Analyzing a School Literacy Program

Sabryna Richardson

American College of Education

LIT 5203 Strengthening Literacy

Dr. Alissa Grace

October 9, 2022
 Analyzing a School Literacy Program

Literacy is the cornerstone of a successful academic program. In the video The Impact of

Literacy (2022), Dr. Sally Shaywitz explains how poor literacy can affect children in multiple

content areas. Schools must analyze their literacy programs to ensure that students are given the

best chance to be successful in all areas of their education. Students who are successful in school

have a higher likelihood of also becoming successful in the community (Shaywitz, 2022).

The school that was analyzed in this survey is a charter school in an urban setting. It

currently services students in kindergarten through seventh grade. Seventh grade is new to the

school this year, and eighth grade will be added next year. There has been a complete change in

administration and a large turnover of teachers. This school has a large population of English

Language Learners as well as students with Individualized Education Programs. The literacy

program is brand new to the school this year.

Survey Results

Completing this survey made it abundantly clear that our literacy program has a lot of

room for growth. In the “Instructional Program” category I was only able to score one area as

outstanding and four as adequate. The remaining eight areas need improvement. The “Literacy

Program Infrastructure” category has even more room for growth with only one area being

scored as outstanding and one as adequate. In this category thirteen areas need improvements.
 Literacy Program Strength

This literacy program only scored outstanding in two categories: “multicultural resources

and materials are used across the curriculum” and “students’ cultures, languages, and prior

knowledge are taken into account when making decisions about literacy.” Cultural sensitivity is

particularly important for this school given the diverse nature of its student population. Teachers

take great care to make sure that all students’ cultures are respected and highlighted. They also

go into lessons knowing that they may need to take extra time explaining information that is

needed to understand the lesson. Administration supports teachers' decisions in this matter

because they recognize that the teachers know their students' needs.

Another area of strength for this literacy program is “teachers model their thinking processes,

encourage student inquiry, and keep students motivated and engaged.” This category scored

adequate instead of outstanding because student motivation and engagement is sometimes a

struggle. However, if this category could be broken into subcategories the remaining areas would

score outstanding. The teachers at this school do a fantastic job with modeling their thinking

processes. A lot of the students read at a level well below their grade level. Because of this,

teachers have had to adapt how they help students complete grade level work. They encourage

students to work together to explore the text. They also help guide discussions when constructing

responses.

Literacy Program Need

The literacy program at this school has a lot of areas that need improvement. The area

that I believe to be the most important is “teachers use differentiated instruction to meet the

needs of diverse learners.” Students have different learning styles and paces. It is imperative that
teachers find a way to meet each student where they are to give them the best chance at being

successful. One reason that this is hard to accomplish right now is the time constraint. There is

only one hour allotted in the schedule for reading instruction. Ideally, teachers would allow

students to work in centers while meeting with small groups, but the limited time in the schedule

makes it hard to transition out of whole group instruction. Puzio et al (2020) admitted that

differentiation can be a challenging task for educators, but their study proved its efficacy.

Centers and small groups, while challenging to schedule, provide teachers with the opportunity

to reteach specific skills only to the students who need them. Kuhn and Stahl (2022) explained

that while some students might need intensive and structured focus on the basic mechanics of

reading, not all students need that extra instruction. Providing the same level of instruction to all

students is a waste of valuable instructional time for the students who have already mastered the

skill.

Test Data

The benchmark assessment that this school administers is the STAR Assessment through

Renaissance. This is a digital assessment given on iPads. Kindergarten through second grades

take the Early Literacy STAR Assessment, and third through seventh grade take the Reading

STAR Assessment. After completing the test, students are given a scaled score and a grade

equivalence. That score is then used to place them on a scale according to their current grade

level. That scale is broken into four categories: At or Above Level, On Watch (up to one grade

below grade level), Intervention (one to two grades below grade level), and Urgent Intervention

(more than two grades below grade level). The graph below organizes the results of the Reading

STAR Assessment that was administered at the beginning of this school year. I included the

results for fifth through seventh grade because they can be compared to the PSSA data for the
previous two school years. As you can see, the large majority of students at this school are in the

urgent intervention category.

This school also participates in the Pennsylvania System School Assessment (PSSA). The

PSSA is the required state test that begins tracking student achievement in third grade and

follows them for the remainder of their school career. Students take this test on paper. The graph

below represents the PSSA data for the past two school years for the same group of students as

the STAR data above (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2022). While the PSSA

assessment uses a different ranking scale than the STAR, the results are terribly similar. It shows

that there is an exceptionally large number of students performing below the state’s agreed upon

level of proficiency.
 New Directions

Given the benchmark and state assessment data for this school it is obvious that

something drastic needs to change so that students can become more successful in literacy. Best

practice would be to meet students where they are to help them develop their literacy skills

(Kuhn & Stahl, 2022). The best way to accomplish this would be to work with specific small

groups on targeted skills. Switching to a full center model and limiting or eliminating whole

group instruction would allow all students to receive the specific lessons that they need. This can

help intervention students as well as allowing teachers a better way to enrich those students who

are at or above grade level. This model would also help students take more ownership of their

own learning because of the amount of independent work completed when not working directly

with the teacher.

There are two additional changes that I would implement to help run the full center model. First,

I believe that there should be more than one hour per day in the schedule for literacy instruction.

This would allow teachers to meet with more groups each day. Next, students need more access

to technology. We do have access to many apps and online programs that allow students to work

at their own pace and on their instructional level. However, we currently do not have enough

computers or iPads for students to use in class. Each teacher should have at least enough

computers or iPads to use during center rotations.

Conclusion

The literacy program at this school does successfully acknowledge culture and background

knowledge, but it needs a lot of improvements to reach its full potential. Students are scoring

well below grade level on both benchmark and state assessments. Differentiating instruction is
the best way to make growth with those students to close the gap in their literacy acquisition.

Providing all instruction in small groups is one way to reach students at their instructional levels.

For that to happen, teachers need more time in the schedule for reading instruction and more

access to technology for independent work.

 References

American College of Education. (2022). Strengthening Literacy: Module 1 [Video].

Canvas. https://ace.instructure.com/courses/1830198/external_tools/118428

Kuhn, M. R., & Stahl, K. A. D. (2022). Teaching Reading: Development and

Differentiation. Phi Delta Kappan, 103(8), 25–31.

Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2021). PSSA Results.

https://www.education.pa.gov/DataAndReporting/Assessments/Pages/PSSA-Results.aspx

Puzio, K., Colby, G. T., & Algeo-Nichols, D. (2020). Differentiated Literacy Instruction:

Boondoggle or Best Practice? Review of Educational Research, 90(4), 459–498.

https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654320933536