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Taking the Lead on Adolescent Literacy
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Taking the Lead on Adolescent Literacy
Action Steps for Schoolwide Success

Edited by:
  • Judith Irvin - Florida State University, USA
  • Julie Meltzer - Mount Desert Island Regional School System (Mount Desert, ME), Center for Resource Management
  • Nancy Dean - University of Florida, USA, National Literacy Project
  • Martha Jan Mickler - National Literacy Project

Foreword by Andrés Henríquez



May 2010 | 248 pages | Corwin
Directly linked with overall student achievement, graduation rates, and success in higher education, literacy is essential for reaching academic goals in a school or county. Adolescent literacy has become the focus of many school improvement efforts to meet the needs of secondary and high school students.

Without the requisite expertise in literacy, administrators and other school leaders charged with literacy improvement initiatives need a systemic and sustained approach for improving student literacy and learning.

Taking the Lead on Adolescent Literacy presents a concrete, user-friendly, and practical guide to developing, implementing, and monitoring a schoolwide or county-wide literacy action plan. Readers will find rubrics, tools, and processes developed and field-tested by the authors over more than 10 years of close work with schools across the country.

 
Foreword by Andres Henriquez
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Part I. The Model, Process, and Rubrics
Rationale for a Schoolwide Focus on Literacy

 
Why Focus on Literacy?

 
How the Literacy Leadership Process Was Developed

 
The Five-Stage Literacy Leadership Process

 
How to Use the Literacy Leadership Process

 
 
Introduction: The Literacy Action Rubrics
Description of the Rubrics

 
Using the Literacy Action Rubrics

 
The Literacy Action Rubrics

 
 
Part II. Schoolwide Change in Five Stages
 
1. Stage 1: Get Ready
Step 1: Build an Effective Literacy Leadership Team

 
Step 2: Create a Vision of a Literacy-Rich School

 
Step 3: Use Data to Establish the Need for Literacy Improvement

 
Next Steps

 
 
2. Stage 2: Assess
Step 1: Identify School Strengths

 
Step 2: Summarize Key Messages From Your School Data

 
Step 3: Assess Current School Implementation Using the Literacy Action Rubrics

 
Step 4: Draft Literacy Action Goals

 
Next Steps

 
 
3. Stage 3: Plan
Step 1: Develop an Implementation Map for Each Literacy Action Goal

 
Step 2: Solicit Feedback From the School Community

 
Step 3: Revise Literacy Action Goal Statements and Implementation Maps

 
Step 4: Publish the Formal Literacy Action Plan

 
Next Steps

 
 
4. Stage 4: Implement
Step 1: Organize for Action

 
Step 2: Monitor and Troubleshoot Implementation

 
Step 3: Monitor Progress Toward Goals

 
Step 4: Plan How to Sustain Momentum

 
Next Steps

 
 
5. Stage 5: Sustain
Step 1: Summarize Progress Toward Goals

 
Step 2: Revise Implementation Maps

 
Step 3: Analyze Success as a Literacy Leadership Team

 
Step 4: Plan How to Sustain Momentum

 
Next Steps

 
 
Part III. Supporting School and District Administrators as Literacy Leaders
 
6. The Principal's Role
Support Literacy Leaders

 
The Five Action Points of the Taking Action Literacy Leadership Model

 
 
7. District Support
Communicate That Literacy Is a Priority

 
Provide Professional Development

 
Provide Specific Types of Fiscal Support

 
Establish Uniform Policies and Procedures Across the District

 
Use Data to Improve Instruction and Monitor Program Effectiveness

 
Develop and Implement a District Literacy Action Plan

 
Use the Five Action Points of the Taking Action Literacy Leadership Model

 
Review the District Plan to Ensure Alignment With State Planning and Advocacy

 
 
Resources
 
Resource A. School Vignettes
 
Resource B: Tools to Use When Implementing the Five-Stage Process
 
Resource C: Examples of Each Rubric Component in Action
 
Resource D: High School Case Study
 
Resource E: Matrix of Resources Available in Taking Action on Adolescent Literacy and Meeting the Challenge of Adolescent Literacy
 
Resource F: Glossary of Terms
 
References
 
Index

"The connections regarding best practice research from multiple fields—differentiation, professional development, curriculum mapping, 21st-century literacy, assessment, and instructional strategies—are critical and very well done. These connections are made in a professional, understandable way with theories and classroom applications articulated across grade levels and in many formats: scoring guides, prose, questions, vignettes, case studies, and graphics."

Darlene Castelli, Literacy Coach/Reading Specialist
Clayton High School, MO

"Wow! This book gives school and district leaders and teams the what, why, and how to do the rocket science work of getting every student to read and write at grade level or above. Principals and literacy teams no longer need to be stuck in the 'We don’t know what to do next' world of frustration."

Bess Scott, Director of Elementary Education
Lincoln Public Schools, NE

"This rich resource walks middle and high school literacy leaders through a comprehensive process for conceptualizing, initiating, and, most important, sustaining a schoolwide literacy learning program. The authors clearly know teachers and schools, and their reality-tested tools will prove invaluable in guiding and supporting middle and high school literacy leaders."

Doug Buehl, Author, Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning

"The Literacy Project is a systemic process that guarantees all students access to superior instructional strategies."

Kathleen P. Norton, Principal
Arvada High School, CO

"This literacy project changed the culture and focus of our school in less than a year. Following the process outlined in this book allowed our literacy team to personalize the project to our school and needs. Our team presented our project to our staff in August and our teachers have implemented it faithfully. Our students know the slogan and are excited about the project. The literacy team has kept the excitement high for the year."

Trip Sargent, Principal
North Arvada Middle School, CO

"I have seen numerous educational initiatives come and go in my forty-some years working with schools, but nothing has been as important, relevant, or long lasting as adolescent literacy. Schools that have principals and teachers who have stayed the course with embedded literacy strategies across the curriculum, that focus on literacy rich culture and structures in their buildings, that have students using literacy strategies on their own, and that have staff and students reading and sharing, are the schools that make significant gains in their educational achievement."

Betty A. Jordan, Director
Washington County Consortium, Machias, ME

"The most beneficial aspect of the literacy action planning process was providing training and asking for input from teachers from the very beginning. Literacy support team members were able to reflect on the unique and specific strengths and needs of their buildings and utilize this information to develop a practical implementation plan. The time spent working together on the literacy action plan helped build community and foster a sense of ownership in the change process."

Lisa White, District ELA Coordinator
Plymouth Public Schools, MA

"In each chapter I found honest descriptions of the tough issues faced by schools trying to focus on literacy across the content areas. More important, the chapters are full of guidelines and practical suggestions for dealing with those challenges. The implementation maps and the rubrics that help school literacy teams diagnose issues, establish goals, monitor implementation, and sustain changes are particularly valuable resources. The authors know that change requires a systems approach with all levels of school and community involved over an extended timeframe. I heartily recommend this as a very useful tool for schools wanting to implement a schoolwide commitment to literacy."

Donna Ogle, Professor of Reading and Language
National-Louis University

“The five-stage literacy leadership process in the book provided my principals and teachers with an easy-to-follow, researched-based guide to develop a successful literacy program within their schools.”

Jerryelyn L. Jones, Chief Area Officer
Area 24, Chicago Public Schools, IL

"As educators living in this world of high-stakes accountability, we need a way to focus our activities to be sure that our hard work is well spent. The literacy action planning process developed by Irvin and her colleagues has helped several schools in our district realistically assess their strengths and opportunities for improvement and develop concrete action plans for schoolwide literacy improvement."

Connie Kolosey, Supervisor of Secondary Reading
Pinellas County Schools, FL

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ISBN: 9781412979801
£32.99

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