|
Educational Improvement and Assistance
Louisiana's Reading First Implementation Overview
Approved Core Reading Programs for Louisiana Reading First Implementation
Louisiana’s Process for the Selection of Reading Programs
For Use in Reading First Classrooms
August 2003
The Challenge
The Reading First legislation requires that the programs of reading instruction used in classrooms supported by Reading First funding be examples of research-based instruction. The challenge to the educators involved in this project was to develop and implement a procedure for examining the core/comprehensive reading programs that will be submitted by the publishers to be used in the kindergarten through third grade classrooms of Reading First schools in the state of Louisiana. The intent was to develop and implement a procedure that will enable teachers and other educators to identify programs that meet the criteria for scientifically based instruction specified in the Reading First section of the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Meeting the Challenge
Members of the Reading First staff in the state of Louisiana conducted nationwide research to determine the core/comprehensive reading program review process that other states that had been awarded Reading First funding used to evaluate these programs. Based upon this research, it was decided to contract with all out-of-state reviewers that were recommended by each state’s review team. Ten reviewers were selected, all having prior experience using A Consumer’s Guide for Evaluating a Core Reading Program Grades K-3: A Critical Elements Analysis (March 2003), to evaluate K-3 core/comprehensive reading programs. Contracted reviewers represent the states of Washington, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, and North Dakota. Areas of expertise vary from university professors to regular and special education classroom teachers. It was agreed that the members of the review panels would meet for five days in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to examine the programs that would be submitted by the publishers of K-3 core/comprehensive reading programs.
Approved Core Reading Programs for Reading First
Word
|
Approved Supplemental Programs
The Challenge
The Reading First legislation requires that the programs of reading instruction used in classrooms supported by Reading First funding be examples of research-based instruction. The challenge to the educators involved in this project will be to develop and implement a procedure for examining supplemental reading programs that to be used in the kindergarten through third grade classrooms of schools in the state of Louisiana. The intent is to develop and implement a procedure that will enable teachers and other educators to identify programs that meet the criteria for scientifically based instruction specified in the Reading First section of the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Meeting the Challenge
Members of the Reading First staff in the state of Louisiana conducted nationwide research to investigate the review process utilized by other Reading First states in their evaluation of supplemental and intervention programs. Based upon this research, it was decided to contract with out-of-state reviewers that were known for their work in reading instruction, which included the five essential components of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension) and Louisiana-based professionals who would represent the viewpoint of the teachers of Louisiana. Fifteen reviewers were selected, all of which had extensive experience in reading education. Contracted reviewers represent the states of California, Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, and Louisiana. Areas of expertise vary from university professors to regular and special education classroom teachers. It was agreed that the members of the review panels would meet for four days in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to examine the programs that would be submitted by the publishers of supplemental and intervention reading programs.
Review teams were organized by component as follows:
Phonemic Awareness and Phonics: Dr. Jill Allor, University Partner, LSU; Dr. Carol, Ronka, Nicholls; Dr. Martin Kozloff, National Review Panel, NC; Patricia Mouton, Lafayette Parish Schools, LA; Dr. Sylvia Smith, University of Oregon
Fluency: Dr. Michelle Windmueller, California State University; Dr. Ramona Jean Mitchell, Louisiana Reading Leadership Team, Dillard University; Dr. Michael Rebar, University of Oregon; Christine Menard, Lafayette Parish Schools; Maria Arguelles, University of Miami
Vocabulary and Comprehension: Hank Fien, Doctoral studies, University of Oregon;
Dr. Rene Casbergue, Harvard University Literacy Task Force, UNO; Sophie Gibson, East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, Louisiana; Dr. Nancy Marchand Martella, Eastern Washington University; Debra Cranford, East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, Louisiana
See the link below for the final approved supplemental list.
Approved K-3 Supplemental Reading Programs
Excel
|
Comprehensive Core Reading Programs
A core reading program is the primary instructional tool that teachers use to teach
children to learn to read and ensure they reach reading levels that meet or exceed grade-level
standards.
A core program should address the instructional needs of the majority of students in a respective school or district. Historically, core reading programs have been referred to as basal reading programs in that they serve as the "base" for reading instruction. Adoption of a core does not imply that other materials and strategies are not used to provide a rich, comprehensive program of instruction. The core program, however, should serve as the primary reading program for the school, and the expectation is that all teachers within and between the primary grades will use the core program as the base of reading instruction.
|
Why adopt a core reading program?
In a recent document entitled "Teaching Reading is Rocket Science," Louisa Moats (1999) revealed and articulated the complexities of carefully designed and implemented reading instruction. Teaching reading is far more complex than most professionals and laypersons realize. The demands of the phonologic, alphabetic, semantic, and syntactic systems of written language require a careful schedule and sequence of prioritized objectives, explicit strategies, and scaffolds that support students’ initial learning and transfer of knowledge and skills to other contexts. The requirements of curriculum construction and instructional design that effectively move children through the "learning to read" stage to the "reading to learn" stage are simply too important to leave to the judgment of individuals. The better the core addresses instructional priorities, the less teachers will need to supplement and modify instruction for the majority of learners.
Big Ideas in Beginning Reading
|
Connecting Scientifically Based Reading Research To Plans and Activities
The Louisiana Reading First plan for grades K-3 will provide guidelines for proposals using SBRR activities. Both state and federal funding will be coordinated for effective reading implementation.
Louisiana’s plan provides intensive, sustained staff development using scientific, research-based reading instruction. Effective reading instructional strategies that are grounded in scientifically based reading research, the use of SBRR core reading programs, and intervention materials that are aligned to the core reading program in conjunction with high quality technical assistance will be provided through efforts of the DOE that will help districts evaluate and align present reading instruction (including supplemental and intervention activities), locate weaknesses, and plan improvement.
|
Coherence: Louisiana’s Reading First
Louisiana’s Reading First School-wide Intervention Model
The Department of Education (DOE) Reading First staff will provide individualized guidance to assist eligible districts in constructing and submitting high quality Reading First plans. A hands-on approach will be utilized to ensure the quality of the applications. Districts will review current reading achievement data, by subcategory, to determine the goals, objectives, and strategies for the upcoming year. Proposed district activities must be grounded in SBRR theory and application. To provide a coherent Reading First application and align knowledge learned from introductory professional development activities into applicable strategies, the following stages will be undertaken. (See next page for the school-wide intervention model).
|
Louisiana’s Reading First Assessment Overview
Louisiana’s Reading First teachers will identify children who are at risk of reading disabilities or delay. Using valid and reliable indicators of skills highly associated with early reading success, all K-3 children are screened with measures that correspond to the five literacy behaviors in beginning reading: phonemic awareness, phonics (alphabetic understanding), and fluency (automaticity with the code), vocabulary, and comprehension (Simmons & Kame’enui, 1998).
Recently, the Department received approval from the United States Department of Education (USDOE) to
move to the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) sixth edition subtests as the single source assessment for screening, progress monitoring and outcome measures for all five of the essential components of reading instruction.
In addition to these changes, the Department received approval to allow Approved Districts to:
1. Use all diagnostic measures identified in our State and the district’s approved plan.
2. Progress monitor at three-week intervals unless student performance suggests a need for more frequent assessment.
These changes are a result of the Department's continued effort to provide support, technical expertise, and assistance for the piloting and implementation of the new state school and district accountability system.
|
Screening, Progress Monitoring, and Outcome Measure for Early Literacy
Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency with Connected Text, Vocabulary, and Comprehension:
The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills. The measures were developed based upon the essential early literacy domains discussed in both the National Reading Panel (2000) and National Research Council (1998) reports to assess student development of phonological awareness, alphabetic understanding, and automaticity and fluency with the code. Each measure has been thoroughly researched and demonstrated to be a reliable and valid indicator of early literacy development and predictive of later reading proficiency to aid in the early identification of students who are not progressing as expected. When used as recommended, the results can be used to evaluate individual student development as well as to provide grade-level feedback toward validated instructional objectives.
DIBELS homepage
This page provides an introduction, info on the data system, sample reports, the manual, what DIBELS measures, downloads, benchmarks for K - 3rd grade, and pricing information.
|
|
