Alignment of Literacy Practices that Positively Impact Student Achievement
This document represents a synthesis of critical action steps, found in the research and taken by districts that see high rates of growth towards proficiency across sub-groups of students.
Area of Action / Examples from the research / To what extent are these leveraged in a school or multiple schools?Leadership / Leadership has crafted and stated a strong, cohesive vision for all students to make growth andbe educated with at least the goal for proficiency in grade level content standards.(Leadership driver)
There is a clear expectation of growth for all learners.(Leadership driver)
Leadership has developed strong, strategic partnerships supported by strong community interest for targeted groups of underperforming students.(Leadership driver)
The leadership has developed a shared understanding and provides support for effective differentiated instruction strategies.(Leadership driver)
The leadership is distributed across levels and disciplines of the educational system with layers of personal responsibilityand accountability to ensure changes are implemented.(Leadership driver)/ Recognition/
There is collective ownership for student learning among administrators, teachers, support staff, and students.(Leadership driver)
Thereis a concerted effort to manage change.(Leadership driver)
There are resources allocated according to what maximizes opportunities for all students.(Integrated supports driver/fidelity)
Leadership has technical and practical knowledge of current best practices. (Integrated supports driver/fidelity)
There are structures that inform district leadership in guiding the overall change process with input from building leadership to help keep the plan grounded in reality and ensure buy-in from the bottom of the educational structure to the top.(Facilitative administration driver)
Leadership actively seeks, selects, and cultivates personnel by using resources and ingenuity to attract highly qualified personnel. Leaders assert control over who joins staff to ensure there is belief and willingness to believe that all students can achieve.(Selection driver)
Teachers and administrators express consistent views about achievement related to school goals. (Selection driver)
Teachers are assigned to work with students based on the match between their competency and student needs. (Selection driver)
Leadership develops strategies to automate and systematize instructional elements to increase efficient use of planning and collaboration time with strict enforcement until benefits are realized (found by Wellstone Academy action research). (Facilitative administration driver)
Instruction, curricular alignment with state standards / There is vertical and horizontal alignment of curriculum to state standards.(Integrated supports driver/fidelity)
There is common professional development on core content for all teachers and professional development coachessuch that staff have expertise in both content and pedagogy.(Integrated and competency drivers)
There are appropriate supports for teachers to meet the needs of all students, including coaching on literacy practices and interventions.(Competency selection, training, coaching, and facilitative administration drivers)
Barriers to high level course taking are systematically removed .(Facilitative administration driver)
Students who are behind spend more time on reading and math to accelerate rate of learning to achieve beyond grade level to college readiness.(Facilitative administration driver)
There has been realignment of district administration to reflect the unification of regular education and special education curriculum.(Systems intervention driver)
There is explicit communication of district expectations for high levels of achievement among all students and regular and systematic follow- up with focused conversations on what it will take.(Leadership driver)
There is standardization of curriculum and textbook adoption practices for all students, common evaluation processes, and regular opportunities to assess progress.(Decision support systems data systems driver)
There is co-teaching among special and general education specialists, team-teaching, and strategic coaching.(System intervention driver)
There has been anadoption of assistivetechnologies designed to meet the needs ofand make instruction accessible for students across ability levels.(Facilitative administration driver)
Accountability is shared among all teaching staff for high levels of achievement among all students, regardless of ability.(Leadership driver)
There is a focus on core curricula and reduction or elimination of pull-out interventions during core content time.(Integrated and facilitative administration drivers)
Instructional practices are in place to ensure that all students receive challenging and appropriate instruction. (Facilitative administration driver)
There is training and coaching in differentiated instruction and there is flexibility to modify student learning targets, processes, and products. (Competency drivers)
There are procedures for accelerating instruction.(Facilitative administration driver)
There is training for administrators and teachers in pre-assessment and flexible grouping strategies. (Competency driver)
Grouping opportunities exist in core subjects.(Facilitative administration driver)
Leadership selects a good program and sticks with it to make it better and better.(Systems support driver)
Assessment / The leadership promotes a culture of openness and commitment to improvement rather than punitive punishment for identifying failures.(Facilitative administration driver)
The leadership promotes the use of assessment prior to instruction as a meansof effectively differentiating instruction for all students within the classroom.(Decision support systems data systems driver)
There is training in new data management systems in the areas of data entry, analysis, and reporting for teachers, administrators, and support staff.(Training driver)
There is training for administrators and teachers in the effective collection, management, and use of datain planning, implementing, and monitoring instruction.(Training driver)
Regular and continuous use of data is used to inform, align, and improveinstruction, grouping,and assessment practices as a part of the district, school, and classroom way of doing business.(Decision support systems data systems driver)
There is a comparative analysis among disaggregated student groups that enabled identification of demographic-level issues in instructional practices and/or assessments.(Decision support systems data systems driver)
There is ongoing use of data retreats, dedicated time for dissecting and interpreting and integrating data, as well as common meeting timefor all faculty and staff to collaboratively employ data in decision-making processes.(Decision support systems data systems driver)
Staff communicatestudent-level data to students in ways that enabled students to monitor their progress and promote development of personal achievement.(Decision support systems data systems driver)
Student-level classroom intervention procedures are based upon on-going collection of student-level data (match of intervention to student need use of Problem solving level of analysis).(Facilitative administration driver)
On-going monitoring of data-driven decisions including data notebooks, classroom observation procedures and/or third-party implementation monitoring technology and regular communication of the findings from monitoring data back to classroom teachers in order to drive continued, rigorous implementation.(Data decision support systems)
Use of data to identify necessary professional development for all instructional staff. (Data decision support systems)
Professional development practices / Teaming among grade or subject area teachers is a standard practice in buildings with high levels of achievement.(Facilitative administration driver)
There is a culture of collaboration that supportsschool-wide efforts to drive cultural changes and develop district-wide accountability models that support literacy development in all students.(Facilitative administration driver)
There ishorizontal and vertical teaming to engage in collaborative data analysis and planning of instructional practices, including shared planning time and development of norms of data use(this would include specialists).(Facilitative administration driver)
There are collaborative processes across grades, subjects, buildings and district administrationin place to promote development of competent use of literacy practices and instructional strategies.(Facilitative administration driver)
There is use of administrative and peer monitoring techniques, co-teaching, and coaching to support continuous improvement of instructional practices and maintain common understanding of and fidelity to curricula.(Data decision support systems)
There are training and coaching opportunities that provide on-going access to relevant evidence-based practices as well as support for full implementation of the chosen evidence-based practices.(Competency drivers)
The intervention and enrichment practices for students grow out of collaborative structures.(Facilitative administration driver)
The schedule provides time for teachers to collaborate with each other.(Facilitative administration driver)
Collaborative teaming includes specialists and coaches and provides for regularly scheduled meetings to address students’ needs as they arise.(Facilitative administration driver)
Staff receives training and coaching in differentiated instruction. (Competency drivers)
References and Additional Readings:
Succeeding with English language learners: Lessons learned from the great city schools. Washington, DC: Council of the Great City School.Horwitz, A. R., Uro, G., Price-Baugh, R., Simon, C., Uzzell, R., Lewis, S., & Cassserly, M. (2009). Retrieved January 18, 2010, from
High performance in high poverty schools: 90/90/90 and beyond. By Reeves, D.
A Study of MCAS Achievement and Promising Practices in Urban Special Education; Report of Field Research Findings; and
Case Studies and Cross-Case Analysis of Promising Practices in Selected Urban Public School Districts in Massachusetts
This report is available to download for free at:
Data analysis and site selection methodology is at
Executive Summary:
Inside the Black Box of High-Performing, High Poverty Schools: A report from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
Patricia J. Kannapel and Stephen K Clements with Diana Taylor and Terry Hbpshman with funding from the Ford Foundation This report is available to download for free at:
Similar Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better? A large-scale survey of California elementary schools serving low-income students.Williams, T., Kirst, M., Haertel, E., et al. (2005). Mountain View, CA: EdSource. This report is available to download for free at:
Gaining Traction, Gaining Ground: How Some High Schools Accelerate Learning for Struggling Students This report is available to download for free at:
Accompanying case studies:
The Power to Change: High Schools that Help All Students Achieve - Karin Chenoweth
Beyond islands of excellence: What districts can do to improve instruction and achievement in all schools—A leadership brief.Togneri, W. (2003). Washington, DC: Learning First Alliance. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from
Why some schools with Latino children beat the odds … and others don’t.Waits, M. J., Campbell, H. E., Gau, R., Jacobs, E., Rex, T., & Hess, R. K. (2006). Tempe/Phoenix, AZ: Morrison Institute for Public Policy & Center for the Future of Arizona. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from
Districts Studied in the Various Reports
Aldine Independent School District (Houston, Texas)
Home page:
Vision and Mission:
Policies and Procedures:
Chula Vista Elementary School District (Chula Vista, California)
Home page:
English Learner Master Plan:
Special Education Services:
District-Adopted Core Curriculum:
Strategic Planning, with links to Strategic Goals:
Dallas Independent School District (Dallas, Texas)
Home page:
Special Programs:
Curriculum Overview:
Kent County Public Schools (Chestertown, Maryland)
Home page:
Minneapolis Public Schools (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Home page:
Key Beliefs and Key Strategies:
ELL Department:
Special Education Department:
Curriculum and Instruction:
New York City Department of Education (New York, New York)
Home page:
ELL:
Special Education:
Academics:
Providence Public Schools (Providence, Rhode Island)
Home page:
District [data] Dashboard:
Aligned Instructional System:
Special Education:
San Francisco Unified School District (San Francisco, California)
Home page:
2008–2012 Strategic Plan:
Special Education Programs:
Tolleson Union High School District (Tolleson, Arizona)
Home page:
Curriculum and Instruction:
Bilingual Education:
Special Education: