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Power Reading Jacquelyn Davis Community Consolidated School District 146 (CCSD 146) strives to build a strong, vibrant education system for its students, staff and communities. There are six schools within the boundaries of the district serving three villages in south Cook County: Tinley Park, Orland Park and Oak Forest. Fulton School houses prekindergarten through second grade. Memorial School, Fierke Education Center and Kruse Education Center each serve kindergarten through six, and Sandidge School serves grades three through six. All CCSD 146 students in grades seven and eight are assigned to Central Middle School. To create a challenging system, administration and staff work to assess and plan areas of improvement that promote higher student achievement and parent/community involvement. All areas of the system are analyzed, including the delivery of services through our school libraries. Developing the Project-Power Reading In preparation for an application for a Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) grant, our district librarians assembled to discuss and plan for the school year. Each librarian participated in their assigned school's staff meetings related to annual review planning. We found the following weaknesses in our media program warranting a plan of action for improvement. Materials/Resources Current library collections had an incentive program that had not been fully recognized-lacked books that match test disks. School libraries' ability to respond to the demands for certain titles by students constantly changes. Technology There is a lack of technical support for the technology as a system. Our present equipment may not support any expansions. Personnel is needed to monitor and maintain the operation of technology. As a special area of the school, the value of the media center needed to be more fully recognized with considerable increases in budget to secure and maintain supports for the goals and needs of students and staff. While the schools demonstrated high progress in reading, staff identified need to strengthen student performance in reading and staff professional skills in teaching reading. Promoting the love of reading is a major attraction held in each library. We saw links for improvement. Summary statements of each school's plan reflected the following: 1. Fulton and Sandidge Schools work as paired schools. Their FY00 goals included the focus on continued development of a comprehensive approach to teaching reading to ensure that every child reached his or her reading potential. Plans for improvement included a special reading based instruction segment and increased application of literacy development skills. Student assessment was formalized to include individual student assessment on graded reading passages. 2. Memorial School students continued to be provided with daily opportunities to read more and better kinds of reading materials. Improving reading comprehension was an emphasized area integrating technology as a tool for learning for all students. 3. Fierke Center sought to increase levels of support to its faculty and students, particularly the upper quartile students in language arts by strengthening the ORE (Opportunities for Resources and Enrichment) gifted education program. 4. The goals of Kruse Center included the focus on adding schoolwide reading assessments and using this data to program reading instruction. Every class provided students opportunities to read at their skill level and allowed staff to further individualize reading instruction to meet all students' needs. * Jacquelyn Davis, Coordinator for Instructional Development and Grants, Tinley Park School District 146, Tinley Park, Illinois. 172 5. Central School targeted its lower quartile performance students and provided an additional reading class focused on the remediation of skills and acquisition of comprehension skills. This program was technology based. Working with the above school improvement plans, the librarians proposed an action plan. Application to the State Library for support to build reading appreciation and general literacy development of our youth using technology and print resources was made. The grant resource would allow us to take better advantage of the learning information system, Accelerated Reader, used to meet identified student needs. All schools increased access to this program. Accelerated Reader (AR) is a learning program that naturally stimulates the love of reading and improves students' skills when used correctly within the school. In this program students are challenged to read quality literature from a designated book list. Upon completing their chosen book, the student takes a reading comprehension test and if successfully passed, receive a prescribed number of point boosting a reading challenge for skill acquisition. Teachers use the program data on each student to chart participation in reading activities and as one piece of assessment for the student's district reading portfolio.
Preparation for grant participation also required us to identify barriers to implementation an effective program. Each school had varying quantities of materials to support the computerized program. The librarians wanted to better support the reading goals of the school and libraries, and build better community involvement. They presented data on the collections held by each school including circulation reports. It was clear that we lacked many books in our collection that matched the test disks as well as copies of a few test disks to complement subject area studies.
Multiple copies of some titles were needed to meet the demands of our students and staff. Some schools lacked enough resources in the program to even implement it as a program. Library funds were not sufficient to increase holdings. Electronic aids were needed to manage the program at a level that would impact school goals. Staff also lacked training on the use of learning information systems to effectively bring about change. Securing additional finances and partnerships with the local public libraries improved the efforts of this reading program. The librarians obtained resources outside the schools of our local public libraries in each school community. Here we identified a means to enlarge our collection of AR books, bridge home, school and community, and get the students to qualify results by taking the computerized comprehension test following each reading. The directors of three public libraries (Orland Park, Tinley Park and Oak Forest) were contacted to discuss the plan. Each participant offered valuable information to us and we began to see a clearer way to support the school and strengthen our libraries. Accomplishments The goal addressed for this LSTA project was "to enrich the quality of life for citizens of Illinois by advocating the pleasures of reading, the ability to read, and the importance of reading." In this instance, the "citizens of Illinois" were the students and parents of CCSD 146. The project was designed to increase circulation and strengthen reading skills. To do so, we provided resources that motivated students to read a wide variety of books, built upon their successes and directed them to the selection of more challenging text to acquire higher reading skills. Power Reading built a partnership with the three community libraries in our school district to share resources and professional expertise. Our identified objectives were: 1. To enhance the use of the reading incentive program supporting school improvement plans in reading. 173 2. To strengthen parent involvement by building awareness of the program and availability of its components in and out of the school. 3. To work with the district Technology Team for deployment of equipment and use of Intranet/Internet system to make available library resources. 4. To develop skill in working with teachers and parents for full use of library resources. 5. To participate in staff development that facilitates the school improvement plan and the effective use of the information learning system. 6. To develop a plan to increase collections of each school given the projected funding provided by the local district over three to five years. For the implementation of Power Reading we first developed a listing of the books and test disks currently in the collection. Librarians then formatted this information for distribution in a binder to our public library partners' Youth Department as well as enlisting the support and guidance of our district technology team to enter data on the district website. The same information is to be made available at each school site and within district schools on the Intranet. As there are many titles not within our collection, a book order was developed specific to each school to strengthen the usefulness of the program. Upon receipt of the additional resources to Accelerated Reader, an update was sent to our supporting partners and made available to district staff. Students, staff and parents are now able to identify and secure project reading materials from a variety of locations. They can use school, community library or home facilities to review a print journal or use the computer to access the school's database for project information. The project provided a means to increase availability of books from school and community resources. A database is maintained on each student participating in the program to record achievement levels. Teachers monitor participation and achievement levels, making adjustments to reading instruction as needed. Librarians review subject area and book title circulation rates to facilitate purchase plans for resources aligned to the program and for a wide range of reading ability levels and interests. The school librarians held staff and parent sessions that publicized the project and solcited support. Parents were encouraged to take their children to the public library and secure a library card for all members if they did not have one. Parents also were made aware of the stages of literacy development and the importance of reading for their children. Staff reiterated the school's improvement plan goals for reading at each stage. Staff training strengthened our skills in using the program. Our librarians and at least one regular education teacher attended AR training held in our local area. Implementation required consistent and purposeful planning with staff to identify the resources needed, to plan design, and to stimulate usage by the students. Through training we gained knowledge and strategies that allowed us to better utilize and promote the program in the school and community. The district Technology Team members are continuing to support us in the use of the Intranet and Internet as a tool to extend program information throughout the school and communities. We are presently developing a web template and learning how to manage program data to be placed on our section of the web. Project's Strengths The successful implementation of Power Reading is felt due to the procedures used and the active involvement of all participants. Our librarians were committed to this project as evident from their initial groundwork and continued activity during the grant award. The benefits are recognized by all. First, the establishment of distributed partnerships for learning was very rewarding. The strength of team supporters working towards the same goal kept everyone focused and the students well aware of our expectations of them. While we have worked with our public libraries before in projects, there is a stronger link evident. Linkage between the schools and public libraries transferred resources across curriculum areas and across a range of students' reading interests. Our public libraries participation facilitated commitment to the educational endeavors shared by students, teachers and parents as they supported community students' acquisition of skills. This created in itself more time and places students could develop skills. Parents were empowered to be partners assisting and directing learning activities within their home. The Power Reading Project addressed the long range goals of the Illinois State Library and specifically Goal 3 for the promoting of the enjoyment of reading. The project outreached to homes and community to extend 174 and increase access to resources not found in our school libraries. Student and family usage of the public library was strengthened. Students have found a means of acquiring books from multiple sources. Once all connections through the Internet are completed, the access to information will be even more readily attainable. Circulation history since the implementation of the project exceeded all expectations except at the middle school level. We still need to develop motivational programs for this pre-adolescent population that strengthens reading skills and the pleasures of reading. The funds for Power Reading was provided by the Illinois State Library, a Division of the Office of Secretary of State, using federal LSTA funding. Following the framework proposed by the Library Services and Technology Act we feel the promise of significant improvements in our school libraries and the partnership of services and resources with other libraries. Project activity has been most successful this year giving us the impetus to establish stronger reading supports for our students. 175 |
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