Wells 1

Sarah Wells
Dr. Slater
READ 680
April 16, 2016
Literacy Plan
Section 1
Section 1.1: Contextual Factors
Located in the heart of Virginia, one of the smallest towns sits amongst the fields of cow pastures
and one gas station. In this town, there is one elementary, middle and high school, where all of
the county attends. The middle school was built in 2008, so the facility is quite new. The
schools population is 69% free and reduced lunch, which explains the majority of the student
body. Many of the parents travel to work in Richmond or Lynchburg, which has the students
riding on the bus to and from school. Households consist of one or two working parents, single
parents, or students that are raised by guardians or other family members. If parents arent
travelling to Richmond or Lynchburg, a large number work in the local prison or school systems.
Since the support system is limited, there is a large number of low income families. The student
body in the middle school is a mix of different ethnicities, with a majority of Caucasian and
African American and a minority of less than 1% of English Language Learners. There is a 10%
Special Education population as well, with inclusion and self-contained classrooms. Over the
past seven years, the middle school sports program have been improving, which has been an
excellent outlet for students with track, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, cross country,
soccer and football. The class schedule for middle school has all the core classes, along with
options for electives, such as gym, art, Spanish, music, and agriculture. The Middle School
follows a typical block-like schedule, with classes ranging from forty-five minutes to an hour
and forty-five minutes long. Longer class blocks are focused on the core classes, which is good.

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The Math scores have been steadily improving but there have not been much improvements in
English or Science scores. For assessments, the school uses Interactive Achievement, Measure of
Academic Progress (MAP), and Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening (PALS). These
assessments assist the teachers in providing benchmarks before, during, and at the end of the
year. Each teacher is provided with twenty four chairs, promethean board, six desktop computers
that are placed along the walls, and a Dell teacher laptop for the year. Most teachers decorate
their rooms and lay out personal classroom rules, which is great because it helps make students
build relationships by getting to know their teachers personality and a part of who they are.
Teachers are encouraged to collaborate with their team and colleagues. Specifically, the English
department utilizes the balanced literacy model, which was highly encouraged to be put in place
by a hired professional who works closely with the school. This program draws on having the
teacher incorporating reading, writing, and word work into a lesson plan that ties everything
together, not works against each other. The school also provides tutoring and after-school
programs to help with reading. They also do not use textbooks, but have begun to incorporate
technology into each classrooms daily schedule. The school uses Chrome Books, iPads, and
desktop computers as frequent resources for students. There are many technology options, such
as students renting out their own Chrome Book for the year or teachers requesting the Chrome
Book cart in their rooms for a specific day. The school has been trying to consistently improve
their facility in order to build renewal of their accreditation.
Section 1.2: Description of the Need
The school places a huge emphasis on reading and math scores from SOLs and Benchmarks. The
reading scores are constantly revealing this up and down pattern and there seems to be a lack of
consistently between the scores and instruction afterwards. I think that this is a result from the

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lack of time spent reading and practicing literacy skills whether it is individually, partner or
whole group. Not only does it come from the limited amount of time is being spent reading, but
students who are falling behind grade level are not getting the individualized attention that is
necessary to help them developing skills. The students need to be working on enhancing the
skills that they do have while working on building the tools for being able to read not only in
English class, but across the curriculum. There must be more time dedicated in-class on
promoting student literacy through addressing reading and writing cohesively, while
strengthening the students as readers and writers in the 5th and 6th grade. I selected these two
grades because 5th grade has just been moved up into the middle school and keeping a
comfortable environment for the younger students can foster a stronger learning community as
they advance into 7th and 8th graders.
Section 1.3: Analysis of Data used to Determine the Need
To determine a literacy need for the school, I gathered information from the 5th Grade and
6th Grade teachers. They offered areas that they need to see improvements in and where they
could use more work from the results of the test. I was able to utilize their Benchmark 3 scores
that were taken from MAPS testing and personal insight from the teachers to prepare the best
possible solutions for the literacy need.

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The 6th Grade data reveals that students are completing the Benchmark Three with a 44% pass
rate and a 55.6% fail rate. These means that even though students may be making improvements
in their respective skills, overall they are below pass rate as a class. Across the board, the
students have extremely low reading levels. This may prove to be very overwhelming for a
teacher to try and reach every student before another benchmark or testing comes around.
Students are 2-3 grade levels below the 6th grade instructional level. It is terrifying for a teacher
to have to teach reading (2-3 grades lower) while teaching the 6th grade skills. Students have
weaknesses in the 6.4 SOL because of not being able to read. If a student comes across a word
they do not know then they skip it, which never allows for them to use their context clues to
figure it out. By reviewing the 5th grade data, it is clear that there is a huge gap between students
who are passing over 70% and who are on or above 62.5%. This means that there are students
who are either feeling fully confident in the material or they are not up to speed. Whether they
might be classified as special education or a student is below grade level in reading, it is just as
important that they are receiving extra time with instruction as other students. The gaps that are

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existing between our passing and fail students are critical in to finding out where they are having
issues from classroom instruction.
Activity/Assessment: Benchmark #3
Cut Score: 70%

5th Grade Reading

On or Above 70%

On or below 69%

On or Above
62.5%

On or below
62.4%

Gap #1

83%

17%

83%

17%

Gap #2 (AA)

50%

50%

50%

50%

Caucasian

91%

9%

91%

9%

Native American

100%

0%

100%

0%

Hispanic

0%

0%

0%

0%

Girls

90%

10%

90%

10%

Boys

60%

40%

60%

40%

Total

75%

25%

75%

25%

5th Grade Reading

On or Above 70%

On or below 69%

On or Above
62.5%

On or below
62.4%

Gap #1

25%

75%

50%

50%

Gap #2 (AA)

38%

62%

63%

37%

Caucasian

67%

33%

78%

22%

Native American

0%

0%

0%

0%

Hispanic

0%

0%

0%

0%

Girls

70%

30%

90%

10%

Boys

38%

62%

50%

50%

Total

56%

44%

72%

28%

Total for both classes: 66% pass @ 70%; 74% pass @ 62.5%
Section 2: Possible Solutions

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1. Creation of a Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach position in the Middle School
a. By creating the position to have a reading specialist/literacy coach in the building
might open the door of opportunity for students, teachers and staff. Students will
be given the chance to have one-on-one reading instruction and practice time if
they are really struggling below grade level. Teachers will have conversations
with the specialist on new ideas, techniques, and strategies that can be introduced
in the classroom to reach all level learners cohesively. Reading specialists have
certification for K-6th or K-12th grade, so this would allow for chances to build on
skills that would be of use after 5th and 6th grade. However, in order for this
position to be created, it would be necessary to have the appropriate funding to
uphold the job, along with the resources that a reading specialist/literacy coach
might request. Even though this is a practical solution, it would not be possible to
implement unless the middle school completed a budget revision in which would
incorporate the new position.
2. The Reading Edge by Success For All Foundation
a. The Success for All Reading Edge Middle Grades program targets the needs of
adolescent learners through systematic reading instruction at each students
instructional level. Students develop the skills and strategies to be successful in
rigorous subject-area classes. Cooperative learning is the core of the Reading
Edge. Students work in four-member teams to help one another advance in
reading. Group goals and individual accountability focus teams on ensuring the
success of all. Reading discussions prepare kids for Common Core assessments
and turn a classroom into a book club, where engaged students read for pleasure
and meaning, and videos model effective cooperative-learning strategies. Students
are grouped according to their reading levels and they are assessed each

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benchmark period. In order to get the program implemented, a team from the
foundation will come to the school and present the aspects and angles of the
program. Currently, low-achieving schools can apply to their states for federal
School Improvement grants (SIG), thus adopting the Success for All Foundation
program. This solution is practical, but I feel that it will take way too long to be
implemented in the school and that there would be resistance by some of the
teachers and staff because it is a new program. This solution would work, but I
feel that it has the students working too much independently and with their peers
and not so much with the classroom teacher, which some need more of.
3. READ180
a. READ 180 Universal features a flexible rotation model designed to help teachers
address students at all levels of intervention, which can be successfully
implemented in a single, extended, or double period with up to 27 students per
class. This program is designed to be a blended model of learning for students and
teachers to address specific instructional issues. The class begins with whole
group instruction, moving into rotations then whole group wrap up. This program
could be implemented into the classrooms easily because it requires the teacher to
be focusing on creating the individualized and whole group instruction. The one
aspect of this program that could create a pitfall is that the teacher lets there be too
much slack within rotations and students are not addressing their specific skills
that they are struggling with. If we leave out the students who are struggling the
most and hope they can fit into rotations, then we might have lost their attention
forever. The overall implementation and execution of the READ180 is realistic,

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but for the 5th and 6th graders at this middle school, they need more hands-on
instruction and application if they were to implement this program.
4. Literacy Centers/Stations
a. A literacy center is a physical station designated for specific learning purposes. It
is designed to provide appropriate materials to help students work independently
or collaboratively to meet literacy goals. The integration of literacy centers can
support improvement in reading comprehension, language, social, and writing
development (Fountas & Pinell, 1996; 2000; Morrow, 1997; 2003). Effective
literacy centers allow for student choice, have explicit and ongoing routines.
Literacy centers promote student collaboration, facilitate student motivation, and
provide targeted practice for students (Daniels & Bizar, 1998). It is important that
these literacy centers promote student growth and are staying up to date with
student learning. The most important aspect of the centers is that they are
designed for all of the students and teacher observation of the students working at
their center is continuously monitored to make sure needs are being met. This is
also a great way to gather informal assessments. For some of the struggling
students, informal assessments can help build their grade up if theyve run into
obstacles such as a bad benchmark or test grades. However, literacy centers
should not be incorporated daily because students still need teacher-student
instruction for the class. Pitfalls of the implementation with the literacy centers
could be lack of change, reliance of centers to provide daily instruction, low
motivation and encouragement.
Section 3: Solution
Section 3.1: Description of the Solution and How It Meets the Need

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Literacy centers will be implemented in the language arts classrooms for 5th and 6th grade,
in order to focus on individual, partner, small group, and whole group instruction. The purpose of
the centers will be to create an overall classroom routine that provides different opportunities to
help build students reading scores in the Middle School. The literacy centers will provide a
creative incentive for learning and allows for the teacher to spend time with various students
during class time. For instance, if the teacher needs time for conferencing, the literacy stations
make it easier to pull students aside without making them feel called out. Each station will have a
specific focus on an area of literacy that students need to focus on throughout their educationfluency, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary. In fact, utilizing literacy
centers can be tied to meeting 5th and 6th grade state standards. Standard One, Strand:
Communication: Speaking, Listening, Media Literacy of the Virginia SOLs states in 5.1 that the
student will listen, draw conclusions, and share responses in subject-related group learning
activities. The intent of this standard is that students will continue to develop the skills
necessary to participate in large- and small-group learning activities. Standard One, Strand:
Communication: Speaking, Listening, Media Literacy of the Virginia SOLs for 6th grade state
that the student will participate in and contribute to small-group activities (6.1). Students will
also be working on various type of communication skills. In this middle school in particular, the
students need to have more experiences in formal and informal conversations, understanding
how communication, orally and written, differs. From observing the data in both 5th and 6th
grade, students are missing instruction either completely or not. In order to reach these
achievement gaps, they need to be receiving assistance in both skills they are struggling with and
skills they are confident with. By using literacy centers in the classroom, they are building up
their strengths and weaknesses. The 5th Grade could utilize the literacy centers to work on non-

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fiction (5.6), context clues (5.2), and vocabulary skills while developing their reading, both
independently and collaboratively. The 6th Grade could utilize literacy centers to work on nonfiction (6.6), unfamiliar words (vocabulary, 6.4), and writing (6.7). These centers can be adapted
to what students need the most from their instruction at the time and this is when teachers can
use assessments to determine the instruction that students need the most.
Section 3.2 Requirements to Implement the Program
The biggest requirement of beginning the program will be to have all of the language arts
teachers agree that the implementation of the literacy centers will be constructive as everyone
learns how to use them successfully. It is important that teachers in the 5th and 6th grade are in
constant communication with one another and discussing how they will be structuring their
literacy centers. The 5th and 6th grade teams need to meet with each to have weekly meetings in
order to make sure everything is going smoothly. The literacy centers can be integrated slowly
and at the teachers discretion, making sure that the students are making the transition to the best
of their abilities. Going into this new strategy for teachers and students will take an adjustment
period. If classrooms are not familiar with breakouts or stations, the teacher will need to integrate
one or two stations during their instruction time to familiarize the students with the dos and
donts of independent, partner, small and whole group during literacy centers. The literacy
centers will be divided into: vocabulary, fluency, phonemic awareness and phonological
awareness. However, this does not mean that students are doing word sorts every day with their
phonics or completing sustained silent reading during a station. The stations need to relate to the
whole group instruction. This means that 5th and 6th grade teams should plan their units together
and have each teacher take one part of the literacy station or focus on a whole unit. Then, once a
teacher has come up with the unit idea, such as focusing on narrative writing, the teachers can

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manipulate the plans to work for their specific classroom make-up. Also, I would highly
encourage speaking with other teachers about what is going on in their classroom and seeing if
there can be cross-circular learning happening. The students at this middle school are looking for
opportunities to find real world application and use from their classrooms and by creating
literacy centers that provide those learning breakthroughs would be a positive experience.
Luckily, the introduction of literacy centers are not an expensive learning program; they are
simply new techniques for old strategies and using both teachers and students time effectively,
in order to receive higher scores.
Section 4: Professional Development Plan
For the implementation of the literacy centers, it will be important that all members of the
5th and 6th Grade classes are available and willing to meet as teams for training. This will include
the language arts teachers, special education teachers that work in with the 5th and 6th grade
English classes, and staff, such as the principal and/or assistant principal. I would highly
encourage any other teachers or staff who are interested in the professional development for the
literacy centers to attend, with a special invitation to the 7th and 8th grade English teachers.
Reaching out to them might spark their interest in incorporating the centers into their instruction
and routine and this might make the language arts classes at this middle school more cohesive
and fluid for the kids. From training onward, we will be following a 10 Step Professional
Development Plan (from A Framework for the Professional Development of Literacy
Educators) that should successfully execute and employ the literacy centers in 5th and 6th grade
in order to see improvements in reading and writing. This framework recognizes the need for
specific, explicit examples of and guidance in managing the practical routines of teaching
(Lyons, 2001, p. 13). Starting off, I will begin by assessing the content, which means becoming

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familiar with the contextual factors, finding out more about the English team and their
collaboration, practices in class, achievement data, and goals for 5th and 6th grade classes. If there
is a specific area that they want to work on in order to increase their scores in reading, this would
be the time to make that known. This will allow for time to be spent in the classroom with the
teachers and students, finding out what is effective and what is ineffective. Evaluating the
classroom culture gives real evidence to what might be a student versus teacher issues and how
the contextual factors play a role in the 5th and 6th grade. After assessing the content, it will be
time to provide the basics for the teachers. This means that demonstrations of the literacy centers
in action, along with providing limited materials for the teachers as well. The teachers are then
responsible for learning how to organize the materials and follow the walk-throughs to the best
of their ability. I would prefer that if the teachers do not want to complete the demonstrations as
a whole group (which would be most beneficial), then they should allow for visitation during
planning periods for demos. This allows for teachers to familiarize themselves with materials,
while providing input about each station and how they would successfully incorporate in their
classroom. Along with this, there will demonstrating the process by using expert examples to
support the literacy centers. It will be important to note if there are classrooms which run on
literacy centers; if this is the case, allow for opportunities for teachers to observe in order to gain
knowledge and insight firsthand. It will benefit the teacher to be watching both the actions of the
student and teacher in order to gain a better understanding of how engagement and motivation
can play a huge role in this technique. When advancing farther into the plan begins, it is time to
establish the rationales for the literacy centers, so providing the answer to why for the what.
Teachers may be nervous at first about bringing about a new change to their classroom.
Providing resources appears to be one of the best public relations moves that literacy coaches

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can make (Toll, 2014, p.138). After providing resources for teachers to use in the learning
process, they can also refer back to their data. In what areas do students seem to be struggling the
most? Should I make my stations reflect more of SOL A or B? And more importantly, should I be
focusing on whole group instruction or literacy stations today? If whole group learning can lead
with a stronger focus, it will be more successful and provide better results. With excellent first
instruction to all, or what is called universal teaching, general education, or sometimes UDL
(Universal Design for Learning), all students receive the same challenging concepts, and
instruction is differentiated and targeted to ensure all receive and understand the high-level
content (Routman, 2014, p.139) This means when students break into literacy centers, the
teacher can work with students that might be struggle with the whole group instruction in a more
private setting. Since these are 5th and 6th grade, students will fall in different places when it
comes to their learning. However, the Adult Learning Theory is one to keep in mind when
developing our literacy stations. For example, it discusses how adult learning is selfdirected/autonomous, which means adult learners are actively involved in the learning process
such that they make choices relevant to their learning objectives. Students need to be given the
freedom to assume responsibility for their own choices and when it comes to work, they also
need to be proactive in making decision. Our students will be developing their own independent
skills, along with peer and group relationship skills, through collaboration, communication,
engagement, and participation. With this, continue to engage the learners in the process. For a lot
of both old and new teachers, change is going to come with new work to be done and making the
transition successful. The Adult Learning Theory also mentions that adult learners are actively
involved in the learning process such that they make choices relevant to their learning objectives
and direct their learning goals with the guidance of their mentors. As the teachers begin to

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implement their literacy centers, it will be critical to continue to provide suggestions that will
help improvement of the instruction. As a literacy coach or leader in the professional
development plan, continue to keep the conversations as the process continues, allow for
reflection opportunities, and promote analysis of their own instruction. If you find time to meet
with the teachers and receive feedback, there is a more trusting relationship that is building,
which can open the doors to stronger conversations in the future about the literacy centers. If
teachers can trust the individual with the plan, they will learn to trust the plan as well. Not only
do the conversations have to be one-on-one, they can be with the entire 5th or 6th grade team,
discussing and opening up the floor to suggestions or concerns. Teachers can create checklists
that they can use to track their progress and their personal expectations for their goals, along with
their classroom goals. It will be important to emphasize that as the students are growing, the
goals and expectations will change so teachers need to be ready to address the instructional plan
as necessary. All the knowledge that has been generated overtime while teachers are building
and experimenting with their literacy centers will continue through their extended learning that
will be occurring. Teachers are supporting one another during the process and are ready to look
at examples from their own classrooms, observe lessons, analyze childrens behavior, and decide
how to next continue instruction. Literacy centers can open the door to new conversations that
might not have been taking place, while encouraging collaboration between teachers and
students are growing. By sharing, challenging, and exploring together, you are learning to make
connections across the literacy framework that will make instruction more efficient and
maximize learning (Lyons, 2001, p. 20). I will be supporting the teachers as they begin this
journey because it is extremely important that they are confident in what they are doing and
gradually releasing them onto their own. When I first bring this new change to the program, it

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will be critical to show the teachers support and guidance in this new process. Creating a plan for
the teachers as they continue to implement the literacy centers will help when I come back to
check in with them. Also, developing checklists that are appropriate for each class and teacher,
utilizing their data, will help transition them onto their own. I would also encourage the teachers
and staff to have open communication lines in order to have discussions about what is going on
with the literacy centers if something is not going right. If the time begins that I am transitioning
out of the classroom, then I will make sure that my teachers and staff know when that will begin.
This will be fleshed out in the timeline for implementation. This process is about empowering
the 5th and 6th grade teachers to create literacy centers that will help build their students skills
and knowledge in areas of literacy that they might be struggling. These students need to become
confident in what they do independently and it will start with the literacy centers. These students
are moving from the elementary school into the middle school and helping develop a routine like
they are familiar with might build their up confidence and comfort.
Section 5: Timeline for Implementation
Week One: Developing a Plan (2-3 Days)
This will include the classroom teachers and staff bringing their information and data on
their students in 5th and 6th grade Language Arts/ English class. This will be the introduction of
the Literacy Centers and what else center will be for individual rooms. I will encourage the 5th
and 6th grade teams to talk with one another and see if there is ability to co-plan lessons and
overall units. Also, this time will allow me to build individual relationships with teachers and
honest conversations.
Week Two: Modeling for the Teachers and Observation (1-1/2 Weeks)

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This might vary due to teachers allowing me into their classrooms to model and observe
their instruction. However, it will be important for me to do so, in order to gain the appropriate
knowledge about each classrooms routines, strengths, weaknesses, and classroom make-up. This
way, the teachers see our relationship as a collaboration, not a take-over.
Week Three: Follow-Up and Practice (2-3 Weeks)
To ensure that teachers are not feeling left to complete this on their own, I will make sure
they are gradually released back into their classrooms. We will create checklists that they can use
to ensure that their literacy centers are meeting their curriculum and fits into their students
needs. Check-ins with the teachers to provide support along the way is going to be critical in
successful literacy centers. Follow-up with the teachers is an important element of the plan
because research indicates that teachers need consistent practice in their own work settings (as
cited in Allen, 2006, p. 99). I also suggest that the principal and/or assistant principal go in to
assess the teacher and make sure that they are following their checklist as well. This monitoring
by administration will help create a stronger support system and trust as they move forward with
the literacy centers.
Week Four: Debriefing and Discussion After End-of-Course/ Benchmark Scores (4 Weeks- EOC)
The most important part that teachers and students are getting out of the literacy centers
is improvement in scores, but more importantly, student engagement and motivation and skills
that were once weak are now stronger. Teachers can create goals for students in the class that are
taken directly from the scores that they have and look for areas of improvement. This will be
discussed during individual meetings with the teachers and also having team meetings to
converse about the positive and negatives of the implementation of the literacy centers. It will be

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important to gauge the teachers response to the program and make sure that they are doing what
they have promised to do on their end. The goal is to make this at first a dry run and find out
what works and what doesnt, then be able to collaborate over the summer or winter break to
produce stronger literacy centers.
Why Literacy Centers?
With 5th grade being moved into the middle school, they are undergoing a lot of new
changes to their school routine from the elementary school. With undergoing more assessments
and new routines, the 5th grade are being pulled in many directions. The teachers are feeling
stressed that the low benchmark scores are a reflection of their personal teaching style and get
overwhelmed. By creating literacy centers in the classroom, students are becoming the active
learners that they know they are, while learning how collaborate with partners, small group, and
during whole group instruction. The literacy centers will allow for teachers to use time to
enhance and focus on skills that the class as a whole are struggling with, while allowing for
independent reading time and whole group instruction. Teachers are able to circulate the room,
gather insight on who is struggling, conduct informal assessments, and pull students aside for
one-on-one time. These literacy centers should not replace whole group instruction, but be
outputs for students to use their knowledge from whole group into the stations. The centers
should be connections to the overall lesson and unit. The work completed in each station can be
used as a participation, formal or informal assessment grade. Benchmarks are opportunities for
educators to see where students are struggling and it is time for this middle school to implement
a program that can address various areas without calling students out and placing more pressure
on the teacher. The literacy centers should focus on the five areas that support reading and
writing: fluency, phonological awareness, phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary.

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Bibliography
Allen, J. (2006). Becoming a literacy leader: Supporting learning and change. Portland, Me.:
Stenhouse.

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Lyons, C. A., & Pinnell, G. S. (2001). Systems for Change in Literacy Education: A Guide to
Professional Development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Routman, R. (2014). Read, write, lead: Breakthrough strategies for schoolwide literacy success.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Toll, C. A. (2005). The literacy coach's survival guide: Essential questions and practical
answers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.