Literacy Initiatives

At

Sedgwick Middle School

And

Conard High School

Students who attend Sedgwick Middle School and Conard High School in grades six through twelve experience a thoughtfully articulated program of sequenced literacy skills. The program goal is to ensure that students understand and use developmentally appropriate strategies to support successful performance in secondary school subjects and on standardized tests such as the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), The Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The following are the major elements of the program:

· Content Area Reading: Teachers in grades six through twelve participate in a variety of staff development sessions devoted to content area reading strategies. All staff receive a chart that lists various strategies, the function they serve in supporting reading comprehension, and the location of professional resources that explain the strategies. Many teachers use two professional texts, Reading Reminders by Jim Burke and I Read It But I Don’t Get It by Cris Tovani, as resources for effective instructional strategies and activities. These strategies are incorporated into teachers’ lessons to support student comprehension of assigned reading. English teachers at the high school level also use Reading in the Dark by John Golden to help students understand the relationship between visual text and print literacy. Middle school teachers have classroom sets of a new student text, Reader’s Handbook, sections of which have been allocated to various academic disciplines. Department supervisors work closely with teachers as they develop ways to integrate reading strategies into content area curriculum objectives. Teachers have participated in staff development meetings in which they share their positive experiences with colleagues. This year, content area literacy is a focus for both schools, and all staff members have developed management objectives to support this initiative. At Conard High School, the Student Learning Expectation for Reading is being addressed through classroom activities that focus on specific reading skills delineated on the school-wide reading rubric. Teachers at both Sedgwick Middle School and Conard High School have met to analyze student assessments based on these reading skills. As a result of these meetings, a chart describing the characteristics of Thorough and Thoughtful, Sufficient, and Limited levels of response for each skill is being developed. Plans are in progress to implement Conard’s Student Learning Expectation for Writing through interdisciplinary meetings and an analysis of national, state, and school writing rubrics. Principals, assistant principals, department supervisors, and teachers are all involved in the content area literacy initiative.

· Staff Development Initiatives: Two exciting staff development programs should be highlighted as supporting content area literacy in an exemplary fashion. Both Building Success and Vertical Teaming are College Board sponsored programs involving social studies and English teachers. All social studies and English teachers in the secondary grades have attended training sessions for Building Success and have received resource manuals. The activities and strategies in this program are geared toward helping a greater number of students develop the critical thinking and reading skills that are associated with success in Advanced Placement courses. Representative teachers from each secondary grade level meet at designated times during the school year to articulate specific techniques that will be used to improve student performance in social studies and English as part of the Vertical Teaming program. Teachers analyze the skills necessary for exemplary performance in the upper grades and then work backward through the grades to scaffold activities for each grade that will increase the numbers of students who possess the requisite skills. These programs have been offered under the auspices of Office of Curriculum and Instruction.

· Literacy Rotations and Related Programs: Students in grades six through eight participate in thirty- to sixty-day rotations taught by certified English teachers and focused on specific literacy skills. In grade six, students take a short course entitled Creative Writing Workshop and learn skills that help them create short works of fiction. The writing skills they develop also help them meet the standards of the writing portion of the Connecticut Mastery Test. In grade seven, a course in Research/Non-Fiction Reading focuses on skills and strategies related to both reading and technology. Students learn, for instance, to evaluate websites, distinguish between relevant and irrelevant material in a text, and determine author’s bias. In grade eight, students participate in Creative Reading Workshop, a thirty-day rotation that focuses on such skills as synthesis, skimming, and scanning that enable students to analyze non-fiction text. In this class, students read short non-fiction articles from magazines and newspapers and apply active reading strategies to increase their comprehension of the text. This year was the first in which a rotation for ninth graders, EMPOWER, focusing on transition to high school, healthy living decisions, and advanced reading and study skills was offered. Plans are in place to add a summer reading requirement to the EMPOWER program. A study skills program is implemented at the start of each year at Sedgwick, and parents receive a study skills handbook that informs them of the skills addressed. Students in grades ten and eleven meet with their guidance counselors to analyze the results of their PSAT and to develop preparation plans for the SAT. Periodic after-school sessions focused on SAT skills are also scheduled in the library/media center to coincide with SAT administration dates.

· Support Programs: Students who require additional support for literacy skills have a variety of programs available to them. During middle school, reading teachers work intensively to bolster reading skills for targeted students. In high school, Language Arts Nine is a support course that designated students take in addition to Standard English Nine. The course helps students develop the reading and study habits for success in Standard English. Foundations English and Foundations Social Studies are available in grades nine and ten (Foundations Science is offered in grade nine) and provide intensive, small group instruction for students who are significantly below grade level. The goal of the Foundations program is to help students develop the skills and study habits that will enable them to succeed in standard-level English and social studies courses by grade eleven.

· Support for Increased Participation and Success in Advanced Placement Courses: An Advanced Placement/Honors Steering Committee has been meeting monthly at Conard High School for the past four years. The committee consists of representatives of the administration, guidance counselors, teachers, and parents from both Sedgwick Middle School and Conard High School. Conard High School was awarded a Minority Achievement grant from the Connecticut State Department of Education to support the implementation of a variety of innovative programs that are currently being monitored by the Advanced Placement/Honors Steering committee. Although the committee provides support for all students in their attempts to succeed in increasingly challenging courses, an important goal is to implement programs that focus on groups of students that are traditionally underrepresented in Advanced Placement courses. Notable among these is the Pacesetter English program consisting of English courses in grades ten and eleven that are taught using a unique set of strategies and culminating in a national assessment administered by the College Board. Teachers received specialized training from the College Board for the Pacesetter courses. At the end of the two-year sequence, the majority of the students are prepared to take Advanced Placement English in grade twelve. The College Board has developed a new program, Springboard, that will soon replace the Pacesetter program and WHPS are considering modifications to their existing program delivery model in response to this change. The Advanced Placement/Honors committee also sponsors college awareness activities, study skill sessions, and book discussions.

· Enrichment Programs: A compendium of enrichment programs enhances the literacy initiatives. At Sedgwick Middle School, a noteworthy Author-in-Residence program is organized by a committee of staff members that selects the authors and develops related classroom activities. High school students have a variety of enrichment activities related to literacy. Last year, a noted poet, Naomi Ayala, met with students in grade ten to read her poetry and react to their writing. She read poetry in both Spanish and English. Next year, a poet in residence is planned that will be funded by a grant from the West Hartford Foundation. In addition, new courses in Film Study and Creative Writing will be offered. A faculty/student book club meets monthly at Conard High School. Students at both schools are encouraged to participate in state and national writing competitions, and have received recognition from numerous contests and publications. An active theater arts program at both secondary schools, the Sedgwick Scroll, the grade six Rotary Writing Contest, Conard’s PowWow, and the Mock Trial club provide avenues for students to apply their literacy skills in authentic settings. The above examples are just a sampling of the varied enrichment programs that support the literacy program at Sedgwick Middle School and Conard High School.