IMPROVEMENT

FOR ST. PIUS

SCHOOL

By Bernadette Harris
EDG6625
University of North Florida
College of Education & Human
 School History &
Demographics
 Founded in 1921 for the African American
population of downtown Jacksonville
 189 students, 99.5% African American

 87% families are low income

 78% qualify for free / reduced lunch

 Title I school

 No formal “School Improvement Plan or

Strategic Plan” in existence

 Data Analysis
 Weakest areas school-wide is reading
comprehension, with under 20% high
achieving in reading comprehension
 Overall school percentile for reading
comprehension: 36.5
 Contributing factors
 Lack of school  Infrequency of
improvement curriculum
plan based on evaluation/
data updating due to
 Low expectations of fiscal constraints
student  Need for
achievement professional
 Lack of practice of development in
collaborative best practices /
planning and pedagogy in
curriculum reading
alignment instruction
 Recommendations:
 Begin with forming a committee to begin
formulating a school improvement plan
 Identify 2 goals within the school
improvement plan:
 Collaborative opportunities and professional
development
 Curriculum modifications in reading Grades
3-8
 Target: Reading
Comprehension
 Reader’s & Writer’s Workshop Model
 Established by the NCTE
 Focused on building reading fluency and
comprehension


 Implementing training for faculty and

purchasing necessary classroom
materials
Schultz Center Professional
Development
 K-12 Literacy Program: one teacher
from each level (K-2), (3-5), (6-8) would
attend the training and then train the
remaining 2 teachers in their dept
 Cost: per teacher = $510 ($1530)
 K-12 Reading Add-on Endorsement: 1
teacher to be the reading specialist for
the school. This is a 300 hour
certification endorsement course
 Cost: $880
 Program Contents
 K-12 Literacy Program:
 Elementary Literacy 101 10 days K-5
 Elementary Literacy 201 10 days K-5
   Elementary Literacy 301 2-4 days K-5
   Middle School Literacy 101/201 4-6
days 6-8

K-1 2 Lit e ra c y p a rt ic ip a n t s w ill:   Le a rn  h o w t o  
im p le m e n t  t h e  m a jo r e le m e n t s  o f t h e  readers workshop:   
Opening  , Work period ,  Closing   
Discover how to implement   Read aloud   Shared reading   Guided 
reading   Independent reading   Running records   Conferencing   
Study the writing process of planning, draft, revising, editing, and 
publishing to prepare participants to teach writing using the writers
workshop format   Learn how to analyze student work, identify what 
is "good enough" to meet the standards, and plan next steps for 
instruction   Learn how to effectively implement the ELA high school 
SpringBoard program. This program supports classroom teachers as 
they help and encourage students to develop the critical thinking skills 
necessary for successful college-level work   Transfer training 
effectively to the classroom and create a common classroom language 
to ensure equity 
K-1 2 Re a d in g Ad d -on En d or se m e n t :
Competency 1: Foundations in Language and Cognition 

Competency 2: Foundations of Research-Based Practices 

Competency 3: Foundations of Assessment  

Competency 4: Foundations of Differentiation

Competency 5: Application of Differentiated Instruction 

Competency 6: Demonstration of Accomplishment

Reading curriculum purchases
 Scholastic Guided Reading Program:
 Grade 3 (level J-Q) Cost: $1800
 Grade 4 (level M-T) Cost: $1800
 Grade 5 (level Q-W) Cost: $1600
 Grade 6 (level T-Z) Cost : 1600


 Read XL Middle School Classroom Library Program:

 READ XL is a complete, research-based reading
program designed to respond to the specific
educational and personal needs of older,
struggling readers. Using age-appropriate fiction
and nonfiction, and a scaffolding instruction
model geared to individual student
requirements, it is uniquely successful in
motivating and achieving measurable reading
improvement

Reading Curriculum purchases
 READ XL INDEPENDENT LIBRARY Leveled using
the Lexile System
 High-interest books in a wide array of genres
provide students with text they can read and
understand while fostering reading
development.
 READ XL materials include: Student Anthology
 Teacher's Guide
 Practice Book
 3 Shared Novels (set of 3 per student) 3 Shared
Novel Teacher's Guides Independent Reading
Library with Teacher's Guide (12 paperback
titles, 5 copies of each) Audiobook Library
with Teacher's Guide (12 paperback titles, 5
copies of each) Test Preparation Electronic
Text Collection on CD-ROM Assessment
 COST: $320 per classroom (X 3 classes) = $960
Cost for reading improvement
plan:
 Professional Development:
 $2400


 Curriculum Purchases:
 $8000


 Estimated Total for Reading: $10,400


To maximize implementation
success…
 Entire faculty receives professional
development workshop in Marzano’s
“Classroom Instruction that Works”
 Principles: research-based practice of
instructional strategies necessary to insure
students reach their learning potential
 Compare/contrast
 Summarizing & note-taking
 Rewarding/ reinforcing effort
 Homework/ Practice
 Using nonlinguistic organizers
 Instituting cooperative learning groups
 Generating & testing hypotheses
 Cues, questioning & advance organizers

 Components defined
 Compare/contrast: shown to be one of
the most effective means of enhancing
students’ ability to use knowledge at all
grade levels
 Summarizing/ note-taking: teaches
students to analyze what they read at a
deeper level
 Recognizing Effort: to ensure success,
students must believe in the value of
effort
 Homework & Practice: what’s effective
and what’s not
 Nonlinguistic
Representations

Help students create
mental pictures

Increases Critical thinking
Engages multiple learning styles
Cooperative Learning

üEncourages positive “interdependence”
üPromotes interaction
üIncreases individual AND group 
accountability
üEnhances interpersonal skills and group 
processing
Generating & testing
Hypotheses
It’s not just for science anymore!
Cues, Questions & Advance
Organizers
 Engages students in higher level thinking
processes
 Higher level questions produce deeper
learning
 Utilizes questions that illicit inferences
 Encourages analytic thinking

 Cost for Workshop: Materials $30 per attendee
 Cost for Workshop Presenter: ??

 References:
Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E.
(2001). Classroom instruction that works.
Virginia: ASCD.
Read XL. Retrieved November 21, 2009 from

 http://

teacher.scholastic.com/products/readxl.


Schultz Center for Teaching & Leadership.

Accessed on November 21, 2009 at:
http://schultzcenter.org.