Develop and Nurture a Culture of Shared Responsibility for Reading Improvement

• Loss of focus
• Erosion of the culture
• Loss of commitment upon which the initial success was built

Establishing common ground (i.e., common purpose, vision, beliefs, understanding of context, commitment to success) is important as schools first conceptualize widespread initiatives. It must then continue to be a priority at every stage of implementation as long as those initiatives are in place. A common understanding of where the school is, where it should go, and how it will get there (a clear plan) is essential to initial and continued success (i.e., positive and improved student outcomes).

A school’s reading culture is, essentially, “how we do things here” (with respect to reading). It’s components include:

• the materials we use
• the training and support we provide
• the instruction we plan and deliver
• the assessments we conduct
• the way we use time and other resources
• the leadership we provide for reading
• our shared mission, vision, beliefs, expectations, norms, values and practices around reading outcomes

Though a school has successfully implemented a model and sees positive student outcomes, efforts must be made to maintain the successful features and outcomes in the short term. Even more important is for the school to devote effort to sustaining successful programs and improvement efforts as the initial interest, context, student population, and funding fade away. As Figure A2-1 shows, attainment of one's goals is a necessary first step, but from that point on, schools must maintain, adapt or evolve, and extend efforts over the long term. Every program element and systems variable (Figure A2-2) should be reexamined and perhaps modified over time to ensure continued improved student achievement.

Sustaining the culture is perhaps one of the most difficult and most important priorities.
Leaders can keep the reading culture prominent by speaking about -- and initiating discussions with others about -- effective curriculum, instruction, assessment practices and the reading mission and vision. They can motivate others to take action in ways that makes real the leader’s and school’s shared vision of student success. Sustainability should be the priority of all stakeholders. Teachers, coaches, principals, district leaders, and state and federal leaders can be aware of the barriers to -- and strategies for -- a strong reading culture that is sustained over time (Figure A2-3 and Figure A2-4). Sustainability should be an ongoing topic of discussion at meetings, professional development sessions, and conferences. One tool to facilitate such discussions is the Oregon Literacy Framework Self Assessments. One is available at the District Level. Another is available at the school level. These instruments have self assessments to be completed by teachers, school leaders, and district leaders.

School leaders typically place instructional priorities below managerial, administrative, and political priorities (Figure A3-1). Such prioritization is not compatible with sustaining a schoolwide commitment. Instead, leaders need to prioritize instruction by explicitly building in time and structures that support the desired reading culture and instruction.

• Review/revise job descriptions for principal and coach
• Set high expectations for leaders regarding outcomes and hold them accountable
• Supervise and evaluate principals and coaches on the variables related to strong outcomes
• Provide support for leaders to meet outcomes (mentoring)
• Structure strong collaboration between principal and coach
• Establish strong building reading team

Collaborating to make instructional decisions has the potential to make planning more manageable, lead to integrated and coherent instruction, help achieve a collective purpose, stimulate new ideas, enable educators to learn from their colleagues, and hold educators mutually responsible for the success of the school’s students. Collaboration across and within grade levels entails…

• educators playing a large role in formulating data activities (rather than them being imposed on educators) and generating shared definitions of critical teaching and learning concepts
• explicit plans – and perhaps products -- that result from the collaboration
• regularly scheduled administration of measures
• student performance data – this data should guide the work
• team use of reading data -- such work should be built into the school culture and the time needed for collaboration should be built into the school day
• scheduled meetings for the data team(s) and stakeholders (e.g., Principal and Coach) to analyze and discuss key questions related to data
• development of in-house expertise for interpreting data and determining instructional implications; regular and targeted professional development should be offered to ensure educators are proficient in data-based decision making
• identifying achievement gaps between classes, between grades, and between schools

The procedure by which schools use data should be clearly spelled out so that all participants are clear and so that new staff or those outside of the school can quickly understand and participate in the process. Example 6 in the IES Practice Guide provides a good model for a very specific written plan for achieving school-level goals. Consider creating customized instruments to guide discussions, record keeping, and follow through. The “Collaborative Instructional Log”, developed by The University of Texas at Austin (2007) for Reading First to efficiently communicate student response to intervention, is one model that may be useful (See http://buildingrti.utexas.org/tools-and-resources/elementary for the at-risk and IEP log templates, as well as a PPT presentation providing the background behind this tool).

At every level, privately congratulate individuals and groups, but more importantly, give specific feedback and reinforcement of what is being done right during celebrations and recognition events. In other words, publicly highlight why and how the individual, group, school or district succeeded. At the state level, make time to use data to review the implementation and impact of local reading programs and recognize success by recognizing and celebrating success in teaching students to read (establish and utilize mechanisms to showcase best practices; other recognition program). Whenever appropriate, provide demographically similar matched school comparisons with shared results. Subsequently, establish partnerships between successful and striving schools so that realistic ways of effecting positive change can be shared.