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Lessons from RAISE* Scale Up: Building the Plane While Flying It

Cynthia Greenleaf & Ruth SchoenbachStrategic Literacy Initiative

December 6, 2013Literacy Research Association

Dallas, TX

*Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education

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Learning from RAISE: 2010-2015Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education

Scale-Up:• 5 states (CA, IN, MI, PA, UT)• 300 schools, 2800 teachers• 600,000+ high school students• ELA, biology, US history

Support Structures:• State RAISE Coordinators• Monthly site-based team meetings-

Teacher Leaders• Teacher Leader meetings• Principals’ online course

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Strategic Literacy Initiative Mission

The Strategic Literacy Initiative is committed to improving learning outcomes for middle school, high school, and college students by assisting them to become powerful, strategic, and independent readers.

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Fostering Engaged Academic Literacy for Adolescents

• Dispositions for engagement in academic tasks– Curiosity, tolerance for ambiguity, persistence, stamina,

confidence• Text-based problem-solving capacities• Discipline-based literacy practices• Resilient learner identities

– Code breaker stance“When we ask students to learn something new, we ask them to become someone new” (Feldman, 2004).

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Transforming the Learning Culture of the Secondary, Subject Area Classroom

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The Reading Apprenticeship Framework

Metacognitive routines make normally invisible reasoning processes visible and available for assessment, modeling, and coaching during reading, problem solving, and inquiry activities.

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The Reading Apprenticeship Framework• Draws Current Literacy

Research into a CoherentInstructional Framework– Metacognitive monitoring

and control– Abundant supported

reading opportunitieswithin academic disciplines

– Collaboration and group work

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The Reading Apprenticeship Framework

• Addresses Developmental Needs of Adolescents– Identity and belonging– Self-exploration– Competence

• Addresses Motivation– Support– Challenge– Choice

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• Builds Skills & Knowledge– Explicit instruction of

comprehension strategies– Reading/writing connections– Language study– Discipline-based literacies

• Fosters Dispositions for Academic Learning– Stamina and persistence– Tolerance for ambiguity– Code breaker stance

The Reading Apprenticeship Framework

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Design Principles in Professional Development: Inquiry-Based PD

• Connections to teachers’ experience,

disciplinary commitments, and expertise

• Practice “making thinking visible” with

varied subject area texts and investigations

• Collaborative, metacognitive learning

experiences embedded in content that

models target classroom practices

• Opportunities to explore student reading

and thinking in the context of content

learning

• Tap teachers’ disciplinary knowledge

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Reading Apprenticeship: The Research Base

In cross-sectional data, students in Reading Apprenticeship classrooms performed better on state standardized tests in biology and English language arts and reading comprehension. An analysis of scores by demographic group found statistically significant increases in test scores for white, Latino, and English learner students in the intervention classes.

National Science Foundation Study: Integrating Reading Apprenticeship® and Science Instruction in High School Biology

This research study tested the impact of Reading Apprenticeship® teacher professional development on teacher knowledge and skills, instructional practices, and on student achievement in science and reading.

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Reading Apprenticeship: The Research Base

Institute of Education Sciences Study: Reading Apprenticeship® Professional Development in High School U.S. History

Cross Sectional Longitudinal.00

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ES=.26

ES=.08

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ES=.2

ES=.25

ES=.19 ELA CSTReading Comprehen-sionHistory CST

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Reading Apprenticeship: The Research Base

Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy

.00

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ES=.14

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Reading Com-prehension TestState ELA ScoresState Science Scores

Institute of Education Sciences Study: Reading Apprenticeship® Academic Literacy Course for 9th Grade

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Instructional Practices: What Makes a Difference for Literacy?

Reading Apprenticeship teachers in the NSF and IES studies provided more:

• Reading in class with support; • Collaborative meaning making;• Metacognitive inquiry; • Practice of comprehension strategies

and disciplinary thinking; • Mentoring and modeling;• Formative assessment; and• Differentiation to support all

learners.

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Learning from RAISE: 2010-2015

Scale-Up:• 5 states (CA, IN, MI, PA, UT)• 300 schools, 2800 teachers• 600,000+ high school students• ELA, biology, US history

Support Structures:• State RAISE Coordinators• Monthly site-based team

meetings-Teacher Leaders• Teacher Leader meetings• Principals’ online course

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RAISE Scale Up Support Infrastructure & Activities

SLI National Office:

Professional Development (PD) tools, materialsdevelopment and production

PD facilitator development, support and coordination

Event and fiscal management

Evaluation liaison

Multi-Sites Coordinator:

Liaison between national office and State Coordinators State Coordinator for each state– Annual/bi-annual cross-national retreats– On-the-ground supports for school teams– Design and facilitate Teacher Leaders seminars– Context-sensitive sustainability work

• Teacher Leader for each school– Convene monthly on-site team meetings– Attend 3xs/year Teacher Leader day-long

seminars

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RAISE Scale Up Support Infrastructure & Activities

• Multi-Sites Coordinator– Liaison between national office and State Coordinators– Monthly meetings with State Coordinator group and

each separately• State Coordinator for each state

– Attend annual/bi-annual cross-national retreats– On-the-ground supports for school teams– Design and facilitate Teacher Leaders seminars– Context-sensitive sustainability work

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RAISE Scale Up Support Infrastructure & Activities

• Teacher Leaders (one for each school team)– Convene and facilitate monthly on-site team meeting– “Lead from practice”– Communicate with principal/assistant principals re

RAISE teams’ work, needs for support, etc.– Participate in 3 state-level Teacher Leader meetings per

year• Principals/Assistant Principals

– Support teams’ by deepening understanding of Reading Apprenticeship, in addition to other resources (time, etc.)

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Key Lessons Learned about Scaling Up Inquiry-Based Professional Development

• Two-way learning between between local leaders andSLI national office improves program adaptation intelligence

• Facilitating nuanced inquiry-based professional development requires iterative practice and apprenticeship

• Communications and messaging is crucial and complex

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RAISE Teacher Voices

In my classroom, students are reading a greater amount of text and are more actively engaged with text. As a classroom teacher, I have also become more cognizant of demands different kinds of text place on our students. As a result, I am offering far more in the way of direct reading instruction and practice. Instead of simply conveying information to my students, they are constructing their own knowledge through reading, critical analysis, and writing.

They are working harder, learning more content, and developing greater literacy skills as a result. What has been fascinating to me is how many students have become more confident.

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RAISE Student Voices"When I first started this class I was scared. I have discovered that I have the courage to read stuff that I couldn't read. I'm more confident. Also I need to work on spelling.”

"When I used to read and I didn't really understand it, I use to completely stop. Now when I don't understand the text, I think.”

"My reader identity is getting a lot more knowledge into it and that makes me feel like I am a smart young man who can do what ever I set my mind to and what ever people say will not hurt me because I know I have the knowledge to school them.”

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THANK YOUwww.wested.org/readingapprenticeship

Flying planes need well provisioned airports, air traffic controllers, skilled pilots and crews, smooth and well lighted airstrips, connections to other transit, and clear regulations.

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