Literacy Plan

Read 680
Spring 2016
Cheryl Koltz, Sara Peters, & Natasha Haskins

Contextual Information
Apple Primary School (pseudonym) is located in Apple County, Virginia. Apple is a small
rural town in the Piedmont Region of Virginia. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the
population of Apple is 15,279. The Census reported that 51.5% of the population is female and
48.5% is male. Out of those living in Apple, 6.1% are under the age of 5, 21.9% are under the
age of 18, and 19.1% are 65 or older. The county population has a racial make-up of 77.6%
Caucasian, 19.9% African American, 1.2% Hispanic, .3% American Indian, .4% Asian, and 1.8%
are 2 or more races. About 82.2% of the population are high school graduates or higher and 15%
have received a Bachelors degree or higher. There are also about 1,481 veterans living in Apple
(U. S. Census Bureau).
Apple Primary School is one of six schools located in Apple County. It is the only public
primary school in Apple with grades Pre K 2nd. The Primary school also houses The Head Start
program, ages 3 4. Apple has one Elementary School, grades 3rd5th. There is one Middle
School, grades 6th 8th, one High School, grades 9th 12th, and two private Christian schools,
Cornerstone Christian Academy and Apple Christian Academy. Apple Primary School has a total
of 599 students. The student population is comprised of 65% Caucasian, 24%, African American,
3% Hispanic, 8% Multi-racial, and .2% Asian. The overall school boy/girl ratio is 50% boys and
50% girls. The African American boy/girl ratio is 50% boys and 50% girls, Caucasian 52% boys
and 48% girls, Hispanic 23% boys and 77% boys, and Multi-racial 50% boys and 50% girls. The
VDOE reported that 40.84% of the student population was eligible for free lunch and 6.40%
were eligible for reduced lunch. According to the principal, Miranda Wilson (pseudonym) that
number has increase and 54% of the students are eligible for free and/or reduced lunch.
Apple Primary Schools population is comprised of four pre-K classes (two are special
education classes for three and four year old students), eight kindergarten classes, eight 1st grade

classes, and nine 2nd grade classes. There are two more special education classes. One class is
comprised of students in grades K and 1. The other class is comprised of students in grades 1 and
2. There are four Pre-K teachers and four paraprofessionals, nine kindergarten teachers and nine
paraprofessionals, eight 1st grade teachers, and ten 2nd grade teachers. Each grade level K-2nd has
a title one reading teacher. There are 2 Pre-K teachers with a Masters degree; no kindergarten
teachers have obtained a Masters degree, one 1st grade teacher has a Masters degree, two 2nd
grade teachers have a Masters degree, 1 has an English endorsement, 1 is pursuing a Masters
and 1 is pursuing a Doctoral degree.
APS has one gym, one music, one art, and one computer teacher. There is also one
principal, an administrative assistant, one nurse, one guidance counselor and one resource
officer. Each classroom has a promethean board and each grade level has access to an iPad cart
consisting of twenty-five iPads. APS offers the following programs to their students: lunch
buddy, backpack, day treatment, FAST (Family And Schools Together), after school tutoring, and
before/after school childcare through the Y program.
Literacy Plan
The literacy plan for Apple Primary School will focus on the students in 2nd grade. The
mid-year PALs assessment data will be analyzed and used to determine the literacy need.
I. Literacy Need
In this school, we found that there are a number of Second Graders who are struggling
with both reading and writing. We looked into the needs of the Second Grade of Apple Primary
School. We focused on this grade level because this is the top grade level in the Primary School.
It is also the level that is a last chance of sorts to correct any misconception with reading
before the gap between grade level placement and struggling learner skill seriously starts to

impact performance. This is especially true because Third Grade is the year of standardized
testing and the first time where reading ability will affect performance on a standard exam. The
desire to target and help these learners led us to look into assessment data for both the fall and
the mid year. We made the decision to use PALS data for Second Grade because it is a
benchmark assessment that is used for the grade level in the fall, mid year, and the spring. This
gave us insight into the growth, or relapse, of students as they progressed throughout the year. By
using data that is already used by the school and assesses a wide range of skills, it also allows
staff to evaluate the program we are proposing to see if it is truly helping their students. This data
can be found in Appendix A. After a careful analysis of the PALS data for this grade, we
discovered that the majority of the students who are flagged as below grade level are done so
because of their fluency. This is partially due to how PALS assesses a childs fluency. There is a
certain time that is required for each passage and a child that exceeds the given time is
considered below level. In addition to this, students often have trouble with expression when
reading.
According to this finding, the need for this group of Second Graders was decidedly
fluency as a whole. This was found in part of the data evidence showing a lack of rate and the
common need of students to work on expression when reading. Many students who are flagged
have difficulties with fluency. There is also a group of students who have been identified as
struggling purely because of their fluency rate. These students are all within the Second to Third
Grade range with one student on the border and are flagged because of their inability to read at a
fast enough rate that PALS considered them to be on grade level. This is done regardless of
accuracy. Also all of these students are considered to be in the Within Word Pattern stage of
spelling. This does not mean that they are below grade level; simply that fluency is a challenge

for these students. Therefore we made the decision to target fluency as a whole with a carefully
targeted program. To put this in perspective, approximately 22% of the Second Grade is
identified as having a difficulty in reading, either because they are flagged as reading below
grade level, or because they are not able to read at an acceptable rate. Of that 22%, 4% accounts
for the students directly involved for fluency issues. This can be seen in the following chart
outlining these findings, which measure the percentage of students on or below grade level in the
fall and mid-year points.

On/Above GL
Below:
Reading/Spell
ing
Below:
Fluency

Yet many students do struggle with expression and prosody as they read, regardless of if
they are directly identified due to testing data. Due to the fact that the assessment data is able to
give us such insight into this need for rate remediation with students, this has been deemed the
target for this Literacy Plan and instruction remediation.
II. Possible Solutions
Read Naturally Live:

This program is used on laptops, computers, Chromebooks, and iPads by students. This program
is designed to be interactive and resourceful for building fluency. When students use Read
Naturally Live they will be guided through different aspects of literacy with a focus on fluency.
The focus on fluency includes activities such as the program reading to the students, the student
reading along with the program, and the student reading independently while being timed. The
results are sent to the teacher and there is student/teacher interaction through this program. Read
Naturally Live is intended to be used for a classroom of students or intervention purposes. In the
case of this grade level, it would be used for entire classroom use. Read Naturally Live has a
couple of minor issues. There is a budget to keep in mind and this would require an additional
program being used during literacy groups.
Wilson Fluency/Basic:
The Wilson Fluency program is designed to supplement general reading curriculum. It is flexible
in the sense that is does not supplement any one general reading curriculum better than another.
This program is best suited for all emerging and struggling readers in need of additional practice.
The fluency program within Wilson Language training is intended to be used in an intervention,
special education, or resource classroom. Although it has a lot of different ways to assist
students, it is not a very practical program for our school. We are looking for a program to reach
every student, not the six students at a time the way this program recommends.
Mindplay:
In this technology based program, the focus on fluency is built solely to improve comprehension.
When students work with Mindplay, they are working on their silent reading fluency. There is a
virtual reading coach that assesses the students and determines areas that need improvement. As
the students interact with the reading coach, the lessons become more diverse. Students are able

to long in to their accounts and learn about all aspects of literacy including fluency. This program
is extremely impressive, but it does not require much interaction with the classroom teacher.
Teacher-student relationships are an important part of the classroom atmosphere. This could be a
great program for students participating in distance learning.
III. Solution
After careful consideration of the various programs described above, it has been determined that
the best solution for this school and setting is to use a program called Read Naturally. This is a computerbased program that is available through both computers and app-based devices. This program allows
students to read online with a microphone that requires students to practice reading, giving suggestions on
how to read more fluently. The program lets teachers monitor student progress and set individual goals for
each student in the class. It also gives students experience reading a passage several times, and listening
to the passage being read aloud before working with comprehension questions and final reflections on the
text. All throughout the literary experience there are several checks for fluent reading and even allows for
unknown words to be played for the student and then flagged as unknown. This gives the student constant
support but also lets the teacher know the areas in which the student struggled. This program was deemed
appropriate to solve the schools problem because of its interaction with various elements of fluency. It
judges a cold read, a warm read, and the comprehension that works hand-in-hand with necessary fluency
skills. This program allows for full differentiation in that all goals can be geared toward individual
students. According to the data, fluency was a huge part of students falling behind based on the
assessments given. This programs strict targeting of fluency skills is the main reason that it was chosen
for our solution. It is very versatile in the platforms in which it can be used and uses fluency as the main
focus while still targeting other strands of fluency such as comprehending. Therefore a targeted program
such as this is the perfect solution for this grade levels needs.
In order to implement this program, there will be several materials that will be needed. The
school will need several seats of this program in order to make sure the entire Second Grade can use

this technology. The grade level will also need sets of computers, iPads, or a combination of the two in
order to insure that students can use the program. It is suggested that the grade level have access to a
computer lab and/or an iPad cart that is outfitted with the program. This way, the cart can rotate
classrooms throughout the week to allow all teachers to use it on various days.
In order to give this Second Grade team full access to Read Naturally Live, there are several steps
that need to be taken. First, the administration needs to purchase the program for at least 200 students to
account for the current grade level and any increase of students as the next grade level moves up. Second,
all teachers need to be trained in how to use the program through a Professional Development series that
will occur over the summer. After training is complete, the school needs to make sure there are enough
computers/iPads allocated to the Second Grade to allow for every student to have access to the program
and the teachers are able to implement the program on a rotating schedule, if necessary. Once the teachers
have a good understanding of how the program works and the availability of it in both their classrooms
and through the use of computer labs and iPad carts, they will be fully prepared to use the program for the
full success of their students.

IV: Professional development Plan

Our Professional development Plan is intended to be simple and informative. There will
be three instructors, presenting, teaching, and guiding the teachers that are participating through
this Professional development. Each of us will go through the training process provided by the
Read Naturally Live Program. This training process can be done by someone coming to the
school, sending faculty and teachers to a presentation, and/or video and remote training through
DVDs. For the purposes of our school, we will watch the videos as our training. We will
complete the Read Live Hands-On Training Workbook and the Read Live User Guide before
conducting any sessions of the professional development course.
After the three instructors are fully trained, they will begin the professional development
sessions. Professional development will be broken up into three different sessions throughout the

summer. The first will be held at the beginning of the summer. In the first session, there will be
an explanation of the program and how it is intended to be used in our school. We will show each
teacher their classroom data and explain how fluency is a major contributing factor to their
students low scores. We will explain that the program we will use for the next school year is
designed to help all students achieve better fluency and in turn become better readers.
Throughout the rest of the first session we will discuss the flow of the remaining professional
development sessions. They will also be provided with a handout to refer back to.
The first day, the teachers will watch as we demonstrate the use of the Read Naturally
Program. Then, each teacher will have an opportunity to use the program on a provided iPad.
This give them time to explore the program a bit after it has been explained. Each instructional
leader for this professional development will walk around the room and assist any teachers
should they need it. After about 15 minutes of playing with the devices, we will wrap up the
session with questions and a brief explanation of what can be expected at the next session in the
middle of summer.
During the second session, the teachers will be broken up into four groups. Each group
will rotate through each instructors station. Station 1 will have iPads for independent practice.
Stations 2, 3, and 4 will be guided by an instructor. Each instructor will cover a different portion
of the Read Naturally Live Hands-On Training Workbook, which we will use as the text
reference to support this professional development experience. After each group has rotated
through each of the stations we will come together as a whole group and answer questions that
the teachers may have or go over common misconceptions that were encountered during the
rotations. This will allows the teachers to collaborate with each other and use others experiences
to solve misconceptions. We know this will be effective because adults learn best when they are

able to collaborate and work together to solve problems. We will then ask the teachers to fill out
an exit ticket describing one thing that they like about this program and one area of the program
they are still confused about. As instructors of the professional development, we will review the
exit tickets and determine things to cover during our third and final session at the end of the
summer.
In our final session, we will begin by covering questions mentioned in the exit ticket. We
then will have a web-session with a live coach from the program. The coach will review how to
implement the program into the classroom, monitor student performance, make goal changes,
and other common areas of concern. After our web session, each teacher will be asked to
describe how they intend to use the program.
The sessions are broken into mini sessions as to not overwhelm the teachers with a bunch
of new information at one time. We designed this professional development with the teacher in
mind. All too often teachers are bombarded with full, long day classes at one point in the year
and forget most of what they learned when it comes time to apply it. We intend for these lessons
to be broken down to provide time for the information to sink in and questions to be formed.
Each professional development session will include small refreshments to help keep the teachers
focused and motivated.
We will motivate the teachers and staff to adapt to this change by explaining the data
behind it, the results we are seeing from the students, demonstrating the use of the program, and
communicating to the teachers to try it for one full year. If this program does not show to be
improving our students fluency, then we will drop the program and research other alternatives.
Being a teacher requires an all in, we win attitude. In order to provide supports
throughout the year, every three months we will meet with the teachers to analyze data and

discuss progress. Should the teachers need assistance more than every three months, at least one
of the coaches will be available to help. We believe that this plan will work best for the teachers
because the proposed program is goal oriented based on the data analysis. It also shows the
beginning of its practicality by allowing the teachers to practice using the program before it is
implemented as well as scaffolding them to answer the question of how they will use this in the
coming year specifically in their classroom.
V. Timeline for Implementation
This literacy plan will be implemented for one year. At the end of the 2016-2017 school
year, the PALS reading data will be analyzed and compared to determine the success rate of the
Read Naturally program.
School will convene on Wednesday August 10th. Teachers will return one week before
that on Wednesday August 3rd. Two question and answer sessions will be provided, one on
Thursday August 4th and the other on Monday August 8th. During this time, teachers will be given
pertinent reminder tips, a quick overview of how and when the program will begin, and time to
ask questions. Teachers will be given the end of year reading assessment data for each student,
which will be used to note if the student regressed during the summer.
Beginning of the year PALS testing will begin on August 11th August 18th. After testing
is completed, teachers, principal, administrative assistant and reading specialist will meet August
19th to analyze data and prepare to implement the fluency plan on Monday August 22nd. Every
Friday teachers, principal, administrative assistant and reading specialist meet to discuss
curriculum, grade level, and school issues. A time during this already scheduled meeting will be
set aside to discuss data and the fluency program after each testing session. The school/division
data coach and curriculum director will be invited to attend these meetings.

The next testing window will be from November 14th Nov. 28th. After testing, those
involved will meet to discuss data, the implementation of the Read Naturally program, and any
other questions and/or concerns. The program will resume on December 5th. This session of the
program will continue until the next testing window, March 6th March 15th. Those involved will
meet to analyze, compare, and discuss data. One major focus for discussion will be validity of
the program so far. Read Naturally intervention will continue through May 12th. End of the year
PALS testing will begin May 15th and run thru May 19th. Final assessment data and program
concerns will be discussed. The 2016-2017 2nd grade PALS data will be used to determine the
continuance of the Read Naturally program. The final data analysis meeting will take place on
May 25th.
All students will use the Read Naturally program. Those who are on grade level will be
schedule to use the program one two times per week and those who are below level because of
fluency will use it two three times per week. Teachers will be able to monitor student progress
more frequently using the monitoring tool built into the Read Naturally program. If the teacher
has a major concern about a students progress before the PALS testing session, that information
will be shared with the reading specialist. The teacher and reading specialist will meet and
discuss altering the students current fluency plan to better assist his/her need(s).
During the winter months school may be closed due to inclement weather. If intervention
time is missed due to weather or any other major event, the weekly computer lab time will be
allotted for loss instruction.

Appendix A