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TENNESSEE SUCCEEDS:READ TO BE READY

Tennessee Reading Association Annual ConferenceDr. Candice McQueen, Commissioner of Education

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THE CURRENT READING LANDSCAPE IN TENNESSEE:TCAP AND NAEP RESULTS

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Where are we now?• Over the past several years, we have seen steady gains in math

performance on TCAP; however, English language arts performance has remained stagnant or declined.

• Less than half of all students in grades 3-8 are proficient or above in reading on the TCAP assessment.

• Historically underserved subgroups are struggling even more; only one-third of economically disadvantaged students and 11 percent of students with disabilities are proficient or above in reading on the TCAP assessment.

• Most students’ reading proficiency stays the same between grades 3-8. Less than 3 percent of students classified as Below Basic in grade 3 reading achieve proficiency by the end of grade 5.

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GOAL 1MATH

GOAL 1READING We improved our ranking among states in grade 8 reading but went backward in grade 4 reading.

Tennessee still ranks in the bottom half of all states on the Nation’s Report Card or NAEP in grades 4 and 8 reading.

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Approximately 20 percent of non-proficient third grade ELA students were proficient by the end of fifth

grade.

Approximately 15 percent of proficient third grade ELA students

backslid to non-proficient by the end of fifth grade.

Changes in ELA proficiency from grade 3 to 5

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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT CLASSSROOM INSTRUCTION?

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Qualitative Literacy Diagnostic

• The Tennessee Department of Education contracted The New Teacher Project (TNTP) to conduct a statewide literacy diagnostic in October of 2015 to understand the instructional practices and student learning that influence current reading achievement.

• The department selected schools with careful attention to the diversity of schools, districts, and regions across the state. The classroom sample represents each region of the state, a range in district-size, and a range of growth levels.

• The team who conducted the diagnostic are all former teachers and literacy experts who lead a range of projects with states and districts around the country related to implementation of postsecondary readiness standards, including curriculum, assessment, and educator development.

112 851Classrooms observed Student work samples analyzed

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FINDING 1:Students in early grades are not making the jump from foundational skills to understanding.

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FINDING 1: Students in early grades are not making the jump from

foundational skills to understanding.

Early grades lessons include very little practice actually listening to or reading text, which is necessary for success with comprehension in the future.

Average Percent of Time Spent Listening to

or Reading Text Per Lesson

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FINDING 1: Students in early grades are not making the jump from

foundational skills to understanding.

Most lessons do not translate student skills into comprehension.

Only 37% of lessons included instruction on reading comprehension.

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FINDING 2:Students are not receiving regular practice with appropriately complex texts or aligned instructional tasks.

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FINDING 2: Students are not receiving regular practice with appropriately

complex texts or aligned instructional tasks.

Many lessons do not require students to engage with complex texts or to use evidence from text to demonstrate understanding and support their ideas.

Lessons in Reading Comprehension

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Strong AlignmentStudent A1st Grade

Weak AlignmentStudent B1st Grade

1.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

1.RL.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

FINDING 2: Students are not receiving regular practice with appropriately

complex texts or aligned instructional tasks.

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Strong AlignmentStudent A1st Grade

1.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

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Weak AlignmentStudent B1st Grade

1.RL.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

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FINDING 3:Reading comprehension lessons are mostly focused on isolated skills rather than building content knowledge.

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FINDING 3: Reading comprehension lessons are mostly focused on isolated

skills rather than building content knowledge.

Few reading comprehension lessons are designed to build students’ knowledge or vocabulary.

Percentage of Lessons

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WHAT CAN WE DO?

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Most teachers in Tennessee are not yet making those shifts. Only 4 percent of lessons fully demonstrated the instructional shifts required by the standards.

Successful implementation of Tennessee’s ELA standards requires

teachers to make shifts in instructional practice.

EvidenceReading and writing

grounded in evidence from text.

Knowledge Building knowledge

through content-rich nonfiction.

VocabularyRegular practice with complex text and its academic language.

Instructional Shifts for ELA

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Why It Matters

Students are required to read very little informational text in elementary and middle school, yet, non-fiction makes up the vast majority of required reading in college and the workplace.

SHIFT #1 KNOWLEDGE: Build knowledge through content-rich

nonfiction.

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SHIFT #1 KNOWLEDGE: Build knowledge through content-rich

nonfiction.What Should We Do?

• In grades K-5, 50/50 balance for the entire school day.

• In grades 9-12, 70/30 balance for the entire school day.

• Read texts aloud that are well-above grade level.

• Incorporate literacy in social studies/history, science, technical subjects, and the arts.

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SHIFT #2 EVIDENCE: Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence

from text.

Why It Matters

Being able to locate and deploy evidence are hallmarks of strong readers and writers. Most college and workplace writing requires evidence.

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SHIFT #2 EVIDENCE: Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence

from text.

What Should We Do?

• Give students text-dependent questions or writing prompts.

• Ensure that answers to text dependent questions have text-based answers (i.e., evidence).

Not Text-Dependent• In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey

strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something.

• In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses nonviolent protest. Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair.

• In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says the nation is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Why is equality an important value to promote?

What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?

•What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?

“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the year 1776. According to Lincoln’s speech, why is this year significant to the events described in the speech?

Text-Dependent

SHIFT #2 EVIDENCE: Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in

evidence from text.

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Shift #3 VOCABULARY: Provide regular practice with complex text and its

academic language.Why It Matters

• What students can read, in terms of complexity, is the greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study).

• Less than 50 percent of graduates can read complex texts sufficiently.

• Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge.

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What Should We Do?

• Scaffold complex text

Multiple readings

Read aloud

Chunking text (a little at a time)

• Provide support while reading rather than before.

• Focus on close analytic reading, which involves prompting students with questions to unpack unique complexity of any text so students learn to read complex text independently and proficiently. This is not a teacher “think aloud.”

Shift #3 VOCABULARY: Provide regular practice with complex text and its

academic language.

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Shift #3 VOCABULARY: Provide regular practice with complex text and its

academic language.Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China, by Ed Young

But an old wolf lived nearby and saw the good mother leave. At dusk, disguised as an old woman, he came up to the house of the children and knocked on the door twice: bang, bang.

Shang, who was the eldest, said through the latched door, “Who is it?”

“My little jewels,” said the wolf, “This is your grandmother, your Po Po.”

“Po Po!” Shang said. “Our mother has gone to visit you!”

Suitable for grades 1-3

• Examples of Tier II vocabulary: dusk, disguised, eldest, latched, jewels

• “the house of the children” is an example of alternative syntax (we would typically say “the children’s house”)

Evidence

Reading and writing

grounded in

evidence from text.

Knowledge

Building knowledge

through content-rich

nonfiction.

VocabularyRegular practice with complex text and its academic language.

Instructional Shifts for ELA

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Rather than focusing on short-cycle improvements,

we have a long-term plan to confront lack of progress

in early grades reading and writing across the state.

• Implementing effective screening and high-quality

interventions in early grades

• Continued trainings to target teacher knowledge of

best practices

• Developing an academic coach network across

the state to share effective strategies and provide

on-the-job teacher training

EARLY FOUNDATIONS & LITERACY

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HOW WILL YOU LEAD THIS VISION?

How will you align?How will you communicate?

How will you inspire?

QUESTIONS?