Running Head: PMS LITERACY PLAN
Literacy Plan
Fall 2013
EDUC 645
Longwood University
Completed by:
Beth Fortune & Dawn Cooper
PMS LITERACY PLAN 2
Section 1: Literacy Need
The literacy plan that was devised was created for Pocahontas Middle School, located in
central Virginia in Powhatan, County. Powhatan is a rural location, within 20-30 minutes of the
urban area of Downtown Richmond which is the capital city of Virginia.
Pocahontas Middle School (PMS) could be considered a non-traditional middle school in
the aspect that it is comprised of only 5th and 6th grade due to facility usage. When looking at
PMS, we can break the student demographics down into the following:
The Virginia Department of Education reports that for the 2012 – 2013 school year,
Powhatan County overall had 14.83% (640 pupils) of the students eligible for free lunch, with 93
or 14.3% of these students at PMS. At the county level, Powhatan County reports that 3.94%
(170) students were eligible for reduced lunch, with 39 or 5.88% of the students at the middle
school.
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Pocahontas Middle School has a PTR ratio of 24.1:1 in the 5th grade level and 24.7:1 in
the 6th grade level. Continuing teacher education is encouraged and there is a limited budget to
pay for classes that teachers may want to have reimbursed if they wish to go through the
reimbursement process. At the school level, 38% of the teachers at PMS have Bachelor Degrees,
60% have Master Degrees and 2% have a Doctorate. At the county level, 49% have Bachelor
Degrees, 49% Master Degrees, and 1% Doctorates. Each “elementary” school has a reading
specialist.
Within Pocahontas Middle School, you will find:
- a library for student and teacher use,
- administration that consists of one principal and one assistant principal,
- smart boards for teacher checkout,
- teacher created classroom libraries,
- ebeams available in some classrooms,
- reading specialist who maintains a literacy room,
- DEAR classroom sets of books in every core classroom,
- classroom sets of mobile laptops (2), and
- computer labs available for classroom use (4).
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Many of the tools listed above are included for the purpose of enhanced language arts instruction
and collaboration.
Based on Spring 2013 Non-Writing SOL scores for 6th grade, it is showing that drawing
conclusions is a weakness in the reading content area; specifically in nonfiction texts. This area
needs marked improvement if students are going to have adequate comprehension when working
with nonfiction texts.
When looking at the Spring 2013 Non-Writing SOL SPBQ, or Student Performance By
Question, on the 6th grade reading summary report for Pocahontas Middle School, we can see
that 322 students are included in the assessment summary. In Core 1, in the Reporting Category
of demonstrating comprehension of nonfiction texts, we see the two lowest percentages for 6th
grade for two question descriptors are the same: Draw conclusions based on information stated
in a text.
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Only 41.5% of the 322 students tested showed proficiency in the ability to draw
conclusions based on information stated in a text when demonstrating comprehension in the area
of nonfiction texts. There were two questions directed towards this skill. The number of
students answering both of these questions correctly, or rather showing proficiency, is
substantially lower than the other questions in the nonfiction texts reporting category. The
overall mean average for the number of students able to show this proficiency was 41.5%, drawn
out as a mean average from 43% and 40% respectively for the two questions in the nonfiction
text reporting category. This shows proficiency in only 58.5% of the students.
The next closest percentage for any given type of question was 59% and that was when
students were asked to identify which section of text would include specific added information.
When analyzing the descriptions of the questions, 7 of the 14 questions were scored in the 80-
90% range; so over half of the questions in the nonfiction text reporting category were in a range
that was substantially higher. Students will need sufficient remediation in the ability to infer
information when utilizing nonfiction texts to be able to draw conclusions at a higher percentage
of success for a given text.
Section 2: Possible Solutions
As stated in Section 1, an area of weakness shown in the 2013 Spring Non- Writing SOL
for 6th graders at PMS was drawing conclusions in nonfiction text. In order to find a solution to
help our students, we looked at programs and resources which had strong comprehension
components. We found three formal programs and one set of reproducible books.
One formal program is Success For All. It targets grades 1-6 and uses whole group, small
group, partner and independent strategies. It provides direct instruction,
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cooperative learning and independent practice. The comprehension component uses direct skills
instruction developed exclusively for the SFA program. The instruction uses modeling and is
sequenced using a variety of text materials. The activation of background knowledge and guided
questioning by the teacher in cooperative and guided reading settings is how this program
operates. There is also an emphasis on the writing process as it is integrated into the language
arts curriculum. The estimated cost for the program including extensive training is
approximately $70,000 – 85,000 for about 500 students in grades K-5
The second program we found is Soar to Success which is and intermediate intervention
program aimed at grades 3-8. This program is published by Houghton Mifflin School Division.
It emphasizes the use of small groups of about 5-7 students. It is meant to supplement a
balanced literacy program by assisting those students who are struggling.
The focus is reciprocal teaching and graphic organizers. The comprehension
component of this program is based on a cognitive apprenticeship model
where the students and teacher are active in creating comprehension
strategies from the start. As the students skills become stronger, the teacher slowly pulls away
allowing the students to gain more control of their learning. One requirement of this program is
a space for a teacher and 5-7 students to work.
Invitations to Literacy is the third solution we found. This approach is for grades K - 6
where students work in whole class, small group, partner and individual activities which focus on
integrating instruction in decoding and comprehension. The basal reader is used for instruction
in this Houghton- Mifflin program. The comprehension part of the Invitations to Literacy
program builds upon itself from grades K to 6. It builds background knowledge prior to reading
so students can work through the text by questioning and provides response strategies after
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reading. The costs vary depending on the amount of materials purchased, however are
comparable to similar programs.
The fourth solution is using the CARS (Comprehensive Assessment of
Reading Strategies) and STARS (Strategies to Achieve Reading Success) book collection by
Curriculum Associates. It is for grades K- 8. The STARS books for the intermediate grades
contain lessons which build upon each other focusing on specific comprehension skills.
Therefore teachers could pinpoint weak strategies, using the CARS portion of the program and
remediate those skills with the lessons. Drawing conclusions, which was the weakness shown by
our data, is one of those specific skills targeted in this set. The cost of this is about $5.95 per
teacher guide and $39.90 for a set of 10 student books.
The first three programs build upon each other in grades K-6 and in order to be
beneficial, need to be implemented in all these grades. This would be much more costly and
would involve all the elementary schools as well as our middle school. The last solution could
be implemented just at the grade level where there is a need, in this case, the 6th grade.
Therefore, the cost would be less and only involve a smaller group of teachers. There is not any
formal training needed either.
Section 3: Solution
After researching all possible solutions for our need,
to improve inferencing and drawing conclusions while
reading, we decided that implementing the CARS and STARS program from Curriculum
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Associates best met the needs of the sixth grade students. While several of the options addressed
comprehension strategies, this one had materials pinpointing the specific skills of inferencing
and drawing conclusions which 58.5% of the 6th graders did not master on the 2012 Spring
Nonwriting SOL. At the same time, the other options are formal programs which begin in the
elementary grades with skills building each year. Therefore these products would need to be
purchased for several grade levels, and in our situation, three other schools, not just the sixth
graders. This would be more costly and difficult to implement. The CARS and STARS can be
purchased specifically for sixth grade. Only the sixth grade teachers and special education
faculty would need to be trained. However, we would recommend purchasing both the fifth and
sixth grade portions. This would allow more time to address the weaknesses targeted by the
2012 Spring SOL.
Curriculum Associates publishes the CARS (Comprehensive Assessment of Reading
Strategies) series so educators can target areas of strength and weakness in their students. The
CARS contains 5 Pretests, Benchmarks and Post Tests as well as answer keys, answer forms and
a student self- assessment. The reading passages at the fifth and sixth grade level are nonfiction.
These passages closely mirror the ones used on our state assessments at the end of the year,
allowing students to become familiar with the expectations on the SOLs.
The STARS (Strategies to Achieve Reading Success) portion of the program contains
lessons targeting twelve comprehension skills. These skills include finding the main idea,
recalling facts and details, understanding sequence, recognizing cause and effect, comparing and
contrasting, making predictions, finding word meaning in context, drawing conclusions and
making inferences, distinguishing between fact and opinion, identifying author’s purpose,
interpreting figurative language and summarizing. Each skill contains 5 parts which breaks down
the skill into smaller, more manageable parts. There are text selections to read and questions to
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answer with guidance from the teacher, giving step by step instructions on how to master each
comprehension strategy. There is a section for each skill that focuses on test taking strategies as
well if your students needed this. Curriculum Associates uses graphic organizers, and nonfiction
text features with instruction.
The fact that all twelve strategies are addressed makes this a flexible program because it
can be used no matter what weaknesses the students show on an assessment. The specific skill
can also be targeted without necessarily going through all the sections if they are not needed. So
grouping could be fluid.
This program also comes with teacher guides offering information and support. There is
modeling for the teacher, so they know how to use a strategy. This could also be used in a
content area classroom, where a teacher might not feel as comfortable teaching reading
strategies. But, research shows that all teachers should be teaching reading, not just in reading
class.
We do not have many ELL or ESL students at this time. However, this program
addresses this if our population should change.
The cost of the CARS and STARS books is also another reason we chose this as our
solution. A teacher’s guide for CARS is $5.95, while a 10-pack of student books is $39.90. The
STARS teacher’s guides and student books are both $9.95 each. This is very economical
considering what you are getting for your money. You can reproduce the pages, so they can be
used year after year. There is little to no cost of training for this program either.
We would recommend implementing the program in fifth grade the first year. Then,
those same students could participate in it the second year with a set of sixth grade materials.
This would give them two years to receive instruction focusing on their specific comprehension
weaknesses.
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There is little training to be done. However an hour long in service would be suggested
to familiarize the teachers with the materials. There is also an online training available if
teachers or assistants want more information. This can be accessed through Hawker Brownlow
Education at files.hbe.com.au/online training/cars-and-stars-online-training.
Section 4: Professional Development Plan
The literacy plan that is proposed will need to be introduced to all parties involved and
given a modest amount of time to do training of the personnel involved. Using a pre-fabricated
reading program which includes assessment, CARS and STARS, students
will be targeted to improve upon their reading skills, specifically focusing
on drawing conclusions in non-fiction texts as a weakness. Students will be
getting instruction from their language arts teacher on a weekly basis during
language arts class. When it will be implemented during the week will be
left up to the discretion of the teacher. Twelve lessons will be utilized,
broken down into “units” of three lessons. Five pre-tests and posttests will
be incorporated for each unit. Section reviews and benchmarks will also be
utilized for student assessment purposes.
The professional development books that the teacher will
use include the teacher’s guide that comes with the program.
They will also use the student books as a reference. As a
reading specialist, both of these items would be used also for
planning and implementation.
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Regarding training and the program, the classroom teachers should receive direct hands-
on training of the materials. Instructional assistants are not used on the 6th grade level except for
special education purposes. Those special education instructional assistants should be included
in either the training with the teachers, or they can be given their own training session to meet
their needs and their schedule. The 5th grade IAs on that level should be included. All training
should take place during the week before school starts. Staffing changes during the summer as
assignments are changed, especially instructional assistants, so the training should not take place
prior to that.
This is an in-school program that the students will complete during their regularly
scheduled school day; therefore training of parents is not needed. Information regarding the
program can however be sent home in the form of flyers regarding reading programs or through
school newsletters or teacher notifications sent home.
When motivating the staff towards change, competition will be a huge motivator.
Powhatan County Public Schools prides itself on high SOL scores and strives to be the highest
ranking school as possible in each reporting category. Sharing information with the staff
regarding how, if this need is not targeted, SOLs scores could suffer would be one step to
motiving staff in the manner of wanting to continue to progress in overall percentage of SOL
scores for 6th grade reading. Allowing teachers to determine when they will be implementing the
lessons on a weekly basis would be a positive motivator, as opposed to just dictating which days
will include the specific instruction. Jeans coupons are another free reward that has been a
proven success at PMS. Using other small rewards such as the jeans coupons upon seeing
implementation of the plan would put a positive spin on the plan. Staff would be receiving
something tangible that they can benefit from as opposed to only having success through student
achievement.
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As a reading specialist, the role involved with this plan would include making sure
funding is acquired for the purchase of materials, actually purchasing the materials, training the
teachers and instructional assistants on how to utilize the materials, and assisting the teachers as
needed. Long-term and short-term assistance would be given. Assistance to the teachers could
be in the form of testing students on the pretest, benchmark, or post-test assessments. It could
also consist of planning with teachers regarding individual lessons before lessons are taught and
reflecting on lessons after they are taught. Going in to the classroom and actually teaching
lessons would also be an option. Assessment of data collected, pre-tests, benchmarks, and post-
tests could be done individually through meetings with each teacher during their planning period.
Submitting information to the administrators regarding the reading program highlights for the
monthly newsletter and helping teachers create their own newsletters would be another part of
the reading specialist role. In a long-term capacity, analyzing SOL data upon completion of the
non-writing SOL and score comparison looking for acquired growth or potential growth would
be supported also.
Section 5: Timeline for Implementation
The implementation of this solution for addressing the need of a weakness for 6th graders at PMS
in the area of drawing conclusions in nonfiction text will take course over the span of one school
year. Teachers will be allowed to come to the school facility during the summer of 2014 and
check out a copy of the teacher’s guide and student book for both the CARS and STARS program.
This will allow them to peruse the programs at their own leisure. They can then bring any
questions that they might have with them to the first formal inservice training that will be held.
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Timeline: Teacher check-out of Teacher’s Guide & Student Book....................Summer 2014
Formal Introduction of CARS and STARS program....................August 27th, 2014
Formal Meeting with Teachers/IA’s................................1st Week of October, 2014
Benchmark Administration and Data Collection.............................November 2014
Whole Staff Update..............................................................................January 2015
Pacing & Adjustments Inservice............................................................March 2015
Comprehensive Review of Plan Meeting..................................................May 2015
Implementation of Year 2 of Program (5th graders movingup to 6th grade & new 5th grade class)............................2015-2016 School Year
During the pre-service staff work week of the 2014-2015 school year, on Wednesday,
August 27th, 6th grade English teachers and associated special education instruction assistants will
be brought together to introduce them to the CARS and STARS program. Included in this
introduction, the pros and possible cons of the program should be explored by the teachers so
that they can have true ownership of the program. Incentives to complete the program and the
timeline of the implementation of the program should also be covered. All facets of the teacher’s
guide and the student book would be covered as part of training. It would include going through
the CARS materials to include the implementation of the pre and post assessments and
benchmarks. They will also be guided through the teacher’s guide and student book for the
STARS program, stopping to analyze the lessons for reading. Training is done to ensure that all
parties involved in the implementation of the program are adept at using the materials.
Once the initial training of the staff involved is completed, a formal meeting of those
trained would happen during the first ½ teacher workday during the first week of October.
Before that formal meeting, the reading specialist will be conversing with the teachers and
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assistants and working with them in the classroom to head off any “issues” that might pop up
during the initial few weeks of implementation.
During the third week of October the staff development day will be used to bring
everyone, teachers, reading specialist, and instructional assistants together to discuss how the
program is working, any issues, any advantages that have been observed so far. A good
thorough assessment should be done regarding any improvements that can be made immediately.
The ½ teacher workday in November will be utilized to discuss benchmark administration and
data collected from the benchmarks. To keep the whole staff involved, at the January staff
meeting, the program and updates on how things are going will be shared with the PMS staff.
Keeping with the same routine, the ½ teacher workday in March will help make sure the pacing
continues on schedule. To conclude the implementation year of the STARS and CARS program,
the ½ teacher workday in May will be used to do a comprehensive review of how the year had
gone. Once non-writing SOL scores for the 6th graders have been received, the information will
be analyzed to monitor any progress or regression in the area of drawing conclusions in
nonfiction texts. Fifth grade data could be used for analysis the 2nd year implemented also.
Assessment and monitoring of the plan will start right from the start and will continue
throughout the 2014 – 2015 school year and will pick up again with the 2015 – 2016 school year.
As described above, during the inservice days and training, reflection time is given for staff to
analyze how the program administration is going on a monthly, or bi-monthly schedule. The
benchmarks will give a good guide as to if the plan is starting to be successful or not. The
implementation of the plan will be monitored through the monthly and bi-monthly meetings and
training. Periodic “reflection” forms could be given to teachers and instructional assistants to
also serve as an informal monitoring of the program.
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One foreseeable issue that will most likely come up is the implementation of the plan on
a consistent basis. Flexibility was given to the staff to implement the lessons at their discretion
and weekly pace. However, this also opens up the possibility that teachers that get caught up in
other content, or just haven’t fully bought into the program might not put full value into the
program. This can be addressed by adjusting the implantation plan to include a pacing chart that
will structure the lessons along a predetermined plan of completion.