Southeast Comprehensive Assistance Center (SECAC) Resources
Note: These resources were produced by the Southeast Comprehensive Assistance Center, which was operated by SEDL from 1995-2005.
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Making a Difference for At-Risk Readers
By Jill Slack, Ph.D.
RSN Coordinator, Southeast Comprehensive Assistance Center
In the Southeast, as in many other regions, the need for improved literacy instruction is compelling. Too many students have been identified as eligible for compensatory and special education services because of lagging reading achievement. Too few of these students have been able to catch up with peers and benefit fully from classroom literacy instruction.
The Southeast Comprehensive Assistance Center (SECAC) is particularly concerned with early literacy development and the population of at-risk primary students. SECAC's interest in preventing early reading failure led the center to involve schools in its region in the Reading Success Network (RSN), a collaborative effort by the fifteen comprehensive centers to improve K-3 teachers' capacity for addressing the instructional needs of struggling readers. Early identification of reading difficulties is an RSN goal. Since the initial RSN kickoff by the comprehensive centers in May 1998, SECAC has provided training and support to more than 75 teachers in 15 elementary schools in its five-state region: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
In one year, the SECAC RSN has not only had an effect on the identification of reading difficulties in K-3 students, it also has had an impact on the assessment and instructional practices of teachers, especially in Phenix City, Alabama, where the RSN is currently being implemented districtwide. When the Phenix City school district administrators and staff heard about the RSN, they made a commitment to have their K-3 reading teachers receive training. District administrators and teachers believed that by implementing the RSN in the elementary schools, the students who generally "fall between the cracks" would be identified and helped.
Early RSN implementation results show that Phenix City school district administrators and teachers made a wise decision. The SECAC quarterly training sessions and follow-up support enabled the reading teachers to learn how to use study teams to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their lowest-performing students. Teachers also learned how to use reading assessment tools, and data collection and analysis to inform instruction and determine appropriate intervention strategies. As the teachers continued to meet in their study teams and use informal assessment measures, their focus shifted from a discussion of what specific children didn't know or couldn't do to what these same children knew and could do.
"Collaborating with our peers about successes and failures was an important strategy for us," says Mary Mummah, Westview teacher. "We had partners in this endeavor; we were not alone. We learned from each other and taught others as well."
Two major changes occurred as a result of SECAC introducing RSN into the Phenix City school system. First, teachers' perceptions of what low-achieving students could do changed dramatically. In the past, teachers' experiences with low-progress students demonstrated that the low achievers generally did not catch up to their peers. Students who fell behind in the first grade continued to fall further behind as they progressed through the grades. After only one year of RSN implementation, however, these perceptions were changed. The primary teachers are now convinced that the lowest-achieving first graders can make accelerative progress in reading and writing. Through appropriate intervention strategies, developed through the RSN process, these children can develop a self-improving system that enables them to benefit from regular classroom instruction.
The second major change that has occurred as a result of RSN is the positive and significant change in teaching practices. Although grade level teachers met regularly to plan instruction, they now began to deliberately apply concepts and principles learned from the in-service sessions provided by SECAC. The cross-grade level study teams and assessment tools helped teachers to evaluate and broaden their understanding of students' literacy behaviors and the reading and writing processes. For example, the insights teachers gained in using the Yopp-Singer assessment prompted them to specifically and regularly develop phonemic awareness through teacher modeling of the sounding and blending of words in stories and through the writing of words and sentences by children.
Administrators and teachers agree that primary students' growth in literacy is due to classroom teachers' increased understanding and ability to provide effective literacy instruction in the classroom setting. "The Reading Success Network has added an important dimension to our district's early educational opportunities for children as well as enhanced the classroom practices," says Cordelia Moffet, Phenix City Schools Assistant Superintendent. "RSN provides a safety net for students having difficulty with reading in the early years and is well worth the investment toward each child's success in the future."