The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory: Overview & Evaluation Findings

1. The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory: Overview & Evaluation Findings Welcome! Please call this toll-free number: 866-866-2244 & enter participant code 7845414. Then please respond to the two questions at the bottom of the screen. The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory is funded in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

2. Your Hosts: Alli Brettschneider Co-Developer & Project Director Mary Anne Mather Co-Developer

3. Protocol for questions: • Please enter in Q & A pod at any point during the presentation.

4. About you . . . • Poll results

5. Agenda Why we created the Collaboratory Howit works Whatimpact it has had

6. Why?

9. California Proposition 92

12. Why? The U.S. Literacy Crisis: From Kirsch, et al (2007), America’s Perfect Storm:Three forces changing our nation’s future • success in current labor market requires strong literacy skills • high school graduation rate 70%, but 50% for minorities • even many high school graduates don’t have the literacy skills they need to be successful

13. Why? • Performance at Level 3 a minimum standard to compete in current labor market. • --Kirsh et al, p. 12.

14. Why? What Schools Have to Do with It • high drop-out rate • poor student engagement & performance in the content areas because of literacy needs Heller & Greenleaf (2007); NASSP (2005) • limited teacher training in adolescent literacy instruction Biancarosa & Snow (2004), NASSP (2005)

15. How?

16. Focus on teachers. . . “. . . teacher expertise is one of the most important factors in determining student achievement.” Darling-Hammond, 1997 How?

17. No quick fix. . . “Teachers will need time and help to develop a repertoire of strategies for supporting literacy within their discipline and time for redesigning instruction with this goal in mind.” Applebee in Torgesen et al (2007) How?

18. FreeFoto.com

19. Long-term learning communities. . . “The most successful teacher professional development activities are those that are extended over time and encourage the development of teachers’ learning communities.” --Bransford, Brown, & Cocking (2000) How?

20. The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory Not a course in the traditional sense… How?

21. How? …but an on-going conversation to support job-embedded professional learning.

22. How? Structure: • Face-to-face institute (5 days, late summer) • 4 cycles of online activities & school team interaction (9 months, school year) • Final face-to-face meeting (1 day, May or June) • 120 hours of total PD time

23. How? Approach: • Build a two-tiered learning community • Guide selection of and practice using literacy strategies • Support lesson development • Help team members to become school literacy leaders

24. A two-tiered learning community • Content-area Interactions Online How? • Interdisciplinary Interactions On-Site School Team Meeting M.S. Science Teacher, AZ H.S. Science Teacher, RI Science Literacy Coach, ME M.S. Science Teacher, USVI M.S. Science Teacher, MO H.S. Science Teacher, PR H.S. Science Teacher, TX

25. How? Strategy Selection & Use • Needs assessment (with NWEA) • Exploration & discussion of research • Selection of strategies (knowledgeloom.org) • Guided experimentation with strategies

26. Strategy example: Directed Notes ! = Emotion. This is crazy! This p’ me off! This makes me sad. ? = I don’t understand. What’s going on here? UNDERLINE= main ideas, good ideas, could use this in a summary (CIRCLE) = unfamiliar vocabulary WRITE QUESTIONS on the side of text

27. A strategy evolves: Directed Notes for Math & Science Old Annotations ! = Emotion. This is crazy! This p’s me off! This makes me sad. UNDERLINE= main ideas, good ideas, could use this in a summary Adapted Annotations ! = I really get this and I can apply it. UNDERLINE = Important ideas. I can use this information to understand concepts and solve problems.

28. How? Lesson Development • Drafting of content-area lessons incorporating literacy strategies • Peer, coach, and facilitator feedback • Revision and teaching of lesson • Observation & debriefing with school team member

29. Example: An Inconvenient Chemistry Lesson Essential Questions: Where does energy come from? What is causing global warming? What can I do about it? How can chemistry help me understand this problem better? Objectives: 1) Identify the main ideas in a science news article about some aspect of global warming. 2) Summarize the news article orally to other classmates. 3) Synthesize information from oral summaries to explain how their own personal decisions may contribute to global warming. 4) Connect the larger global warming issue with the two fundamental laws of chemistry: the first law of thermodynamics and the law of conservation of matter.

30. Example: An Inconvenient Chemistry Lesson NWEA MAP Reading Needs Addressed: 1) Literal Comprehension – Identify main ideas and supporting details. 2) Interpretive Comprehension – Summarize information from one article, synthesize information from several articles, understand cause and effect. 3) Evaluative Comprehension – Apply information garnered from text to personal decisions. Procedure: 1) To pique students’ interest, show the trailer for “An Inconvenient Truth”. Ask how many students have seen the movie. Have students complete anticipation guide regarding questions on global warming. (10 min) 2) Students will review directed notes strategy. Students will read individually their assigned article. Better readers will have more complex article, novice readers will have more basic article. More than one article may be grouped together. Students will identify main ideas of each article. (15 min) 3) Students will discuss common articles in small groups, coming to consensus on main ideas. Students will highlight main ideas on chart paper. (10 min) 4) Students will present the main ideas of their article(s) to the class and listen to other presentations. (10 min) 5) Students will discuss how articlesare related to one another. I will define the law of conservation of mass and first law of thermodynamics on the board. As a class, discuss how these concepts play a role in the global warming issue. (15 min) 6) Students will write an exit ticket (after reviewing their anticipation questions) responding to the following questions: How has your understanding of global warming changed? What can you do about it? What does it have to do with chemistry? (10 min) 7) The homework assignment will be to read the section in our book on energy, and take double column notes.

31. How? Develop Literacy Leaders • Share cross-content strategies outside school team • Contribute to school literacy plan

32. What impact has it had?

33. Impact? The Power of Two: • “When teachers strengthen their content and pedagogical knowledge by participating in professional networks outside of their schools and then share that knowledge in the context of team meetings within their schools, the impact of professional development is doubled.” • Morris et al (2003)

34. Impact? Research Context • Limited student impact research on linking internal & external teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) • Most impact research on (PLCs) limited to teacher self-reporting • Feger & Arruda (2008) • Six student impact studies of PLCs showed improved student achievement over time (at least 2-3 years) • Vescio, Ross, & Adams (2008)

35. Impact? Collaboratory Evaluation: Background • Funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York • 2007-2008 cohort, from NH and ME • Teacher impact (pre- and post-surveys) • Student impact (Northwest Evaluation Association reading assessment, fall & spring) • Virtual comparison groups

36. Computer-adaptive Given 2 - 4 times per year Grades 2 - 11 Overall score & “goal strand” scores Impact? Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) MAP Reading Assessment

37. Vocabulary Literal comprehension Interpretation of Informational Texts Interpretation of Literary Texts Impact? NWEA Reading Goal Strands These are general descriptions. Specific wording and breakdown of strands varies based on state standards.

38. Please enter in “Your Interpretations” pod as they occur to you. Impact? Your Interpretations of Evaluation Findings

39. Impact? On Teachers: Based on self-reports in pre- and post- surveys • Significant increase in knowledge & use of research-based literacy and assessment strategies • Small increase in collaboration with other teachers

40. [ Impact?

41. [ Impact?

42. [ Impact? On Teachers: From a post-participation survey By requiring me to create lessons, have them videotaped, then critiqued by my colleagues, the Collaboratory forced me to use strategies with which I was already familiar in my classroom. This had a HUGE impact, as once I actually tried various strategies, I found what a difference they made in my classroom, not only for learning, but for behavior as well.

43. Impact? Attrition • 3 of 20 participants dropped out • Each from a different team & content area

44. Impact? What Kept Teachers on Board • Student literacy a school or team priority • Self-identified need for professional growth • Desire for interdisciplinary team collaboration • $1000 stipend

45. Impact? On Students: NWEA MAP Reading Assessment, change from Fall 2007 to Spring 2008 • 61% of participants’ students met or exceeded change of comparison group • 70% of students taught by more than one participant met or exceeded change of comparison group

46. Impact?

47. Impact?

48. Impact? NWEA MAP Reading Assessment, change from Fall 2007 to Spring 2008

49. Higher Improvement: Vocabulary Interpretation of Informational Texts Lower Improvement: Interpretation of Literary Texts Impact? On Students: Performance by Goal Strand

50. Teacher sample (size & diverse team configurations) One-year time frame Teacher impact measured by self-report Other possible factors in student improvement No measure of student achievement in each content area No measure of school-wide impact Impact? Limitations of evaluation: