Don’t try to bridge the literacy gap alone

A successful effort to bridge the literacy gap for disadvantaged students will require a concerted effort by multiple school agencies, nonprofits, foundations, and others to provide the academic support and extracurricular opportunities they need but otherwise won’t get.

The South Bronx of New York is home to the poorest Congressional districts in the U.S. Educators here know all too well that middle-class students have scores of opportunities to develop literacy skills that students in poor neighborhoods don’t (Zhang & Cowen, 2009).  As a result of the disparity, the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income students is primarily represented in literacy.

For 10 years, I have served as principal of The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology, a South Bronx middle school. I have sought ways to mitigate the effects of social class disparities by partnering with organizations that have innovative education ideas. Most of my students live in one of five public housing developments or in one of the five homeless shelters surrounding the school.  There are no local bookstores, and students often complain that the public library is both noisy and dangerous so they rarely visit. Consistent with current research, we have found that our families have on average only two books per household, compared to the national average of 54 (McQuillan, 1998). Most of the families here can’t afford the experiences affluent kids engage in on a regular basis. Though we have seen consistent growth in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) proficiency, there continues to be a challenging gap between mathematics and literacy achievement. In fact, students’ ELA proficiency rates lag as much as 30 percentage points behind those in mathematics. During the 2011-12 school year, before the rollout of the state’s new Common Core-aligned assessments, 63.4% of our students were proficient in mathematics, compared to only 32.9% in ELA.

To meet the rigorous demands of the Common Core, educators must recognize that singular approaches to learning, such as test prep, are not enough.

Early on, I knew we had to change the culture of reading at our school. My staff and I worked to sharply raise the number of books in each classroom, scheduled more trips to libraries and bookstores in Manhattan, started a monthly Principal’s Book Club in which students meet once a month to discuss a book with me and their peers, and organized regular reading celebrations. But this was not enough. I soon realized that there just was not enough time in the 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day to make the progress needed to close the achievement gap with our high-needs students.

Time as change lever

Many schools and districts are considering adding more time to the school day and school year to help close achievement gaps between low-income students and their middle-class peers. In September, my school joined a pilot program called Middle School ExTRA (MS ExTRA), which is part of a district effort to improve middle school quality. The program was led and implemented by the New York City Department of Education with community partners TASC (The After-School Corporation), and the Harvard Education Innovation Laboratory (EdLabs).

Through TASC, we partner with a community-based organization called Arête Education Inc. The organization’s staff members facilitate enrichment activities and some academic supports. ReServe, another partner organization, recruits retired and active professionals to be literacy tutors. Harvard EdLabs provides training and support to tutors.

The goal of MS ExTRA is to support schools in implementing a comprehensive approach to improving adolescent literacy in order to significantly increase the percentage of students reading at or above grade level by the time they complete 8th grade.

Research suggests that students need between three and four hours of literacy-connected learning focused on reading and writing effectively each day to  significantly reduce the literacy gap (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006). Through MS ExTRA, we’ve added 2.5 hours of learning time every day for all 6th and 7th graders, including an hour of small-group literacy tutoring for children struggling with reading comprehension.  Next year, we will add 8th graders. Students who struggle with reading stamina and comprehension receive intensive reading instruction, and advanced readers work to build critical thinking skills during scheduled book clubs using the Socratic method. Beyond these individualized supports, all 6th graders have at least an hour of daily enrichment activities of their choice, including robotics, dance, health, and wellness.

In addition to extending our school day, we are working to prevent learning loss through an intensive four-week summer program. In summer 2013, 80% of our 6th graders participated in the program. Continued participation in the summer program will ensure that those students receive 1.5 more school years of enriched learning experiences than their district counterparts.

Schools can’t do it alone

In the past, we tried to provide additional instructional time for struggling students using only our existing school staff. Teachers opted to tutor students after school, but that wasn’t a sustainable model. Teachers started to burn out, and we recognized we needed assistance. We enlisted the city’s education department as well as outside partners.

Arête executive director Patricia Charlemagne is school-based and helps ensure that extended day learning is aligned with classroom teaching. While some teachers help support curriculum development for the extended day, school and community partner staff share responsibility for ensuring that students get what they need to succeed in college and beyond. Our partnership with Arête also allows students to develop positive relationships with adult role models who expose them to career paths they may not have considered.

Filling opportunity gaps

In addition to academic supports, Arête infuses our school day with opportunities that most students would not otherwise receive. All of the partners are working toward elevating student achievement and believe that giving children quality experiences maximizes their academic outcomes. Arts and sports can be part of a reform plan once schools work out how to integrate all components into a system that helps develop students.

Adding instructional time for struggling students but using only existing school staff wasn’t sustainable because teachers burned out.

To meet the rigorous demands of the Common Core, educators must recognize that singular approaches to learning, such as test prep, are not enough. In pursuit of this kind of diversity, our students program robots or create their own simulated civilizations while learning about the Mayans and Aztecs so that when they encounter a problem they can look at it through different lenses. Our theory of action has become this: If we deal with the experience gap, we will see growth in our students’ achievement scores.

A seamless day

Before joining with Arête, we had worked with other community partners to provide after-school services, but there wasn’t a change in the school culture like the one we are seeing now because there was no sense of shared vision and goals. Now there is true alignment between what students learn from teachers and from community educators.

For example, through MSQI, we use Word Generation, a research-based vocabulary curriculum that each week teaches a small set of words across multiple subjects. Research suggests that teaching general academic words that students read across different subject areas is an effective strategy for building vocabulary (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). These are words that have various meanings depending on the context, such as “generate” and “capacity.” We recognize that vocabulary is incredibly important for our children because they are living in concentrated poverty, and they typically don’t hear as many words as their economically advantaged peers, which can negatively affect their future success (Hart & Risley, 1995).

At our school, students are expected to use the vocabulary learned in the academic setting during salsa dance lessons, visual arts, and all other enrichment activities they participate in. In order to help students incorporate new words into their conversation and understand the nuances in language, teachers and the staff of our community partners are trained to plan their lessons with the following question in mind: How does this experience help our kids grow their vocabulary and help them think critically?

The results

I am certain that more literacy time and opportunities for students to engage in activities that broaden their perspectives and make them excited about going to school will result in improved achievement scores. Already I have seen positive results and teachers report that students are more engaged and ready to learn. In fact, the 6th graders have an attendance rate of 97%, which research shows is a major factor for academic success (Balfanz, Herzog, & MacIver, 2007; Hammond et al., 2007). The latest state exam results (2013) show that no school — charter or traditional public — that had an economically similar or needier population had higher ELA scores that year. After two years, our school was performing 70% higher than all middle schools in New York City.

There also has been a noticeable difference in student motivation and approach to reading. During the most recent Principal’s Book Club, which I host every month after school, 6th graders made up the overwhelming majority of the participants. These were kids choosing to stay an extra hour after school to discuss The Giver because they are used to reading and talking about books. It’s part of our school’s culture. Some of them had even read the book previously, and when I asked them why they wanted to participate one student said, “I wanted to get deeper into the book.” That reflects true Common Core skill development. As a principal, that is just what I want to hear.

References

Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., & MacIver, D.J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle-grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist, 42 (4), 223-235.

Beck, I., McKeown, M.G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford.

Biancarosa, C. & Snow, C.E. (2006). Reading next: A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Hammond, C., Linton, D., Smink, J., & Drew, S. (2007). Dropout risk factors and exemplary programs. Clemson, SC: National Dropout Prevention Center, Communities In Schools.

Hart, B. & Risley, R.T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

McQuillan, J. (1998). The literacy crisis: False claims, real solutions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Zhang, H.C. & Cowen, D.J. (2009). Mapping academic achievement and public school choice under No Child Left behind legislation. Southeastern Geographer, 49 (1), 24-40.

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Recommendations for helping students

Schools are multifaceted organizations that don’t conform to a one-size-fits-all model. That said, here are some recommendations that may be useful in developing a program designed to provide students with multiple opportunities to experience learning and close the experience gap.

Find the right community partner. We would never have been able to achieve the kind of alignment we have now without the framework provided by The After-School Corporation (TASC) and a shared commitment among all partners to an extended day that is academically rigorous while expanding students’ opportunities. We also acknowledge and value the fact that we each have our own areas of expertise, and we strive to learn from each other to improve our practice. You know you have a strong partnership when both partners influence each other.

Ensure that expanded day and school day learning are connected. We don’t call our expanded hours “after-school;” we call them 9th, 10th, and 11th periods. Arête executive director Patricia Charlemagne and my staff communicate constantly to make sure that what goes on during the school day informs and reflects what’s happening in the late afternoon.

Think creatively about budgeting and staffing. Providing a comprehensive expanded learning program typically requires more than one funding stream. Arête receives funds from the school district to provide MS ExTRA services to 6th graders, and we pool additional resources to fully leverage these dollars and provide additional learning time for students in all grades. I’ve dedicated some of my Title I funds to this work and shifted our school aide’s schedule to allow her to provide coverage during both the regular school day and extended hours. Arête contributes some private funds to our joint effort. Community partners also can apply for public youth development and after-school funds that schools may not be able to access on their own.

Don’t start from scratch. TASC has developed a comprehensive set of tools and resources that can help guide principals to build strong school-community partnerships and connect with a local intermediary who can work with them to develop high-quality expanded learning programs. To access tools and resources or to contact TASC, visit http://expandedschools.org/

Schools can close the elusive literacy gap, but it takes a comprehensive community approach.  Too often schools have tried to do this heavy lift by themselves.  Community partners bring resources, expertise, enrichment, and talent to the school.  With a coordinated team, schools with community partners  can extend learning time, provide additional professional development and enriching experiences that capture all students to become literate and engaged learners.

— Ramón M. González

CITATION: González, R.M. (2015). Don’t try to bridge the literacy gap alone. Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (6), 55-58.