Thirteen Strategies to
Improve Reading Performance
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How have some Chicago schools improved student reading performance? Leadership is essential -- leadership and 13 practical strategies to nurture concrete, measurable gains in reading! This week, Education World tells what principals and teachers do in some of Chicago's most successful schools and how they do it!
"If primary teachers don't know phonics, I simply won't hire them!" said Anthony Jelinek, principal of Chicago's Hibbard Elementary School. The Chicago Schools Academic Accountability Council designated Hibbard one of the city's "most improved schools."
Thirty-nine of about 490 Chicago elementary schools (including pre-K through 4, pre-K through 8, and middle school) earned "most improved" commendations because of students' superior performance in reading and math on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). All are urban schools whose students face the kinds of challenges, such as poverty and English as a second language, that can often hinder student achievement. These schools have beaten the odds, though, and helped students do well according to objective performance measures.
The report "Leave No Child Behind: An Examination of Chicago's Most Improved Schools and the Leadership Strategies Behind Them" is the result of a two-year study by the Academic Accountability Council. Principals in the participating schools used 13 common strategies that showed dramatic improvements in reading. Those strategies include a zealous commitment to a focused reading program, teacher accountability and support, creative investment in student learning, and increased time on task.
"Students can learn, regardless of their racial or ethnic background or their family income, in schools that use 13 key strategies," said an announcement of the report's release. "Researchers found that principals and teachers in these most-improved schools used certain common strategies and engaged in similar activities." The first strategy cited in the report is "Create a consistent reading program."
"We emphasize phonics in the primary grades because that addresses the specific needs of our student population," principal Jelinek told Education World. "More than 50 percent of our students have English as a second language. We have students who speak Spanish, Cambodian, Arabic, four dialects from India, Vietnamese, and many other languages."
BASAL WORKS BEST
"Our school isn't located in Cherubsville, Suburbia," said Jelinek, whose school encompasses kindergarten through eighth grade. "We use a basal series because it more directly addresses comprehension and word attack skills, which is what our students need. The whole-language approach tends to presuppose a sophisticated ability with language that many of our students just don't have when they begin here."
According to Jelinek, a basal series provides students with needed continuity of instruction from one grade level to another, enables students to gauge their own progress, and allows teachers and administrators to measure students' reading progress. Jelinek also thinks the support basal series workbooks offer is of critical importance in developing students' skills.
In Hibbard's classes, students read both fiction and nonfiction. "This year, our drive is to enhance students' vocabulary, not just with lists but also with using the new words," Jelinek explained. "We introduce and have students use new terms from social studies and science. We also focus on the diverse meanings of one word. To students who use English as a second language, words with several different meanings are particularly confusing. For example, we might look at the word train. To one person, a train is a choo-choo. Someone else might use the word as in 'training' someone for a job. The word can also mean the train on a wedding dress.
"No one approach to reading and language works for everybody," Jelinek affirmed. "What's important is to know your student population and tailor your reading program to fit it."
Dr. Rollie O. Jones, principal at Kellman Corporate Community School, said schools must be "consistent and organized for success. Our resource teacher and grade-level teams work together to align curriculum."
A coordinated curriculum is vital because it enables teachers to plan lessons incoming students will have the skills to learn. With vertical and horizontal coherence in the curriculum, teachers also know what next year's teachers will expect from their students.
"We have a vision, a mission to provide a coordinated curriculum," Dr. Jones told Education World. "We have a cross-section of teachers, some young, some seasoned, some in-between, but they all must buy into our vision. I look for teachers who will make that commitment to a coordinated curriculum and become part of our 'family' here in the school."
Among the strategies Kellman, a pre-K through 8 school, uses is an extensive mentoring and tutoring program. "We have mentors come into the school once a week, successful adults to act as role models for our students," Dr. Jones said. "Some young men, college graduates, are rappers, some have the earring in the ear, but they are all fine young people. Our students can relate to them and learn from them."
Kellman also attracts student tutors from an area high school and from DePaul University. The tutors spend time at the school once a week. They use reading and math materials teachers provide to help students develop specific skills.
"Our mentoring and tutorial programs accomplish several goals," Dr. Jones explained. "They provide interaction with our community, showing students sources that enter the school from the outside, and they enable students to develop more acceptable behaviors and get one-on-one instruction in reading and math."
THE BAKER'S DOZEN
The "Leave No Child Behind" report notes that principals in schools whose students succeed have a can-do attitude focused on student achievement. They clearly communicate to everyone that outcomes matter, support is available, and progress is monitored closely
The 13 strategies identified as essential to progress in the 39 schools cited as most improved follow, along with recommendations on how to implement them.
Specific techniques for monitoring include the following:
Recommendations for monitoring students and teachers include the following:
"It is our hope that the "baker's dozen" strategies we have identified will become a blueprint for every school looking toward greater achievement," explained Dr. Karen Carlson, executive director of the Academic Accountability Council and primary author of the study.
"The most successful elementary schools ensure that all students have a reading-enriched curriculum, beginning in the first grade, where there is a strong emphasis on phonetics," said Carlson, who is a former Chicago Public Schools principal. "This is complemented by consistent monitoring to ensure that no child falls through the cracks."
"Leadership...specifically, the principal's leadership is what we are seeing here," said Leon Jackson, chairman of the Academic Accountability Council, in reference to how schools implement the 13 strategies. "In each of the schools that are improving, we see a successful management team that is goal-oriented, well-organized, well-supported and, most important, well-led. These are principals and schools from whom all can learn."
Article by Sharon Cromwell
Copyright © 2006 Education World
Originally published 09/21/2004
Links last updated 03/07/2006