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School Leaders' Guide: 45 Ways to Support Struggling Readers

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School Leaders' Guide: 45 Ways to Support Struggling Readers SCHOOL LEADERS’ GUIDE: 45 WAYS TO SUPPORT STRUGGLING READERS SPONSORED BY: School Leaders’ Guide Introduction Why a School-Wide Approach Benefits Everyone PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK.COM/STEEX he statistics are staggering. wide programs that embrace Your struggling readers will gain More than 10 million different learning styles and confidence and independence as American students struggle prioritize continuity from one their reading progress soars. Tto read, but only 2.3 million grade to the next, year after This guide was created receive special help. Forty-one year. Implementing effective especially for school leaders with percent of students with learning intervention tools and techniques practical, actionable ideas and tips disabilities like dyslexia won’t is essential and will give all you can use to create a culture of graduate from high school. As students an equal opportunity to reading in your school or district. school leaders, we need to bridge learn. Try out a few ideas to start, and that gap by creating a culture of When you put an emphasis on add more as your students find reading when reading is a barrier. reading and uncover strategies success and develop a true love Filling these achievement gaps that work, big things happen. of reading. Save this guide to shouldn’t be a new challenge every Students will achieve better reference throughout this school year. We need to empower and outcomes not only in their English year and beyond. support educators with school- class, but across all subjects. COVER PHOTO CREDITS: (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) ISTOCK.COM/SHIRONOSOV; ISTOCK.COM/VM; ISTOCK.COM/SHIRONOSOV; ISTOCK.COM/CHRISTOPHER FUTCHER; ISTOCK.COM/CATHY YEULET 2 | WeAreTeachers.com LearningAlly.org/Educators School Leaders’ Guide Numbers to Know Dyslexia Defined Dyslexia is the term associated with specific learning disabilities (LD) in reading. Although indicators of LD in reading vary from 10 million American person to person, common characteristics include: students struggle to read but only 2.3 million students are identified • difficulty with phonemic awareness (the ability to notice, and receive special help. think about and work with individual sounds in words) • phonological processing (detecting and discriminating differences in phonemes or speech sounds) of students • difficulties with word decoding, fluency, rate of reading, 80% with learning disabilities are dyslexic, rhyming, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension and written and half of these students perform expression three or more grade levels below peers on key skills. 41% of students with learning disabilities like dyslexia will not graduate from high school. 2/ of those diagnosed with dyslexia3 are boys even though equal numbers of boys and girls share the most common characteristic of learning disabilities— difficulty with reading. PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK.COM/IGOR MOJZES ISTOCK.COM/IGOR CREDIT: PHOTO 3 | WeAreTeachers.com LearningAlly.org/Educators School Leaders’ Guide Set Your School Up for Success Inside this guide, you’ll find 45 ideas to try with your teachers, students, parents and the community. Start with one or two and build on your success. When you find the right mix of strategies for your school or district, struggling readers (all readers!) will gain the skills and confidence to achieve personal success. And that’s what it’s all about. PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK.COM/VIMVERTIGO CREDIT: PHOTO Create a Consistent formats, like regular books spaces throughout your school 1. Reading Program and audiobooks, that allow will invite students to relax and “The most successful elementary students to access the same read or listen to an audiobook. schools ensure that all students titles in different ways. You’ll Sometimes all it takes are have a reading-enriched curriculum, want to invest in training your some brightly colored beginning in the first grade, where library staff in the latest carpet squares or pillows there is a strong emphasis on media and techniques in in a corner surrounded by phonetics,” explains Dr. Karen accommodating all different books. Here are more ways Carlson, executive director of the kinds of learners. If keeping to make reader-friendly Academic Accountability Council these resources current at environments. Also check who is also a former Chicago Public your school is taxing your out these 11 Classroom Schools principal. And consistency budget, consider applying for the Reading Nooks We Love. is key—especially when you have many grants available to school a large population of struggling libraries and their staffs. Grants are Provide Time for readers. Some urban schools in available from the U.S. Department 4. Uninterrupted Reading Chicago with students who face of Education, especially for schools Instruction the challenges of poverty and that serve families with incomes Making changes to the school-day English as a second language below the poverty line. schedule can be a tough transition have implemented 13 common for students and staff, but small strategies that have shown Make Sure Your School shifts in time blocks can help create dramatic improvements in reading. 3. Is a “Comfortable” adequate and uninterrupted time The first strategy is “Create a Place to Read for reading instruction. Too often, consistent reading program,” which Struggling readers schools allocate explains the importance of making are inherently less enough total time, sure your reading program flows comfortable with the but allow it to be seamlessly from classroom to act of reading than broken up, which classroom and grade to grade on a their more fluent Creating comfortable, is not effective. daily basis. peers. What better Encourage teachers dedicated“ reading way to ease some of to schedule their spaces throughout Put Your Money Where the discomfort than day so their daily 2. Your Books Are with some plush your school will invite reading instruction Making sure students have lots reading chairs, easy students to relax and can happen in the of choices to find books that fit lighting and inviting read or listen to an same block of time their interests is important—and backgrounds? audiobook. rather than split up a huge motivator—so keep your Creating throughout the day. library up to date and filled with comfortable, quality reading material in many dedicated reading ” 4 | WeAreTeachers.com LearningAlly.org/Educators School Leaders’ Guide It Only Takes . 20 Minutes 5Research has shown that reading 20 minutes each day can raise students’ performance on assessments to the 90th percentile. Try blocking off a period after recess or lunch to devote to reading. Squeeze in a few extra minutes by having students in every classroom read while they are waiting to be dismissed at the end of the day and anytime they’ve finished their class work ahead of their peers. In short, more time reading = more words read = better reading performance. Schedule “Power Up Know When to 6. Time” 7. Step In One way to make sure students All indicators point to the fact that with learning disabilities aren’t identifying struggling readers early singled out for extra time or is key. Set up a system that applauds pulled out of regular classes to teachers for proactive interventions receive needed extra support is rather than taking a wait-and-see to build in an elective block where approach. That means giving extra each student goes to some sort instructional time to the students of enrichment class. Your best who are at risk of falling behind—and math students may choose to try more time for their teachers too. a robotics session. Someone in the band may slot in a practice It’s Not the Stuff, It’s session with the music teacher. 8. the Service And dyslexic students can If your school has a long list of head off for a multi-sensory resources, programs and tools language intervention. to help struggling readers, make One elementary school sure your teachers get the training has labeled this flexible they need to use them. All of the block of the day “Power resources in the world won’t help Up Time” because it students if they aren’t being used gives each student time correctly—or used at all. When to focus on a particular teachers get the right professional area of need or interest to development, they’ll be confident power up their learning. and excited to effectively help struggling readers use the resources and devices you have put in place for them. PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK.COM/ALDO MURILLO 5 | WeAreTeachers.com LearningAlly.org/Educators School Leaders’ Guide Be a Reading Cheerleader Any reading achievement—big or small—at your school deserves to be celebrated. It’s time for the bells, whistles and confetti, whether you pull off a school-wide reading event or Ask the Right Questions simply share a reading milestone with 9. Sometimes all it takes to set up your a reluctant learner. Make a big deal out school for reading success is to ask yourself a of every effort to raise the reading bar few questions to get you thinking about where for your students and make sure you you are excelling and where you may need are the number one fan of fresh ideas to put in some extra effort. Here are some to get kids reading more. questions to help grease your wheels: ➜ Does your school/district have a culture that supports struggling readers? ➜ Do your generalists know how to identify students early? ➜ Does your school/district have a trained team of educators to identify students? ➜ Have you researched assessment tools? PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK.COM/BRAUNS CREDIT: PHOTO Don’t Reinvent the Wheel 10. Make sure your teachers know about Open Educational Resources Promote a “Principal’s Pick” (oercommons.org), which are freely 11. Follow the lead of Houston accessible, openly licensed documents Elementary’s principal and start a book-of-the- and media that are useful for teaching, month program for your school.
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