Building a program under the gunMaureen KelleherIn early February, Arne Duncan takes the mic in Chicago Vocational High School's auditorium to pump up the leading actors in his administration's most important production, the Chicago reading initiative.
"Along with principals, you guys have the toughest job in the school system," Duncan tells 114 reading specialists who have been sent to the system's lowest-achieving elementary schools, including 51 on probation.
Still in training, the specialists are being asked to do what more than a decade of effort has failed to accomplish: transform teaching. And whether they've been... > Read More |
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The Chicago Reading InitiativeMaureen KelleherIn summary
What's the problem?
Only one-third of CPS elementary students read at or above national norms.
What's the CPS strategy?
Starting with the 114 lowest-scoring schools, change teaching by having specialists work with teachers in four areas. Known as the CPS Reading Framework, these areas are word knowledge, comprehension, writing and fluency, which is the ability to read smoothly and easily.
The School Board also has provided an additional teacher to these schools to reduce class size in the primary grades.
All schools... > Read More |
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Master of reading and jack of all tradesMaureen KelleherAdonia Milsap, the reading specialist at Price Elementary School in Kenwood, got off to a running start. While some specialists were trying simply to get a desk, Milsap was coaching teachers and working to get her school better organized, thus offering fellow specialists a glimpse of work yet to come.
Personal and school experience paved the way. Milsap has spent half of her 15-year teaching career at Price and already has put in two years as a literacy coordinator for primary teachers. As part of that job, she has had two years of coach training from the Center for School... > Read More |
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Good programs need good principalsMaureen KelleherIn 1996, Jungman Elementary School in Pilsen, along with 70 other elementary schools, was put on probation for low reading scores. Only 12 percent of its students were scoring at or above national norms on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Within two years, the percentage had soared past 30.
Jungman insiders say the key to their progress was the combination of smart, stable school leadership and Tim Shanahan's literacy framework. "It's a great program," raves Interim Principal Zaida Hernandez, a former Jungman teacher who became assistant principal in 1997. "It was a big, big change... > Read More |
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Hartigan, McNair present two different challengesElizabeth DuffrinHartigan elementary
Grand Boulevard
Background: Hartigan has been on probation for six years running. In 1998, the percentage of students reading at or above national norms came within a percentage point of the mark then needed to climb off probation, 20 percent. Then, counter to all expectations, test scores took a two-year tumble. Last year, Hartigan's scores rebounded to 18 percent at or above norms, seven points shy of the new, higher standard.
Obstacle: Too many programs. The school spread itself thin by adopting too many new programs at once, according... > Read More |
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Top-down tactics a killer for top-notch programElizabeth DuffrinThe San Diego Unified School District, the country's eighth-largest urban district, has a plan for improving reading achievement that has won admirers both inside its classrooms and across the country.
Now in its fourth year, the plan dictates a structure for lessons that is supported by the latest research and replaces reading textbooks with children's literature. To guide teachers through the whirlwind of new requirements, each school has a peer coach, and some large or low-performing schools have two.
However, the plan's roll-out has stirred so much dissention among... > Read More |
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Reading list for reading specialistsCatalystTo help reading specialists get started, the CPS administration gave them a stack of books offering teaching strategies in each of the four areas of the CPS reading framework. Here they are, by area:
Word knowledge
"Phonemic Awareness in Young Children: A Classroom Curriculum," by Marilyn Jaeger Adams, Barbara R. Foorman, Ingvar Lundberg and Terri Beeler. Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co., 1997.
"Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling Instruction," by Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton and Francine Johnston. Prentice Hall,... > Read More |
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CTU launches graduate school for teacher leadershipMario G. OrtizThe Chicago Teachers Union is embarking on a path that may be a first for a teachers union local: operating a graduate degree program.
The Jacqueline B. Vaughn Graduate School for Teacher Leadership, named for the union's late, feisty president, is slated to open next January, enrolling 225 teachers.
The Vaughn graduate school will offer a two-year course of study that leads to a masters' degree in teacher leadership. The only similar program run locally is at St. Xavier University.
CTU President Deborah Lynch says creating the Vaughn school is the first step... > Read More |
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Comings and goingsLeah KerkmanAT CLARK STREET Xavier Botana, a former administrator with the Illinois State Board of Education, has been appointed director of teacher accountability. Botana replaces Sandra A. Givens, who retired. ...Carlos Rosa, previously director of school quality assurance in the Office of Accountability, has been appointed deputy chief accountability officer. Rosa replaces Alice Perez-Peters, who retired. Joseph Atria will take over Rosa's former post. ...Joseph Hahn is now director of assessment and compliance, a new title. Responsibility for research, which Hahn previously managed, was... > Read More |
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