Fountas and Pinnell’s Teaching for Comprehension and Fluency: Thinking, Talking and Writing about Reading, K-8 (2006) has a number of tools that can be used to take a closer look at students’ reading skills and at literacy instruction in the classroom. These tools support the observation and analysis of a variety of student reading behaviors in a range of instructional settings as well as the analysis of the various roles and interactions that teacher can take on in working with students. There are many tools in the book that would be useful for assessing and analyzing student skills. Below you will find a list of a few tools that we thought might be of particular interest. All of the tools are available both in the Teaching for Comprehension and Fluency book and on the DVD that accompanies the book.

1. Analyzing Reading Behaviors to Sustain Processing (p. 51, see also p. 379). This is an individual student oral reading observation tool which focuses on a variety of reading behaviors (e.g., word solving, self-monitoring, reading comprehension, and fluency) and can be used in a range of instructional settings (e.g., literature discussions, guided reading, shared reading, individual reading).

2. Analyzing Reading Behaviors to Expand Thinking (p. 61, see also p. 379). This is an individual student observation tool specifically focused on analyzing reading comprehension strategies that support critical reading skills such as making predictions, making connections, making inferences, text analysis and critical thinking.

3. Talking about Reading: Observing for Evidence of Thinking (pp. 106-107, see also p. 272). This tool can be used to observe individual students or groups of students in instructional formats that include interactive read-alouds, literature discussions, guided readings, and/or reading conferences and focuses on observing evidence of different kinds of thinking as students discuss and write about texts.

4. A Scale for Assessing Fluency (p. 104). This tool is a scale that allows analysis of students’ reading fluency in some detail along six dimensions: pausing, phrasing, stress, intonation, rate, and integration.

5. Thinking across Genres (p. 151). This tool provides a structure to analyze student thinking within, beyond, and about texts across different text genres (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry) and can help to facilitate student use of reading behaviors across genres by highlighting those skills they may apply in one genre but not others.

6. Levels of Teaching Interactions in a Guided Reading Lesson (p. 380). A simple outline of four specific levels of strategies teachers can use with students in guided reading lessons: demonstrate, prompt, reinforce, observe.

7. Prompting Readers to Monitor, Correct, and Construct Meaning During Reading (pp. 380-381). This tool provides specific examples of the kinds of questions and comments teachers can make to support the development of student reading strategies such as self-monitoring, self correcting, and searching for and using information.

Download PDF:

• Observation Tool for Assessing Reading (PDF)

Q: Is there research evidence that Literacy Collaborative improves student literacy achievement, particularly in low-income schools?
There have been three major studies showing that Literacy Collaborative improves student literacy achievement. The Center for Education Evaluation and Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University studied numerous early literacy interventions and found that both low-poverty and high-poverty Literacy Collaborative schools in Indiana showed substantially greater year-to-year improvement in passing rates than schools with no literacy interventions. Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Wheelock College found that in the Boston Public Schools, which serve primarily low-income minority students, 1st graders in Literacy Collaborative schools had higher end-of-the-year writing scores than students in classrooms with other literacy intervention programs. At The Ohio State University, Literacy Collaborative researchers found that 2nd grade Gates-MacGinitie reading scores in 52 Literacy Collaborative schools rose from 36 points to 49 points (on a scale of 0-100) in four years. The greatest gains were found in the schools that had more than 50% of students receiving free or reduced price lunch. In addition, the percentages of 1st graders reading on grade level increased from 24% to 30% over four years.

Q: Is there research evidence that Literacy Collaborative affects Special Education referrals and retention rates?
The Center for Education Evaluation and Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University found, as part of their study on early literacy interventions, that Literacy Collaborative schools in Indiana had lower special education referral rates and slightly lower 2nd grade retention rates than demographically similar schools without special literacy programs.

Q: Is Literacy Collaborative currently participating in more studies of its effectiveness?
Literacy Collaborative is currently participating in two new effectiveness studies. Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Chicago are collaborating with Literacy Collaborative to study 18 LC schools. Data are being collected on 10,000 students and 250 teachers, and the data will be analyzed using a new statistical method called “value-added analysis”. This analysis tests whether students in these 18 schools make greater gains in literacy, as measured by the DIBELS and Terra Nova assessments, the longer they participate in Literacy Collaborative. In addition, researchers at the Center for Research and Educational Policy (CREP) at the University of Memphis are following 500 Literacy Collaborative kindergarteners in a low-income linguistically-diverse district in Georgia, and will compare their literacy development with that of 500 children in a similar control district. We will post results from these two studies as they become available.

Q: Have there been any studies of student attitudes toward literacy activities in Literacy Collaborative schools?
Literacy Collaborative researchers observed, interviewed, and surveyed Literacy Collaborative students in grades 3-5 in Westfield, Massachusetts in 2004. More than 90% of the students said they liked to read and write, and observations and interviews showed that students were engaging in literacy activities both in school and during their free time at home. Teachers attributed students’ high literacy engagement to their participation in the Literacy Collaborative program.

The Literacy Collaborative Standards were developed to help schools insure integrity and high-quality implementation of Literacy Collaborative. Please use Literacy Collaborative Standards to guide the discussion of the Affirmation Document at your school.

This Affirmation Document is designed to assist your school in an annual review of the essential elements of your implementation and to help communicate this information to your university or district affiliate. Information gleaned from the Affirmation Document can also be used to set future goals for your literacy team.

The Affirmation Document is to be completed by the school leadership team. After completion, keep a copy for your files and send the original to the university/district trainer responsible for your school. A current copy of the document is required to be on file each year to maintain active status as a Literacy Collaborative school.

Download Document:

• Affirmation Document (Word)

There are many elements that make up effective reading and literacy instruction. Five of those essential elements are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The instructional core of the Literacy Collaborative model includes instructional approaches and activities that address these five elements both in reading instruction and writing instruction. Below is a link to a brief paper that describes how Literacy Collaborative’s instruction approaches accord with these five elements.

Other essential elements include a wide range of language and literacy experiences, access to literature, a print-rich classroom environment, instruction that builds motivation and interest in reading, and home-school literacy connections.

• Download the Five Essential Elements of Reading

• Becoming Lovers of Books: Students’ Literacy outcomes in a Literacy Collaborative School
  A summary of quantitative and qualitative case study that investigates the attitudes toward literacy of intermediate-level students in a Literacy Collaborative school. The students exhibited “overwhelming positive attitudes toward reading and writing.”

• Teacher Buy-in to a Whole School Literacy Reform Model: What Predicts Successful Buy-in to the Literacy Collaborative?
  Results of the quantitative and qualitative study of factors that predict teachers’ acceptance of a support for the Literacy Collaborative in their school. Main predictors were the degree to which teachers felt the program had positively affected their students and whether teachers felt that they participated in the decision to adopt the program.

• Teacher Buy-in to the Literacy Collaborative Intermediate Model: A Summary of Survey Results
  Results of a survey of teachers and literacy coordinators about the impact of the intermediate Literacy Collaborative program on their teaching and on their school as a whole. Teachers were generally very positive about the program and felt it had a positive impact on their students and on the school culture. Some teachers felt it was difficult to find an uninterrupted period of class time for the literacy block and enough time to prepare for lessons.

• Literature Review of Quantitative Research on Literacy Collaborative
  A comprehensive review of the three major quantitative research studies conducted on the effect of Literacy Collaborative on student outcomes. A two-page summary is followed by a more detailed seven-page review.

• Multi-Year Analysis through 2003
  An analysis of six year’s worth of test-score data from Literacy Collaborative schools, gathered by The Ohio State University. Findings are also summarized in the literature review described above.

• Indiana’s Early Intervention Grant Program 1997 - 2004
  This is an evaluation, conducted by the Center for Evaluation and Educational Policy at Indiana University, of Indiana’s Early Literacy Intervention Program (ELIGP), with funded several initiatives, including the Literacy Collaborative. “Of the individual ELGIP-funded interventions included in…CEEP evaluations, Literacy Collaborative has most consistently demonstrated success on student outcomes” (p, 35). Findings from this evaluation are also summarized in the literature review described above.

The research goal of the Literacy Collaborative is to have more quantitative studies with control groups. Three studies with control groups are currently underway.

• Literacy Collaborative is participating in a study being conducted by the Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREP) at the University of Memphis. CREP will follow, over a five-year period, 1,000 kindergarteners in two very diverse school districts—one that has adopted LC into all of its schools, and a similar district that has not. This fall, teachers gave screening tests to the kindergarteners in the two districts, which will be used as baseline data to analyze how much students’ skills increase over time. The researchers will also observe in classrooms and survey teachers about school climate and satisfaction with their literacy curriculum. We will receive preliminary results from the CREP researchers this summer.

• A study is being conducted by faculty and researchers at Stanford University (Tony Bryk) and the University of Chicago (David Kerbow). This study looks at the use of a web-based professional development tool that allows literacy coordinators to watch classroom videos, hear expert commentary, and communicate with other literacy coordinators. The achievement of children in LC schools that have access to to this web-based environment will be compared with the achievement of children in LC schools without that access to see if the tool enhances a literacy coordinators work and positively affects student achievement. Most importantly, This study will include a “value-added” component that will test whether students in LC schools show more growth in literacy skills than they would have without the program.

• Literacy Collaborative is beginning a new study that examines whether the LC program has an effect on student scores on state-mandated tests. LC schools will be matched by demographic characteristics to similar schools in the same state, and their test scores over the past five to six years will be compared to see if there are differences in the scores themselves and in the rate of change over several years.

Results from these studies will be posted on this website as they become available.

• CSRQ rated the Literacy Collaborative’s evidence of effects on student achievement as “Moderate.” We received this rating because we have only conducted a few studies so far that have had control groups of non-LC shools. (See “Studies Currently Underway” in the Research and Evaluation section of this website.) Of the 22 elementary school models CSRQ reviewed, they found no models to have “Very Strong” evidence of effects on achievement, two programs to have “Moderately Strong” evidence, and seven programs, including Literacy Collaborative, to have “Moderate” evidence. The other 13 programs were judged to have either “Limited” or no evidence of effects on achievement.

• CSRQ rated Literacy Collaborative as having “Very Strong” evidence of having a research base (not only in the instructional components, but also in the evaluation, leadership, and professional development components).

• CSRQ rated the the Literacy Collaborative’s ability to support implementation as “Very Strong.”

This is the second school reform catalog into which Literacy Collaborative has been accepted. In 2005, the program was accepted into the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory’s Catalog of School Reform Models. See our News Archive page for more information.

At the district/school level, administrators, literacy coordinators, and teachers analyze and present their own data to provide evidence of effectiveness at the local level.

All Literacy Collaborative schools are responsible for developing a school-level evaluation plan, and for collecting, analyzing, and presenting student outcome data according to the evaluation plan that they have developed. When the Literacy Collaborative implementation is district-wide, it is expected that this be done at the school-level and be coordinated across schools in the district.

The responsibility for coordinating program evaluation at the school level rests with the School Leadership Team, which typically consists of the school principal, the literacy coordinator, a classroom teacher from each grade level, and any other representatives who provide literacy teaching.

The Process

• During the literacy coordinator’s initial training year, s/he works with their School Leadership Team to develop a school-level evaluation plan that will allow them to track student progress and guide their assessment of the effectiveness of their implementation.

• This plan specifies the assessments that the school will use for the next five years, the frequency and timing of the administration of those assessments, and plans for analyzing and presenting results. Assessments can include some of the required Literacy Collaborative classroom assessments, standardized tests such as the TerraNova, or state-mandated tests required under No Child Left Behind.

• Each school’s evaluation plan is tailored to its individual school, district, and state requirements. Assistance in developing an evaluation plan is provided during the literacy coordinator’s training year and in ongoing professional development sessions.

• At the beginning and end of each year thereafter, the School Leadership Team meets to review their school’s data, assess progress, and set goals for professional development and instruction based on their results. Each spring, they develop and write an annual school report that presents an analysis of the data collected, the status of implementation, and a list of future goals.

• This report is submitted to the university training site and schools receive feedback on their reports from Literacy Collaborative staff. Consecutive annual reports provide a record of implementation and student achievement over time.

Download a schematic of the program evaluation process for Literacy Collaborative schools and districts (PDF).

Participation in National Literacy Collaborative Studies

Schools/districts are also encouraged to participate in national Literacy Collaborative studies. These studies are conducted by internal Literacy Collaborative researchers or outside evaluators.

Schools/districts are contacted about possible participation by Literacy Collaborative research staff and are also encouraged to contact their university training site if they are interested in participating in national studies. Individual schools can obtain useful information about the effectiveness of their Literacy Collaborative implementation through their participation in national studies.

Literacy Collaborative program evaluation at the national level was revised in 2004-2005. The revised design was created in order to both ensure high quality data for scientifically based research and to provide support to Literacy Collaborative schools in their school-level evaluation efforts. The new four-pronged approach consists of the following:

• A portfolio of rigorous evaluation studies demonstrating the effectiveness of Literacy Collaborative across a variety of settings
• A national relational database of Literacy Collaborative schools to be used to facilitate internal research and evaluation studies
• A set of program evaluation tools that lend support to schools and districts as they develop their evaluation plans and analyze and present their data to stakeholders
• A website that provides easy access to the above program evaluation tools and to research and evaluation studies on Literacy Collaborative

Literacy Collaborative provides a research-based instructional model that is student-centered, language-based and process-oriented. The model incorporates research-based methods of instruction while focusing on the complex strategies and skills of reading, writing, and using oral language.

• Language and Literacy Framework (PDF)

Below are the standards that are established and must be maintained in Literacy Collaborative district and university training sites:

• Standards for Literacy Collaborative Schools & Literacy Coordinators

• Standards for Literacy Collaborative District Training Sites & Trainers

• Standards for Literacy Collaborative University Training Sites & Trainers

The members are charged with informing the school about the components of Literacy Collaborative, developing an evaluation plan for measuring Literacy Collaborative effectiveness and tracking student progress, and engaging in discussion with the school community about the model and how to apply it to their school’s unique circumstances.

Classroom implementation begins the following year when the literacy coordinator begins teaching the required 40-hour professional development course to the first group of teachers. Teachers learn about the language and literacy framework, the theories behind it, and how to implement the practices through regular meetings and assignments over the course of the school year. The teachers also learn how to monitor the progress of their students through individual student assessments, data collection, and analysis. The literacy coordinator provides ongoing coaching for teachers as they learn to implement the framework.

Years 2 through 4 are dedicated to training all classroom teachers and implementing the Literacy Collaborative model in every classroom throughout the school, as well as working with the district, parents and interested community members to support the learning community.

By year 5, full implementation should be reached, with every teacher in the school having participated in the training. In subsequent years, teachers continue to collect and analyze student data and to receive coaching and professional development to hone and update their teaching of the framework.

As stated on the NWREL website:

“Because the purpose of Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) legislation and of CSR in general is to foster schoolwide change, the catalog naturally focuses on whole-school models or single-subject models that are implemented schoolwide. These models provide schools with a coherent framework for change that addresses most or all aspects of school operations, including governance, structure, culture, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development.”

In the fall of 2005, Literacy Collaborative faculty and staff were invited to submit an application to NWREL. The application was judged based on the following criteria:

• Evidence of effectiveness in improving student academic achievement
• Widespread replication, with organizational capacity to continue scaling up
• High-quality implementation assistance to schools
• Comprehensiveness/coherence

The Catalog includes descriptions of accepted models in a searchable, on-line database. To see Literacy Collaborative’s description, please click on the following link:

http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/catalog/ModelDetails.asp?ModelID=52

1. Teachers in classrooms implement the range of research-based approaches that are included in a language and literacy framework, either at primary grades or at all grades of the elementary school. The framework includes instruction in reading, writing, language, and word study.
2. A high priority is placed on time for teaching and learning, with at least two-and-one-half hours designated for the language and literacy framework daily in all classrooms. One hour of uninterrupted time is available for reading and one hour for writing.
3. The school has a literacy coordinator who has successfully completed the initial training program at a Literacy Collaborative university or district-level training site.
4. The literacy coordinator is based in the school and provides professional development for teachers. The literacy coordinator also teaches children for part of the day.
5. There is a school-based leadership team that includes the principal, the literacy coordinator(s), teachers representing the grade levels involved, and other literacy professionals.
6. Teachers in the school participate in comprehensive training and are coached in their classrooms by the literacy coordinator.
7. After initial training, teachers participate in a variety of ongoing professional development opportunities, including but not limited to regular meetings, coaching, study groups, and action research.
8. Sufficient materials and supplies are provided to support literacy instruction, which may include a school book room that houses an extensive collection of leveled books for guided reading, as well as rich classroom collections of children’s literature.
9. Reading Recovery is provided as a safety net for first-graders who need extra, intensive tutoring in addition to good classroom instruction; other services are provided at various grade levels.
10. There is a home-school connection that includes home support activities and books to promote home reading.

More news is available in the archive »

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• Registry

The Literacy Trademark Committee has contracted with the National Data and Evaluation Center (NDEC) at The Ohio State University to develop the national registry for Literacy Collaborative. The first step in developing this database is to have all members of the Literacy Collaborative network (university trainers, district trainers, and literacy coordinators) update their information on the Registry website.

Georgia State University

Sandra J. Mason
RR/LC Programs at GSU
P.O. Box 3978
Atlanta, GA 30302-3978
Phone: (404) 651-1216
Fax: (404) 651-4356
Email: smason4@gsu.edu
Web: Georgia State University

Lesley University

Tara DeLeo
Lesley University Literacy Collaborative
1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 378
Cambridge, MA 02140
Phone: (800) 999-1959 x8798
Fax: (617) 349-8490
Email: tdeleo@lesley.edu
Web: Lesley University

The Ohio State University

Sonny Whitehead
The Ohio State University
Literacy Collaborative Program
807 Kinnear Road
Columbus, Ohio 43212
Phone: (800) 678-6486
Fax: (614) 688-3980
Email: whitehead.26@osu.edu
Web: The Ohio State University

National Research and Evaluation:

Emily Dexter
Director of Research, Literacy Collaborative
Lesley University
(800) 999-1959 ex. 8857
edexter@lesley.edu

-or-

Patricia Scharer
Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture
The Ohio State University
(614) 292-2480
scharer1@osu.edu

Program Evaluation Tools (PowerPoints, Graphmaker):

Joshua Fiedler
Research and Technology Assistant, Literacy Collaborative
Lesley University
(800) 999-1959 ex. 8852
jfiedler@lesley.edu