Consortium for Responsible School Change in Literacy
Sponsored by Minnesota Center for Reading Research
Senior literacy educators* from 6 universities and 2 large professional organizations recently formed the Consortium for Responsible School Change in Literacy. University consortium members work regularly with schools to provide professional learning in literacy to teachers across grades K-12. The university partners also have been conducting research on effective school improvement that reveals striking similarities across sites.
The primary purpose of this university-based consortium is to provide research-validated school improvement models and resources to schools with the goals of producing highly qualified literacy teachers and improving literacy achievement for all students in meaningful ways. Members of the consortium also continue to conduct ongoing research on school improvement and will work collectively to impact educational policy that focuses on school-wide literacy improvement.
The research conducted by consortium members has found that successful school improvement in literacy requires support for organizational change, support for individual teacher change, and a focus on sound instruction that emphasizes complex thinking as well as basic skills. Research has revealed that a framework for school improvement (described below) which helps schools focus on these 3 key elements is effective in improving students' reading ability (Taylor, Pearson, Peterson, & Rodriguez, 2005; Taylor & Peterson, 2004).
Most university consortium partners first conducted research on effective schools and teachers before turning to research and outreach on effective school improvement. From the research of the consortium members the following common principles emerged.
*Educators include: Barbara Taylor, University of Minnesota; Taffy Raphael and Susan Goldman, University of Illinois at Chicago; Kathy Au, University of Hawaii; Marge Lipson and Jim Mosenthal, University of Vermont; Judith Langer, SUNY-Albany; David Pearson, University of California - Berkeley; Cathy Roller, International Reading Association; and Barbara Kapinus, National Education Association.
Support for Organizational Change
- Vision and Commitment. Members of a school community must develop a shared vision and establish a long-term commitment to literacy improvement. Langer (2000) found that successful high school English programs had highly coordinated efforts to increase student performance. As students' scores increased, teachers set higher goals. All of the successful schools Lipson et al. (2004) studied had a history of long-term commitment to literacy improvement (8-10 years) and a stable school administration. Also, everyone within these successful schools appeared to be working toward a shared vision for students' literacy learning. The Standards Based Change Process, currently being implemented in Hawaii and Chicago (Au, Hirata, and Raphael, 2004), helps schools establish a vision and set a direction for change but also helps teachers and administrators understand that they must stay the course for three years or more to make the improvements that are necessary to achieve substantial gains in student learning.
- Buy-In and Leadership. A structure or model for school improvement is essential, and most staff within a school must consciously select a particular school improvement model for it to be successfully implemented. For example, the School Change Framework encourages schools to have at least 75 percent buy-in across teachers (Taylor et al., 2005). Once a school has commitment, strong leadership is needed to keep the reform effort moving forward with success. Taylor et al. found that high reform schools that were seeing accelerated growth in students' reading had an effective teacher leader, an enthusiastic leadership team, and a supportive principal.
- Data-Driven Reform. Use of data at the student, teacher, and school level is needed to promote change. The successful schools that Lipson et al. (2004) studied used external standards and data to help them focus their efforts and evaluate their progress. In the Standards Based Change Process (Au et al., 2004) teachers set targets for student performance and three times a year collected evidence to examine students' progress towards meeting these benchmarks. Teachers met by grade levels to score evidence according to rubrics, and as student scores rose, teachers developed more challenging benchmarks and rubrics. In the School Change Framework (Taylor et al., 2005), each school received an annual school report with data on not only students' progress in reading but also on teachers' changes in teaching and their perceptions of school-level collaboration and leadership. This data in turn helped schools improve the following year.
- Collaborative School Community. To be successful with a school improvement effort, teachers and administrators must become a collaborative school community. Langer (2000) found that teachers in successful schools were members of a number of teaching and learning communities that reportedly sustained them in their efforts. Lipson, Mosenthal, Mekkelsen, and Russ (2004) found that teachers in successful schools had built a collaborative community with high expectations and a climate of commitment. Teachers felt they were collectively responsible for all students. This positive school culture, however, was missing in the less successful schools Lipson et al. studied. In another study of elementary schools that were beating the odds (Taylor, Pearson, Clark, and Walpole, 2000), teachers reported that collaboration in teaching was a major reason for their success. Peer coaching, teaming, and program consistency were mentioned as aspects of collaboration that teachers valued.
Support for Individual Change
- Professional Learning. It is essential that teachers have the opportunity to engage in ongoing, focused, challenging, job-embedded professional learning. Lipson et al. (2004) found that successful schools had extensive professional development, and that teachers spoke with confidence about their learning. Also, they were eager to receive feedback and new ideas from their external professional development partners. At schools successful with the Standards Based Change Process (Au et al., 2004), leaders had developed a multiyear plan for school-based professional development that was tied to specific goals for curriculum development designed to improve students' achievement. Teachers in schools that were successful with the School Change Process engaged in weekly study groups that focused on substantive literacy topics like comprehension strategies and higher level thinking (Taylor et al, 2005). Teachers engaged in video sharing and looked at student work to improve practice.
- Change in Teaching. Teachers' professional learning must focus on reflection and change in thinking and in teaching. The Schools for Thought reform effort supported teachers as they shifted from having students memorize facts to learning with understanding (Zech, Gause-Vega, Bray, Secules, & Goldman (2000). Teachers engaged in classroom-based inquiry with a facilitator and other teachers with a focus on comprehending students' understanding in specific content domains. Similarly, reflection on and change in teaching is at the heart of the professional development model used in the School Change Framework project (Taylor, Pearson, Peterson, & Rodriguez, 2003). Study groups focus on research-based changes in reading instruction. In addition, facilitators visit classrooms to model and coach, and teachers reflect on their teaching through video sharing and personal analysis of observation data. Taylor et al. found that teachers in high reform schools, those that succeeded with this model, made more positive changes in their teaching than teachers in low reform schools (Taylor et al., 2005).
A Focus on Coherent, Balanced, Challenging Instruction
- Curriculum Coherence and Balanced Instruction. To help all students achieve at high levels in reading and writing, teachers need to develop a coherent curriculum and provide sound, balanced instruction. In the Standards Based Change Process (Au et al., 2004), teachers in successful schools developed a coherent curriculum across grade levels with a shared understanding of goals for student learning, instruction, and assessment. Lipson et al. (2004) found that in the successful elementary schools they studied, teachers provided balanced literacy instruction regardless of the type of reading program the school had adopted.
- Complex Thinking. To help all students achieve at high levels in reading and writing, teachers need to teach with an instructional emphasis on complex thinking as well as basic skills. Langer (2001) found that in secondary schools beating the odds teachers moved students from initial skill acquisition or basic understandings to deeper understandings and generation of ideas. Taylor et al. (2000, 2003, 2005) found that students who showed greater reading growth were in classrooms of teachers who engaged them in more high-level talk and writing about text.
- Student Thinking and Learning. To help all students achieve at high literacy levels, teachers need to reflect on how their students are thinking and learning rather than simply on what they as teachers are teaching them. Langer (2001) found that English teachers in high performing schools taught students procedural or meta-cognitive strategies in addition to content or skills whereas teachers in more typical schools focused on content or skills alone. Similarly, Zech et al, (2000) helped teachers focus on a question about students learning (e.g., How do my students develop an understanding of summarizing?) and then examined student work or student responses to answer their questions. This focus on students' learning processes improved teachers' teaching.
Conclusion
Members of the Consortium for Responsible School Change in Literacy have developed research-validated school improvement models and resources that can be used by schools in their own reform efforts to improve students' literacy abilities. External partners, like the university consortium members, can assist schools in this important work by providing initial knowledge and support. While the Consortium on Responsible School Change in Literacy is enthusiastic about helping schools improve students' literacy abilities, ultimately of course, the drive and hard work necessary for long-term change must come from within individual schools.
References
Au, K. H., Hirata, S.Y., & Raphael, T.E. (2004). Improving achievement through standards. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
Langer, J. A. (2001). Beating the odds: Teaching middle and high school students to read and write well. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 837-880.
Langer, J. A. (2000). Excellence in English in middle and high school: How teachers' professional lives support student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 397-439.
Lipson, M.L., Mosenthal, J. H., Mekkelsen, J., & Russ, B. (2004). Building knowledege and fashining success one school at a time. The Reading Teacher, 57 (6) 534-542.
Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Clark, K., & Walpole, S. (2000). Effective schools and accomplished teachers: Lessons about primary grade reading instruction in low-income schools. Elementary School Journal, 101(2), 121-166.
Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Peterson, D. S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2003). Reading growth in high-poverty classrooms: The influence of teacher practices that encourage cognitive engagement in literacy learning. Elementary School Journal. 104, 3-28.
Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Peterson, D. S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2005). The CIERA School Change Framework: an evidenced-based approach to professional development and school reading improvement. Reading Research Quarterly, 40 (1), 40-69.
Taylor, B.M., & Peterson, D.S. (2004). Year 2 Report of the Minnesota REA School Change Project. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
Zech, L.K., Gause-Vega, C.L., Bray, M.H., Secules, T., & Goldman, S.R. (2000). Content-based collaborative inquiry: A professional development model for sustaining educational reform. Educational Psychologist, 35 (3), 207-217.