As a middle school who is in need of improvement in NYS, my district has jumped totally on the bandwagon of being a data driven school. They have taken a teacher out of the classroom and have made her the T.O.S.A. for Literacy (Teacher On Special Assignment). She is not a reading/literacy specialist but a classroom teacher from the elementary building without any experience with the middle school kid and not much experience in reading and her job is to organize all the data and instill a building wide literacy model in our middle school. There are three reading specialists in our building (I am one) who basically have been put into programs (Read Naturally and Read 180) and taken out of the classrooms where we would model for teachers, work with guided groups, etc. Although I enjoy using the Read 180 program and am finding lots of ways to incorporate reading strategies (this program is weak on that end) and I feel my lower readers have made great strides in improving, I miss the co-teaching and being in the regular classrooms.
We have developed a "Pyramid of Interventions" which we use to place kids in appropriate interventions. These range from guided groups in 6th grade, TeenBiz, Team AIS in grade 7 & 8, Read Naturally, Read 180, SRA, and Orton Gillingham. Previously, we were using DIBELS and then last year we piloted the AIMSweb data warehouse using the fluency and comprehension screenings with only the kids in intervention. This year we had a goal of screening all students (close to 950 students) three times a year. It has been messy and we would do things differently next time, but we are finding that the data that we get is helpful in looking at kids who are resistant to intervention as well as catching kids who might otherwise slip through the cracks. We have what is called a "Data Team" comprised of the reading teachers, the TOSA, the school psychologist, the grade level counselors and classroom teachers/special education teachers when needed, and sometimes administrators. This team meets three Friday mornings before school (we are contractually bound to meeting three times a month in our departments) to discuss kids and whether or not they are in the right programs and make changes accordingly. We also use the progress monitoring part of AIMSweb, where students are checked for fluency either weekly or monthly depending on need. Sometimes our TOSA wants to make changes based on just the AIMSweb data and we have to reign her in because these fluency/comprehension checks are just one small piece. We can't just put a kid in an intervention just to put him or her into an intervention. We need to remember to look at all other data-how is the child performing in the intervention programs? What is their SRI Lexile? What other factors are influencing this child's lack of progress? How did they do on the state assessment? Do we need to administer an Ekwall Reading Inventory (what we use in our school to diagnose)? We are really trying to meet the needs of all kids who need interventions, but sometimes I am very frustrated because it seems like we as reading teachers are asked to give more and more and yet our expertise is not really valued or listened to (we have over 50 years experience between the three of us). We don't have enough sections of the interventions so we are not meeting the needs of kids. My Read 180 classes are maxed out and there are still kids who would benefit. Our district likes to hire certified teachers as reading aides, pay them $10 per hour and then have them do jobs that full-time teachers do. (union issue which is being looked at) These poor aides are also young, going to graduate school, and working other jobs just to get by. Oh, what we could do if they were hired full-time! Think of the kids we could reach! After using AIMSweb for a while now, I do see the benefits of having data to analyze as well as regularly discussing student needs. My worry is going too far in that direction and using only these one minute screenings as evidence of a kid's needs and making program decisions. Our next step is to work with the team teachers to help develop a strong AIS program. These teachers are one of the greatest untapped resource to help kids be successful in their academics. Sorry this is long, but I just had to respond to this thread. If anyone wants additional information or has questions, please feel free to email me privately. Amy _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
