to catch-up by 3 rd grade. This means they must make one year of annual growth and one year of catch-up growth each year. This means they must make one year of annual growth and one year of catch-up growth each year. Or, said another way, two years of growth in each 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd grades to catch up. Or, said another way, two years of growth in each 1 st, 2 nd, and 3 rd grades to catch up.

18. Use of additional tests by leading schools Use of sub-skill data in existing tests Look at sub skills. See page Annual Growth page 74 for other specific (10) diagnostic tests

19. “In God we trust. Everyone else shows their data.” -unknown Diagnostic testing and data

20. “You can either fight assessment or embrace it. However, you cannot be a high-performance school without embracing assessment.” -Dave Montague Diagnostic testing and data

21. “There is no point in testing if you don’t look at the data, don’t understand it, and don’t change.” -Chuck Watson, Principal-Vista Elem., Kennewick, WA Diagnostic testing and data

22. Students who are behind do not learn faster than those who are ahead. Catch-up growth is driven primarily by proportional increases in direct instruction time. Catch-up growth is so difficult to achieve that it can be the product only of quality of instruction in great quantity.

23. Increased time: a real life problem Tony has just scored at the 11 th percentile on the spring 2nd grade reading test. His state set their reading standard at the 50 th percentile. How much direct reading instruction does Tony need during 3rd and 4th grade to assure he will reach the state standard by the end of 4 th grade?

24. Increased time: real life problem continued a. State Standard in percentiles is…….. Percentile b. Tony’s 2 nd grade status in percentiles Percentile c. Difference is……………………………………………….. Points Rough rule of thumb is 13 percentile points = 1 year of growth In elementary school the normal reading period has been 60-70 minutes d. Divide the gap in points by 13 points to convert the gap into instructional years……… 3 rd 4 th Annual Growth minutes Catch-up Growth 1 extra year 1/2 extra year Total Minutes 50 11 39 70 175 35 70 35 70 3 years

25. Adult change when it does not.

26. Could not see what was happening in kindergarten, first and second grade. Adding of district tests at K, 1 and 2 Adding of diagnostic tests by the buildings Modeled use of data at each level.

28. The Implementation Years

29. Reading is now their priority Trained Teach the curriculum Knew where all the kids were Cooks knew where the kids were Unheard of levels of teaming

30. Movement of kids within remediation Sharing instructional assistants and building personnel.

31. Became reading experts Attended all the staff reading training Knew where all the kids were (data) Knew the research Were in classrooms, not in the office Established look-fors (inspect your expectations)

32. In entrenched low performing schools, teachers will hate and despise you. Principals whom you replace and their friends will despise you for high achievement. You must learn to be the sole holder of impossible beliefs to achieve impossible things until performance provides proof.

33. Kennewick School District Located in southeastern Washington Approximately 15,000 students in 13 elementary schools 4 middle schools 3 high schools 25% of students are ethnic minorities, and 48% elementary school students qualify for free or reduced lunch

34. In 1995, the school board in Kennewick challenged the elementary schools to have 90% of their students at grade level in reading by the end of third grade – within 3 years The primary responsibility for accomplishing this was assigned to the school principals Kennewick School District Washington

35. At the schools… “ We began to have serious staff meetings…we began ….looking at the test data to see how far behind some of our kids were. It was the first time Washington had ever had such precise data. In the fall of 1995, 23% of our 3 rd graders were reading at second grade level and 41% of our 3 rd graders were reading at a kindergarten or 1 st grade level.” Kennewick School District Washington

36. 1 st hour (8:45-9:45) Small group instruction 3 classroom teachers 1 District Reading Teacher 2 Title I teachers Specials teacher PE teacher 6 paraprofessionals Reading Block for 3 First Grade classrooms Washington Elementary Kennewick School District

37. Small group reading during 1 st hour of the day  13 adults with 75 students during the first hour in first grade  Struggling students get 1:3 with most skilled instructor  Advanced students get 1:7 ratios with paras and others During the Morning Reading Block Afternoon Reading Block: Many students get additional small group or 1:1 instruction time as interventions Washington Elementary Kennewick School District

38. 1 st hour (8:45-9:45) Small group instruction 3 classroom teachers 1 District Reading Teacher 2 Title I teachers Specials teacher PE teacher 6 paraprofessionals The reading block for 3 first grade classrooms 2 nd hour (9:45-10:45) Whole group instruction Also, during the second hour, paras, Title 1, and others work in small groups with 2 nd -5 th grades In the afternoon, many students are provided an additional 40-90 minutes of intervention Washington Elementary Kennewick School District

39. First Grade – Daily Reading Instruction 1st hour (8:45-9:45) Small group instruction The bell rings at 8:35 a.m. and a new school day begins in Stephanie Walton’s first – grade classroom.. After the flag salute and lunch count, her 22 students swiftly break into six small groups for the first hour of the morning reading block.

40. Three students go to the district reading specialist, three to the Title 1 teacher, while four head next door to learn with other students of their ability level. The teacher in the neighboring classroom sends over three of her students, and they take their places with three of Stephanie’s students. In the back of the room, seven students gather for direct instruction with an instructional assistant who follows Stephanie’s lesson plan as is within her listening range. In the hall, two students join a small reading group with the P.E. teacher.

41. First Grade – Daily Reading Instruction 2nd hour (9:45-10:45) Whole group instruction At about 9:43: Glancing up, Stephanie smiles at the students who are returning from other classes. “Your options are cards or workbook.” They know exactly what to do, and get right to work. She continues teaching until the rest of the students are back. At 9:47: Stephanie asks the entire class to come to the carpet area in the front of the room. In less than two minutes they are settled in the story area gazing at the cover of Things that Go.

42. 2nd hour (9:45-10:45) Whole group instruction In 25 minutes, they use the same thematic material to do five different exercises to build vocabulary and comprehension Then the students move to their seats and spend the next 10 minutes on two workbook exercises reinforcing the meaning of five position words they just learned. They spend the rest of whole group time spelling on white boards

43. Teacher Quality x Time = Growth “Quantity of instructional time can be doubled or tripled in a semester. Quality of instructional time cannot. Improving quality occurs over extended periods of time, at different rates for different teachers in the same school, as a constant process of arduous, intelligent labor.”

44. Targeted Accelerated Growth The TAG Loop – Learning Partners The TAG Loop – Learning Partners 1. Diagnostic Testing 2. Proportional increases in direct instructional time 3. Teaching to the deficient sub-skill 4. Retesting to be sure the skill has been learned

45. “This is why the primary and immediate strategy for catch-up growth is proportional increase in direct instructional time.” Catch-up growth rarely occurs unless principals and teachers have good data, know each student’s learning needs, and schedule proportional increases in direct instructional time.” Teacher Quality x Time = Growth

46. All students who begin the year meeting grade level expectations continue to meet grade level expectations at the end of the year-they make expected yearly growth All students who begin the year reading below grade level accelerate their development so they make expected yearly growth plus catch- up growth All students who begin the year reading below grade level accelerate their development so they make expected yearly growth plus catch- up growth What’s the Goal?

47. Whether or not we achieve these goals depends on the strength of our instruction to do two things during the year

48. Goal 1 Ensuring all students make expected yearly growth! 1. Strong core reading instruction for all students 2. Enough time spent to meet the needs of many students who do not typically receive powerful support at home 3. Enough quality so that the increased instructional time is spent effectively

49. Goal 2 Ensuring students who are behind make expected yearly growth - plus catch-up growth takes both!  Effective differentiated instruction by classroom teacher  Effective school-level systems and resources to provide additional intensive intervention in small enough groups for enough time, and with enough skill

50. Learning Partners Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 1. In your efforts to assure each of your students will read at grade level, what strategies are you using to focus on “annual growth”? 2. What strategies are you using to focus on “catch- up growth”?

51. Some important questions for reflection What are the most important ways your school, or classroom is different now than three years ago? If large numbers of your students continue to struggle to make expected yearly growth, have you considered increasing the length of the reading block? Do students who struggle receive time for intervention instruction that is proportional to their difficulties? Do some students receive as much as 60-90 minutes of intervention every day?

52. It matters little what else they learn in elementary school if they do not learn to read at grade level. Fielding, L., Kerr, N., & Rosier, P. (2007). Annual growth for all students, catch-up growth for those who are behind. Kennewick, WA: The New Foundation Press, Inc.

53. If we know we have to improve, yet continue to do what we’ve always done in the same way we’ve always done it and continue to get the same results… Who really are the slow learners?