Literacy Plan

The Dever Elementary School Literacy Plan will strategically foster a school-wide shared love of reading,
writing and conversing. Purposeful data driven instruction, innovative best practices, and the use of rich
authentic texts will align all classrooms K-5 in a united literacy mission. To support the Dever Literacy
Plan’s tenets of success, as the literacy coach, I will work in partnership with the teachers,
administration, and parents to ensure that a culture of thoughtfulness, curiosity and collaboration is
nourished and sustained. It is my job to serve the needs of the children of the school while supporting
the work of the teachers. The predominant underlying theme, steering all decisions, will be: its all about
the students and their academic success- we read to succeed! Dive deep Dever Dolphins!!

Dever Elementary School Literacy Focus

2014-2016

Diving Deep into the Big Three:

1. Critical Conversations and Structures

 3-Tier Literacy Model
 Habits of Mind
▪ Anchor Charts
▪ Instructional Routines
▪ Thinking Routines
 Habits of Discussions
▪ Sentence Frames/Vocabulary
2. Writing to Read
 Making a claim
 Supporting a claim
 Drawing on mentor texts
3. Reading to Succeed
 Read, Read, Read
 Monitoring reading comprehension
 Building reading stamina
 Celebrating reading habits
 Igniting those critical conversations- and the cycle begins…

Dever Literacy Plan 2014-2015 1

 Dever Turnaround Plan Summary

1. Ensuring every student has an excellent teacher and a school leader committed to their
success;

2. Setting clear, consistent standards for academic achievement and establishing a school-wide
focus on preparing all students for college;

3. Increasing instructional time;

4. Providing daily, small group tutoring to students using highly qualified and well-trained
instructors; and

5. Collecting assessment data frequently to monitor each student’s academic progress and
tailor instruction to meet the needs of all learners.

Key Strategies:

Implement whole-school English Language Development (ELD). In order to accelerate English language
acquisition and build solid English language foundational skills for all students, Blueprint will implement
a whole-school instructional strategy focused on research-based ELD strategies.

• Whole-school English Language Development (ELD) instructional strategies: Systematic ELD

instruction will provide a solid foundation of language skills in functional contexts, with a clear
focus on language instruction alongside content instruction. Planning that takes into
consideration students’ socio-cultural background is at the center of our ELD instructional
model. These strategies will provide all of Dever’s students with instruction that:
o Is intentionally planned, delivered, and assessed throughout the day in all curriculum
and content areas;
o Incorporates and connects all four domains of language (speaking, listening, reading,
and writing);
o Includes multiple opportunities for students to practice language structures orally in
order to communicate information, ideas and concepts;
o Is differentiated by language proficiency levels and by student needs based on data;
o Incorporates flexible structures, grouping, and approaches based on student needs;
o Is assessed and monitored for progress regularly through frequent data collection and
analysis.

Provide additional targeted, individualized English language instruction and environmental supports.
If all Dever students are to excel academically, it is essential that all teachers are equipped to support
students’ language development. In tandem with the whole-school ELD strategy described above,
Blueprint will provide additional support structures for students who need further assistance in their
language development. Both targeted, individualized assistance and school-wide environmental
supports will reinforce the ELD instruction received by all students.
• Targeted, individualized additional supports for ELD: Students who require further
individualized ELD supports will receive additional small group instruction during the regular
school day from a SEI endorsed teacher. This instruction will occur during a daily Forms and

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 Functions of English Language instructional block that will focus on English language acquisition
strategies and opportunities for students to develop their oral and written language skills.
Language development instruction emphasizes vocabulary, syntax, grammar, and conventions
of the English language. During this block, students will be grouped by language proficiency
level in each of the four domains of speaking, listening, reading and writing (measured by
ACCESS) and each small group will receive specific, targeted, language instruction. (For
additional information regarding the Forms and Functions of English Language instructional
block, please see Appendix F.)
• Learning environments with language development supports: Blueprint will incorporate the
learning needs of ELL students in establishing Dever’s learning environment expectations.
Some ELL-specific instructional environment features will include:
o Targeted language supports that are used to increase English language development,
including sentence frames, word walls, pictures, models, graphs, diagrams, charts, and
graphic organizers;
o Relevant materials and resources that are accessible at a variety of reading levels in
English and other languages that represent the home languages of Dever’s ELLs;
o Visuals and interactive hands-on materials that are available and utilized;
o Student work areas that are purposefully arranged to allow for a variety of groupings;
and prominent displays of visual materials and student work products that reflect the
cultural and linguistic backgrounds of Dever’s students.

Integrate literacy intervention strategies and programs across all subjects. Literacy will be prioritized
across the curriculum. Blueprint will focus on integrating reading and writing strategies into all subjects
to provide additional instructional time dedicated to building students’ literacy skills. (For more detail
about the literacy strategies described below, please see Appendix F.)

• Vocabulary: Vocabulary-building will be emphasized in all classes. This is especially important to

support the language development needs of Dever’s ELL students.
• Modeling: Read aloud sessions will be integrated into all classes to reinforce and model strong
reading strategies.
• Writing: Direct writing instruction will be provided. Writing will also be used as a check for
understanding in all classes and to help students to attain fluency in writing.
• Literacy Block (Reading and Writing): Blueprint will restructure Dever’s schedule to dedicate
significant time to literacy instruction daily. This literacy block will be based on the “Uncommon
Schools/Great Habits, Great Readers” model for reading instruction and will be designed to
comprehensively address the key areas of reading, including: phonemic awareness;
phonics/word study; fluency; vocabulary; and comprehension. It will also include a small group
intervention block for all students to receive targeted, individualized instructional supports.
Writing instruction will be provided during this block through Lucy Calkin’s Writers Workshop
model.
• Literacy Intervention Programs/Materials: Specific reading intervention programs will be
implemented at Dever beginning in September 2014. In the spring of 2014, Blueprint will
continue closely analyzing student performance data to best match appropriate programs,
interventions and strategies with identified student needs. Blueprint will explicitly focus on
selecting programs and curriculum models that have embedded strategies to address the needs
of ELLs and students with disabilities.

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Implement frequent data cycles. Blueprint will implement data-driven instructional systems that
empower teachers to identify struggling students and differentiate their instruction and interventions
accordingly.

• Interim Assessment Systems: Teachers will use frequent interim assessments to collect data
on an ongoing basis. Blueprint will use used norm-referenced diagnostic assessment series,
to track student progress throughout the year. In addition, Blueprint will seek highly
qualified external partners to provide additional interim assessment support.
• Lesson Structure: Blueprint expects that each instructional session will follow a consistent
structure, including the execution of a Do Now that activates students’ knowledge of the
lesson objective, and consistent use of exit tickets/independent practice to assess student
mastery at the conclusion of each lesson. Information gathered about student mastery will
directly inform core instruction and tiered supports.

2014-2015 Dever Literacy Goals

MCAS

DEVER 2015 ELA MCAS Performance Targets

Dever CPI Projected Targets in ELA-based on 2011 Accountability Data
2011 Baseline CPI = 54.4
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Dever Target CPI 59.1 66.3 58.2 62 65.80 69.60 73.40 77.20
Dever Actual CPI 54.9 54.4 55.0 52.1 58.78
Difference -4.2 -11.9 -3.2 -9.9 -7.02
Dever needs to gain 10 CPI in 2015 to make adequate progress in ELA (75 PPI points)

To earn 100 PPI points school needs to exceeded CPI target by more than 1.25

Formula: 100 - 54.4= 45.6/2 = 22.6, 54.4+22.6 = 77.2 (2017 CPI Goal)
2011: 1/2 CPI Gap = 22.8/6 (years until 2017) = 3.8 CPI a year + any catch up growth

Where are we now with 2013 ELA MCAS data:

• 26% of students scored advanced/proficient
• Grade 3 CPI = 61.22
• Grade 4 CPI = 50.82
• Grade 5 CPI = 66.04

Where do we need to be by the end of the year (2014‐2015)?

MCAS: Proficiency:
Target 40% advanced & proficient in ELA
Min 38% advanced & proficient in ELA

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 Composite Performance Index (CPI):
Target ELA CPI 69.6

Student Growth Percentile (SGP):

Target ELA SGP 46.0

Reducing Warning/Failing:
Target ELA 27.0 % (currently 33%)

DIBELS

DIBELS K-2 90% of students at FSF benchmark by by Spring PM in June 2015

FSF
DIBELS K-2 – Gr. 1 90% of students at PSF benchmark by by Spring PM in June 2015
PSF
DIBELS Gr. 1-2 90% of students at NWF benchmark by by Spring PM in June 2015
NWF
DIBELS Gr. 1-5 80% of students at DORF benchmark by Spring PM in June 2015
DORF

Gates MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT)

Goals TBA- pending Fall Benchmark data

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 Tenets of Success

3-Tier Literacy Model: Folder #1

Based on the work of the University of Texas and the Kennewick School District in Washington State,
literacy instruction at the Dever will be organized around a 3-Tier instructional framework. Students will
partake in the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT) benchmark assessments three times of year. The
data collected from these benchmarks will determine instructional levels, literacy needs and
annual/catch-up growth targets of all students:
• Tier I- students who are at grade level (typically 80% of students)
• Tier II- students slightly below grade level (typically about 20% of students will grow with
exposure to rich core curriculum)
• Tier III- students well below grade level need daily high quality explicit intervention (typically 5-
10% of students) Read Well (K-3), Language! (grades 4-5)
• Tier IV- students with diagnosed disability need daily high quality explicit intervention in line
with IEP

Students’ levels will be posted on the Dever data wall to maintain our eyes on the prize.
http://resources.buildingrti.utexas.org/PDFv/Response_to_Intervention_Reading.pdf
http://education.seattlepi.com/explanation-gatesmacginitie-reading-test-1650.html

Data Collection System-Blue Success: Folders #2

Beyond the GMRT, other assessments informing the 3-Tier literacy model will be DIBELS (K-5), ANet
(grade 2-5), trimester free-writes and Imagine It! lesson assessments. Each student will have a blue
success folder in which work samples, assessment materials/reports and action plans will be housed.

Analytical Writing Analysis

The writing of Tier III students will be analyzed to determine: total words written, average
number of words written per minute, total words spelled correctly, total number of complete
sentences, average length of complete sentences, correct punctuation marks, correct word
sequences and incorrect word sequences. The objective of such a detailed analysis is to both
inform instruction and capture/chart language development growth. See Fisher, D.; Frey, N. &
Rothenberg, C.; (2011). Implementing RTI with English Language Learners p. 71.

RTI

Monthly grade level RTI meetings will take place to develop and monitor students’ changing
needs. In conjunction with the RTI process, action plans will be developed for students below
benchmark and in need of catch-up growth. This laser like focus will allows us to develop a
Literacy Profile for each student and initiate preventative steps needed to develop proficient
readers and reverse the Matthew effect.

Skill drills

Rotating schedules will be developed for paraprofessionals to target students below benchmark
with daily skill drills to build reading fluency and automaticity.

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Curriculum Planning: Folder #3

Morning Messages

From the moment students enter the classroom each morning, the underlying theme
broadcasted shall be- every second counts. This mindset will be evident in the language set
forth in each day’s morning message. Used as a vehicle to welcome students and visitors, the
morning message provides a perfect canvas to model the use of figurative language, complex
sentence structure, academic vocabulary, content and/or current events tailored to meet the
needs and focus of the class all-awhile strengthening the team culture of the classroom.

ELA-Core Lesson Plan

Making use of the Imagine It! Reading Series, Dever’s ELA-core lesson plans will unfold in the
systematic manner of I Do, We Do, You Do. This model of explicit instruction allows for a
gradual release of responsibility while engaging students in making thinking visible and oral
language development strategies
(http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_CoreRo
utines.html). Please see Literacy Plan Folder #3 for Imagine It! At-A-Glance 2014-2015 grade
level planning guides and Unit Maps.

Oral Language Development

Research has found that vocabulary knowledge is a strong predictor of reading

comprehension performance and academic achievement (Nagy, 1988; Anderson &
Freebody, 1981). Vocabulary knowledge correlates strongly with reading and oral
comprehension (Biemiller, 2005). Students need to know 90-95% of the words in a text in
order to comprehend what is read. According to the National Reading Panel 2000 Report,
benefits in understanding text by applying letter-sound correspondence to printed
material come about only if the targeted word is in the learner’s oral vocabulary. When
the word is not in the learner’s oral vocabulary, it will not be understood when it occurs
in print (p. 4-3).

Students from low SES homes typically are exposed to 13 million words by age 4 while
kids high SES professional homes are exposed to 50 million words by the same age (Hart
& Risley, 1995). Once established, such differences are difficult to ameliorate (Biemiller,
1999; Hart & Risley, 1995). It is in the early language learning that the Matthew effect
begins to take hold. Those who know many words and possess the background knowledge
to comprehend what they mean will learn more words and world knowledge later on,
while those who know few words in early Grades fall further behind in later Grades (Hirsch,
2006). Children’s speaking and listening skills lead the way for their reading and writing
skills, and together these language skills are the primary tools of the mind for all future
learning (Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2005).

Instructional strategies and thinking routines which best support oral language
development can easily be folded into any lesson through well planned instructional
routines. Daily morning meetings offer a bonus opportunity to scaffold speaking and
listening skills.

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 Thinking Routines (just to name a few…)

Stop, Jot and Talk

Think Pair Share

Call Response

Action Thermometer

Bottoms Up and Heads Together

Raise Your Righteous Hand

Musical ‘Round the Room

*Pick a Stick

Language Goals

To support students’ varying language development levels, each ELA-core lesson will address the
Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks (http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/ela/0311.pdf)
as well as WIDA English Language Development Standards as required by the DESE WIDA
implementation guidance in an effort to differentiate instruction
(http://www.doe.mass.edu/ell/wida/Guidance-p1.pdf).

Anchor Charts

In an effort to making learning visible for students of all language levels, Imagine It! lessons will
be supplemented with the development of Anchor Charts. The purpose of an anchor chart is to
outline skills, strategies and content needed to scaffold the learning process for students. An
anchor chart is not intended to be a permit fixture in a classroom- rather it is posted during the
initial learning process to help students internalize the information at hand after which the chart
may be systematically revisited from time to time
(https://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachments/anchor_charts.pdf).

Comprehension Strategies- Core Idea

Based on the teachings of Great Habits, Great Readers, the reading comprehension strategies
outlined and taught in Imagine It! Core lessons will be sorted into two categories:

What is happening in your head- Keys to comprehension (thinking voice)

• Connecting
• Visualizing
• Questioning/Clarifying
• Determining importance
• Synthesizing
• Monitoring
• Predicating

What is happening in the text-

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 • Genre
• Text Structure
• Text Features
• Explicit information
• Summarizing
• Drawing Conclusions/Inferring
• Clarifying
• Character traits, thoughts, relationships, mental state
• Setting
• Sequence
• Plot
• Cause and effect
• Compare/contrast
• Main idea
• Fact and opinion
• Author’s purpose
• Figurative language
• Theme
• Voice- point of view
• Pronoun reference
(http://www.weeklyreader.com/article/top-tips-teaching-reading-
comprehension/ ).

Writing to Read

Influenced by 2010 Carnegie Report Writing to Read, students in grade 1-5 will be required to
compose written responses to text during the independent practice portion of ELA-Core lessons.
This purpose of this practice is a two-fold: it allows for the close monitoring of students’
language development and comprehension skills.

ELA Notebooks

To promote a systematic approach to the chronicling of daily open response writing, students in
all grade levels will have an ELA notebook in which entries follow a specified format and are
scored according to grade level specific rubrics. The development of such a notebook system is a
powerful instructional tool to capture and showcase language development and academic
growth over time.

Vocabulary

Utilizing the vocabulary words targeted in Imagine It! lessons, grade level teams will structure
vocabulary lessons, review and assessments to reflect the work of Isabel Beck and Gail Kearns.
The purpose of such focus is to intentionally (and systemically) enrich Dever’s vocabulary
program in an effort to accelerate the closing of the vocabulary gap
(http://oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu/downloads/instruction/big_five/dynamic_vocab_aa.pdf
).

Dever Literacy Plan 2014-2015 9

 Word Play

Apart from teaching the characterizations of different genres and comprehension strategies,
students also need exposure to explicit language instruction and the study of idioms, metaphors,
and sentence comprehension. Often students are unable to comprehend a text because they do
not understand the structure of the complex sentences they are reading. Syntax has been
identified as a core deficit of students with poor comprehension. Explicit instruction pertaining to
the different types of sentences: simple, compound, and complex- and the components of each
needs to be in place

• Simple Sentence = 1 Independent Clause (I)

• Compound Sentence = 1 Independent Clause + 1 Independent Clause (I + I)
• Complex Sentences = 1 Independent Clause + 1 Dependent Clause or 1 Dependent Clause +
1 Independent Clause (ID or DI- order doesn’t matter)

Through regular exposure to the manipulation of words and sentences, students can develop an
intimate understanding for the structure of the English language. Research has repeatedly proven
that daily sentence manipulation activities can dramatically improve reading comprehension.
Imagine It! has incorporated daily word structure and language/grammar lessons into its weekly
scope and sequence. These lessons will need to be supplemented with other Word Play activities
to broaden student exposure and proficiency levels (see 9 Ideas for Building Sentence Sense in
Folder #3).

Cognates

Cognates are words in two languages that share the same spelling, pronunciation and meaning.
Cognates can be used as an effective tool for expanding students’ vocabulary, language
development and comprehension skills and can be seamlessly incorporated into phonic, core
guided reading lesson plans and read aloud lesson plans (see Spanish-English Cognate lists in
Folder #3 http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/background/cognates/).

MCAS Passages and Strategies

Grades 2-5 will incorporate passages into weekly ELA-core lesson plans in an effort to expose
students to the rigor of MCAS passages while helping to solidify the building of reading stamina,
test taking tactics and the transfer of skills learned in ELA Core lessons.

MCAS ELA Passage Strategies:

1. Read introduction!!
• What is the genre?
• What is the main idea? Who, when, what, how
2. Read the first paragraph and the grabber- what is the hook?
• Who is telling the story or relaying the information- first (character)
person or third (narrator) person?
3. Look to see if there is an OR question- if so, read it to focus your reading of
the selection

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 4. Talk to the text while reading- chunk the text make note of what each
paragraph/section is about
5. Keep an eye out for features of text
6. Colored code MC questions
• Green- RT find in text
• Yellow- slow down and look around (main idea/summarize/inference)
According to the text...
• Red- In your head- STOP and think

Needs Based Groups

In an effort to meet the various literacy needs of all students, and block of time will be
dedicated each day to small group instruction and independent reading.

Walk to Read

Based on benchmark and progress monitoring data, students will be grouped across
each grade level and assigned to a specific teacher for reading interventions, reteaching
or acceleration. Students needing interventions will work with Read Well (K-2 through
grade 3) and Language (grades 4-5) interventions.

Guided Reading

As part of this needs based group time, students will also partake in guided reading
groups at their reading levels. Leveled Imagine It! readers and book-sets from the Dever
Bookroom will be utilized to develop student centered guided reading groups that are in
line with the Great Habits, Great Readers guided reading philosophy and model in which
students are doing the heavy lifting associated with reading, talking about and
comprehending texts.

Sentence Frames

As referred to in Great Habits, Great Readers (2013), the objective of a guided reading
lessons should be to transfer the heavy lifting and leading of discussions into the hands
of the students. To accomplish this goal, sentence frames should be posted to help
students articulate their thinking, extend conversations and engage in reasoning
skills/comprehension strategies with their peers. Examples of such sentence frames
could include examples as presented by Jim Burke
(http://www.englishcompanion.com/pdfDocs/BurkeHOutsFullWorkshop.pdf).

Comprehension Strategies- Transferring cognitive load to students

To help with the transferring of the heavy lifting comprehension responsibility to the
students, Great Habits, Great Readers refers to following teacher directed questions:

How do you know?

Tell me more.

What is the story/text makes you think that?

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 Why do you think that?

Lexile Levels-Independent Reading

Students will engage in daily independent reading (IR) of books at their lexile levels as
determined by the GMRT. Students IR will be monitored through the Dever Read to
Succeed incentive program.

Generation Volunteers

All K-2, grade 1 and grade 3 classrooms will be assigned a volunteer from the
Generations Incorporated Program (http://www.generationsinc.org/) for a portion of
the daily ELA block. These volunteers will be trained to lead fluency practices, small
group/individual readings and writing to read reflections with targeted students.

Read Alouds

In each grade level schedule, time has been delegated for daily novel read alouds of texts above
students’ reading levels. As noted by Gear (2006) in Reading Power, all too often we fall into the
trap of teaching reading strategies before and after reading strategies without explicitly
modeling metacognitive DURING reading strategies- so when students are released to
independently read they cannot successfully problem solve when reading complex texts p. 15-
16. These read aloud times will give teachers a vehicle for modeling how to synthesize
comprehension strategies in an effort to dissect, problem solve and understand complex text
and classic literature during reading (see CCSS Appendix B
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf - please note- the majority of fictional
passages in the ELA MCAS are from pieces of literature publish before 1970). Additionally,
novels read alouds will provide an opportune time to focus discussions around the Dever
Character Traits, character motivation, character point of view and character mental state.

Dever Dolphins Character Traits

• Responsibility
• Respect
• Gratitude
• Service
• Caring
• Humanity
• Honesty
• Cooperation
• Perseverance
• Patience
• Integrity
• Self-Esteem

Lucy Calkins Writing

Nothing is more powerful in the effort to cultivate students’ voices and to celebrate each
student’s unique point of view than a well-developed writing curriculum. To this end, the Lucy
Calkins’ Units of Study in Opinion/Argument, Information, and Narrative Writing Series will be

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 used in Dever classrooms K-2 – grade 5 (http://www.heinemann.com/series/61.aspx) allowing
text-based writing instruction to be vertically aligned across the grade levels.

Read to Succeed: Folder #4

All successful Literacy Programs seamlessly incorporate Six Vital Components: Alphabetics (phonemic
awareness/phonics), Fluency, Comprehension, Vocabulary, Writing, and Motivation. In coordination
with Independent Reading (IR), students will partake in the Dever Read to Succeed program through the
completion of story maps to chart their reading endeavors, initiate motivation and celebrate habits of
mind. A hidden benefit of such a reading incentive program, beyond allowing teachers to monitor
students’ reading habits, is that the student recognition (no matter what their reading level may be) is a
power tool in helping to foster a strong home-school connection. Everyone loves to be noticed and
celebrated!!

Genres

To help aid in the completion of Read to Succeed story maps (found in Literacy Plan Folder #4),
classrooms should have a list of genres posted in room for student reference.

Read Aloud

Teachers have also found it helpful to connect the completion of Read to Succeed story maps with Novel
Read Alouds- everyone gets points!!

Literacy Coaching Folder #5

Teachers delivering literacy instruction will receive weekly literacy coaching. A predetermine schedule
will be developed so that 30 minutes can be carved out each week for teacher-literacy coach
feedback/planning meetings during which measureable, bite-size actions steps for the next week will
developed.

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