Q. What are some things I can do in my school to increase reading achievement?

A.

• The Foundation for Reading Success
  Teach phonemic awareness and systematic, explicit phonics in kindergarten and first grade. Obtain the Summer, 1995 issue of American Educator, "Learning to Read: Schooling's First Mission" as well as the Spring/Summer, 1998 issue: "The Unique Power of Reading and How to Unleash It". Call the American Federation of Teachers at 202-879-4420 or fax your request to 202-879-4534. These are outstanding issues and should be read by every teacher and principal in this country!
• Data Driven and Research-Based
  Become data-driven and research-based in determining how best to serve the needs of Target Students (those at risk of reading failure). Choose programs, teaching methodologies, and textbooks that are based on the current research in reading instruction.
• A Visible Presence
  Observe reading instruction at some grade level every single day of the school year. There is no substitute for knowing what is going on in the classroom. You should be aware of the students who are having difficulties. You should regularly affirm those teachers who are effective and regularly counsel with those who are having difficulties. Your mere presence in the classroom even if you do or say nothing will affect achievement in a positive way.
• Kindergarten Checkout
  Get kids in the reading habit on the first day they enroll in your school. Every kindergarten student should have the opportunity to check out a different book from the school library every day and take it home to be read aloud. Children can actually "train" their parents to read aloud to them every evening if the teacher will encourage and keep track of each child's reading.
• Meaning: The Essence of Reading
  Inservice your entire faculty on a core group of comprehension strategies and then teach them to every student across every subject matter and every grade levels. Use Jerry Johns' great book on reading strategies to help you: Johns, Jerry and Lenski, Susan Davis. Improving Reading: A Handbook of Strategies. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company. 800-228-0810.
• Home/School Connection Calls
  Ask each classroom teacher to make two monthly Home/School Connection Telephone calls to the parents of five identified Target Students (those at risk of reading failure or those in the bottom quartile on standardized tests). You will be amazed at how motivated both students and parents will become with a little positive attention from the teacher. Ask teachers to submit a communication log to you each month detailing the results of the conversations.
• Principal's Postcard Club
  Encourage summer reading by forming the Principal's Postcard Club. Students are required to read 20 books over the summer and send a postcard to the principal giving a brief statement about the book. All the member of the club are treated to lunch at local restaurant when school resumes.
• Battle of the Books
  I used this program when I was a principal. The program was coordinated by the children's librarian at our local public library. She and her staff selected 40 books each year. Teams of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students were formed (5 students each). Each team member was responsible for reading 8 of the books. The program began in the fall to permit time for students to read the books and then in-school battles were held to determine the all-school winner. An all-city battle was held at the public library and winners received medals. We required every student to participate on a team and held mock battles in our library after school for those who wanted to practice. Students made up the questions to ask each other which really helped improve reading comprehension.
• Reading Roundtable
  Hold a reading roundtable instead of a regular faculty meeting. Most faculty meetings are a boring waste of time anyhow. Put all of the announcements into memo form and use your valuable time to discuss reading instruction. Ask someone to demonstrate a strategy they've found successful in their classroom. Invite a group of students to talk about their experiences learning to read. Ask everyone to talk about a book they've been reading recently (see if that doesn't shake up some teachers).
• Get Help for Students Who Need It
  Develop a school assessment/referral process that is standardized, streamlined, and provides meaningful, intensive interventions as early as possible. Don't wait until it's too late.
• Library Access
  Open your school library in the evenings/summers for supervised reading and homework help. Offer computer classes to parents and/or students.

Q. How can parents, administrators, and/or teachers determine if their schools are doing a good job of teaching reading?

A. Rate Your School's Reading Quotient
Directions: Read each question thoughtfully. Gather the information necessary to answer the question. Then award the suggested number of points.

1. Does your school (district/state) have a set of organized reading standards (what students are supposed to master) at each grade level? Teachers need to know what students are expected to learn and then be held accountable for teaching it. Compare the standards to which your students are being held to the Texas Alternative Document.
   If your school is holding students and teachers at every grade level accountable to a set of standards which are comparable to those in either of the two documents cited, award 5 points.
2. Are students tested periodically to determine if they are meeting the established standards? Formative tests (those which are given at intervals throughout the school year) are most helpful to teachers because they can then make immediate instructional changes (e.g. speed up, slow down, use a new approach, regroup). Summative tests (e.g. standardized, state, and/or national assessments) show how a child, school, or district compares to a larger testing sample, but they are of no help in fixing the reading problems of individual students. All types of testing are essential.
   If your school gives frequent formative reading tests throughout the school year, award 5 points. If your school gives a yearly standardized test (like the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or Metropolitan Achievement Test), award 5 points. If your school gives a yearly state assessment at required grade levels, award 5 points.
3. Is there a specific reading curriculum (e.g. basal reading series) that provides manuals for teachers and materials for students that are consistent in philosophy with the best practices in reading instruction as demonstrated by research (i.e. includes phonemic awareness, systematic explicit phonics, a wide variety of decodable texts for student practice, comprehension strategies, and use of well-written materials)?
   If your school uses a specific reading curriculum as described above, award 5 points.
4. Are the teachers in your school trained to teach phonemic awareness, systematic explicit phonics, and comprehension strategies? Do they do so regularly and with effectiveness? The research shows that many teachers are poorly trained to teach reading, particularly to those students with reading difficulties. Determining the skill and expertise of teachers is a difficult task, even for administrators and supervisors. Advanced degrees and years of experience may be a partial indicator of a good teacher, but not always. Results (does every child learn to read?) are more credible indicators.
   If the teachers in your school are skilled in teaching reading as described above, award 5 points.
5. Does the principal speak knowledgeably about the school's reading instruction program? Does the principal have a stated reading improvement plan? Does a systematic process exist to remediate reading problems? Is the principal's philosophy of reading instruction consistent with the best practices recommended by the current research? Does he/she visit reading classrooms frequently and listen to children read regularly?
   If the principal of your school has made it possible for all children to learn to read at grade level, award 10 points.
6. Does your school teach research-based phonemic awareness and explicit, systematic phonics instruction for all students in kindergarten and first grade? Here are the essential teachings that must take place for every child to learn how to read.
   • Teachers must begin teaching phonemic awareness (i.e. the conscious understanding that a spoken word is made up of a sequence of speech sounds) directly and explicitly at an early age (kindergarten). Children must be trained to hear the individual sounds (phonemes) of their language. They must be able to disconnect or "unglue" sounds in words in order to use an alphabetic writing system. For example, they must be able to separate and hear each of the three sounds in the word "cat". Educators and parents cannot count on all or even most children developing this awareness naturally; they must be taught. This skill is an absolutely essential prerequisite for learning to read and spell. The lack of phonemic awareness is the most powerful determinant of the likelihood of failure to learn to read. If children cannot hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken words, they will have an extremely difficult time learning how to map the sounds of our language to letters and letter patterns–the essence of decoding. Phonemic awareness instruction should begin before instruction in sound-spelling relationships and be continued throughout the teaching of sound-spelling relationships.
   • Teachers must teach each of the sound-spelling correspondences (phonics) explicitly and systematically. It is not enough to teach phonics in the context of a story by introducing an isolated example and then expecting a child to figure it out on his/her own the next time he encounters the letter in print. This important aspect of reading instruction cannot be left to chance. The phonemes must be separated from the words for instruction. This can only happen if the teacher isolates each phoneme (sound) and then matches it up with the correct letter. Be warned that most traditional phonics programs use the reverse logic: they begin with the letters (spelling) and then associate them with their corresponding sounds. Programs that start by teaching the "one to one correspondences" (i.e. one sound to one letter) and when these are mastered move on to "one to many correspondences" (i.e. one sound to several letters) and then to the "code overlaps" (i.e. those letters that have several different phonemes i.e. sounds) are most effective in teaching the alphabetic principles of the English language.
   • Teachers must show children exactly how to sound out (decode) words through blending the individual sounds together. They must be shown how to move sequentially from left to right through spellings of words as they "sound out" or say the sound for each spelling. Daily practice sessions should include the blending of only sound-spelling relationships the children have learned to that point. This skill must be "overlearned" so that it becomes highly accurate and automatic.
   • Teachers should provide an ample supply of code-based readers (i.e. books in which almost all of the words with the exception of high-frequency sight words can be sounded out by students) rather than ordinary literature during early instruction. This statement does not mean that children's literature will not be read-aloud daily as part of the instructional program at preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Rather, it means that children will not be using ordinary literature for their own early independent reading experiences. Using reading material that has too many words that children cannot decode independently encourages guessing which may actually hinder reading development. Children need connected, decodable text to practice the sound-spelling correspondences they have learned. The integration of phonics and reading can only occur with the use of decodable text. Children can begin reading decodable text relatively quickly since learning just a few sound-spelling correspondences will enable the reading of dozens of words.
   • Teachers should correct oral reading errors. Whole language instruction discourages teachers from correcting students who make errors, but children benefit when they receive corrective feedback.
   • Teachers should read-aloud interesting stories, picture books, poetry, and literature of all kinds to develop knowledge and comprehension. Teacher- and parent-read stories play a critical role in building children's oral language comprehension, which ultimately affects their reading comprehension. These story-based activities should be structured to build comprehension and vocabulary skills, however, and not include (phonics) decoding skills. Teachers should read-aloud to students several times during the school day and use these opportunities for discussion about text organization (fiction, non-fiction, poetry), vocabulary development, as well as general knowledge building.
   • Teachers should use good literature to teach comprehension and use phonics to teach decoding, but not mix the two. A common misconception held by many educators is that if they are teaching sound-spelling relationships in the context of real stories (implicit instruction), they are teaching phonics. This is not the case. Mixing decoding and comprehension instruction in the same instructional activity is less effective, even when the decoding instruction is fairly structured. When phonics instruction is embedded (implicit) it does not have the same instructional effect as when it is taught purely and separately and then practiced to mastery in decodable text.
   If your school offers a phonemic awareness program in kindergarten, award 10 points.
   If your school offers an explicit, systematic phonics program that is not embedded in "whole language" instruction and gives students ample opportunity to practice their skills in decodable text, award 10 points.
7. Are the materials (readers, library books, etc.) that students are expected to read on a challenging instructional reading level?
   If your school challenges students to read at or slightly above their independent level, award 5 points.
8. Does the school's reading program (at every grade level) emphasize the real purpose of reading–meaning/comprehension? Are students taught comprehension strategies and then given ample practice in content areas to perfect the strategies?
   If your school teaches comprehension strategies across the grade levels, award 10 points.
9. Does each classroom have a variety of materials available for students to read during free time? Can students access books, newspapers, and magazines in every classroom?
   If your school encourages students to read by having materials available in every classroom, award 5 points.
10. Is there a library or resource center to provide a rich and varied sampling of library books for recreational reading? Reading instruction should never be limited to just reading the "reading book." Students should be encouraged and/or required to read all kinds of books (biographies, poetry, science, fantasy, science fiction, etc.). Students who are reading short books (i.e. books without chapters) should be permitted to visit the library every day or as often as needed to check out books for either independent reading or at-home read alouds. Every student should be required to have a library book available for independent reading either at home in the evening or on his desk at school during the day. Every child needs a sturdy backpack to keep reading material moving back and forth between home and school. Teachers should monitor each student's independent reading.
    If your school has a well-stocked media center staffed by a librarian (plus aides and volunteers) who encourage students to read, award 5 points. If all teachers monitor students' independent reading (e.g. charts, reading logs, book reports, etc), award 5 points.
11. Does your school offer meaningful remedial programs for those students who are having problems with phonemic awareness, phonics, or comprehension? The school that offers phonemic awareness instruction in kindergarten, systematic, explicit phonics instruction in first grade, and a steady dose of comprehension strategies at every grade level every day, will have very few children who even need a remedial program. But, some children will need an immediate adjustment of instruction to a small group or more intensive one-to-one teaching of phonemic awareness and phonics to pick up the skills they need. Others will need extra help in comprehension. Are there enrichment and accelerated programs for students who are superior readers?
    If your school offers excellent remedial programs, award  5 points. If your school offers reading enrichment and acceleration, award 5 points.
12. Does your school welcome parents (and others) as volunteers in its classrooms and library? The effective school utilizes parent resources to work with students who may be having problems.
    If your school has an active volunteer program that supports reading instruction in the classrooms and library, award 5 points.
13. Does your school offer school-wide reading incentive programs to motivate students to do more independent reading? Does every teacher read aloud to students every day? Does the library have a book club or discussion group? Are there contests that give prizes for independent reading? Is there a school-wide Sustained Silent Reading Program? Is there an opportunity for teams of middle-grade students to read books and answer questions like the Battle of the Books? Beginning readers should read at least four to six short books of decodable text daily. Primary readers should read three to five longer books of decodable text or one to three chapters from a longer book daily. Middle grade students need to read at least 35-45 books per year to acquire the vocabulary and concepts they need to become literate adults.
    For every program that encourages students to read, award 5 points.
14. Does your school have an ongoing reading improvement plan which has been developed through a shared decision making process?  Does the plan include specifics about how the needs of target students (especially those scoring in the bottom quartile on a standardized test) will be met?
    If your school has an ongoing reading improvement plan, award 10 points.
15. What percent of your students score at the 65th percentile or above in reading on a standardized test?
    If at least 85% of your students score at the 50th percentile or above, award 10 points.

    Now, tally the points you've awarded to your school and determine its RQ.

    A+  100 or more points   Superior Reading Quotient
    A      90-100 points   Excellent Reading Quotient
    B      80-90 points   Good Reading Quotient
    C      70-80 points   Poor Reading Quotient

To see how your state's standards rate, read a report issued by the American Federation of Teachers titled Making Standards Matter.

If you would like more information about how to raise your school's reading quotient (and your school's reading achievement), consult The Principal's Guide to Raising Reading Achievement.  Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 1998.

Raising Reading Achievement Resources