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Supported Literacy™ (SL)
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
TARGET STUDENTS
Grades 6-10. The full range of students in the academically diverse general education classroom. Students reading below the 25th percentile on standardized reading tests receive intensive reading tutorial in small groups as well as comprehension-focused classroom instruction. Advanced students can receive additional challenge.
PROGRAM PURPOSE
Supported Literacy™ responds to the intensive reading, writing, and thinking demands of content learning for adolescents in middle and high school. Supported Literacy™ is designed to accelerate adolescents’ ability to comprehend text and communicate their interpretations orally and in writing. SL prepares classroom language arts teachers and associated special education teachers to teach comprehension and persuasive writing strategies in the context of reading, writing, and talking about challenging literary and expository texts. SL prepares middle-grades school and literacy leaders to actively support the program. The classroom and professional development components of the program were developed at EDC in collaboration with urban schools in the Northeast and in the Mid-South with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, MetLife, and the Institute of Education Sciences.
APPROACH
Philosophy. Readers derive meaning from a print text when they engage in intentional, problem-solving thinking processes, and particularly when they relate the ideas represented in print to their own experiences and knowledge. SL addresses scientifically-based literacy teaching practices that support adolescent readers in making meaning from text. One is explicit teaching of comprehension strategies. SL encourages teachers and students to use several comprehension strategies together in a multiple-strategy method. A second is situating learning within motivating activities that help students connect reading strategies and learning goals with prior knowledge. Students learn to use appropriate literacy strategies within a meaning-making cycle in which they 1) engage in text, 2) respond individually, 3) elaborate their understanding through discussing text with peers, 4) revisit interpretations through teacher facilitated discussion, and 5) represent interpretations in writing. Third is teaching students discourse practices, specific ways of thinking and talking about different kinds of texts. SL students learn to manage peer discussions of text in small groups and use interpretative skills such as asserting an interpretive claim, elaborating an interpretation, questioning assumptions, and supporting a claim with arguments based on a close reading of the text.
Instructional focus. The major literacy focus is on comprehending literary and expository text, and where needed, building essential reading skills that support understanding. A key comprehension outcome—one emphasized in high-stakes content area testing—is to support an interpretation with evidence from the text.
Instructional components. The program includes several components that make it schoolwide:
- Reading assessment. A standardized reading comprehension test is used to identify the range of reading abilities in the incoming 6th and 7th graders. Teachers use this information in planning classroom instruction.
- Classroom comprehension and writing instruction take place in English/Language Arts (ELA) classrooms in the context of thematic curriculum units, each four to eight weeks long. Seven units are designed around national ELA standards and age-appropriate, literary and expository texts related to compelling themes for adolescents (How do families survive war? How far would you go to fit in?) Teachers use evidence-based practices for teaching students with disabilities, second language learners, and students from low-income backgrounds. They directly teach seven comprehension strategies with a solid scientific basis and integrate the strategies into a cycle of meaning-making activities. Units are designed to replace major segments of the ELA curriculum. They serve as prototypes and can be used as models for teacher-designed units. Students learn the features of expository texts as they work with those texts and learn to write their own comparison/contrast and persuasive texts.
- Essentials of Reading provides additional instruction for students who read below the 25th percentile on standardized reading tests. While these students have varied profiles, many are weak in phonemic awareness, decoding, slight vocabulary, word meanings, and comprehension strategies. This component enables the school to provide tutorial instruction to assist these students in catching up to their peers.
- Professional development. Classroom ELA teachers receive instruction in summer institutes and follow-up workshops, and mentoring through periodic observation and feedback by SL program staff. Designated reading and/or special education teachers receive instruction and mentoring in providing intensive reading instruction.
- Leadership support for school and literacy leaders. Each school designates a literacy team (LT), headed by the principal, which includes other members of the school’s administrative staff, a literacy coach, and representatives from the content areas. The LT meets regularly to monitor teachers’ progress in the program and contribute to problem solving with SL teachers. The LT develops a schedule that accommodates tutorial instruction for low reading students that does not conflict with content area learning.
Materials. School administrators have an implementation manual to guide the literacy team in implementing the program. Assessment tools guide the literacy team in using assessment data to “map” the range of reading scores in the incoming 6th grade. Classroom teachers have a set of prototype SL curriculum units that integrate evidence-based comprehension strategies and comprehension support. Curriculum units are organized around compelling themes for adolescents (How Far Will You Go to Fit In? How Can You Respond to Bullying?), award-winning literature, and related expository texts. Classroom videos show teachers and students engaged in SL instruction and show students with diverse academic abilities interpreting challenging texts in literacy circles.
Alignment to standards. Curriculum units are aligned to national and state reading, writing, and language arts standards.
ASSESSMENT
With assistance from the SL staff, the school literacy team “maps” the reading scores of all incoming 6th grade students. Students who score at the 25th percentile or below receive additional diagnostic assessments to guide both classroom and tutorial instruction. This initial assessment provides a baseline for monitoring students’ reading progress.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SL learning experiences for teachers focus on the literacy goals and practices teachers will use in their classrooms. Through “analogue experiences,” teachers engage in many of the same comprehension challenges and discourse practices they will teach their students. Each curriculum unit provides a context for teacher collaboration in planning, examining student work, and problem-solving teaching challenges. Professional quality video tapes of SL lessons from pilot classrooms provide a “common text” for reflecting on teaching. A literacy coach from each school participates in a four-day summer institute and then continues as an apprentice to SL staff as they train and mentor teachers. Teachers participate as teams in a five-day summer institute, and follow-up mid-semester workshops. Coaching from the literacy coach and on-line courses and discussion sites link teachers with other SL schools.
EFFECTIVENESS
The Supported Literacy™ program grows out of 8 years of research and development involving students with and without disabilities. In one study, two hundred seventy-eight students performed significantly better in interpreting a literacy texts and in writing fluency and quality within the context of a Supported Literacy unit than they did in a regular curriculum context. In another study, 400 students, including students in the regular classroom and in special education classrooms, made significant gains in persuasive writing. In addition, struggling readers (those reading below the 25 th percentile on standardized reading tests), showed significant gains in phonemic awareness.
COST
Information forthcoming.
Contacting Supported Literacy™. Cynthia Mata Aguilar caguilar@edc.org (617-618-2400) or Catherine Cobb Morocco Cmorocco@edc.org (617-618-2400) program publications and information.
Also, read the EDC Feature article entitled, "Adolescent Literacy: Middle school restructures to support struggling readers."
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