FEDERAL AND NATIONAL REPORTS

1. EDUC 622 Session 3 Resource Information PPT FEDERAL AND NATIONAL REPORTS Benedictine University

2. Federal Programs and National Reports • During the past decade (2000-2010) literacy instruction has continued to be a hot topics in education, in the media, and with politicians at every level of government • Federal programs and national reports from the previous decade, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) and the National Reading Panel (NRP) Report (NICHHD, 2000), continue to influence both assessment and instruction in our schools Benedictine University

3. Federal Programs and National Reports • As we move into the next decade it is clear that the following initiatives will influence literacy research, policy, and practice: • Response to Intervention (RTI) (NASDSE, 2010) • Race to the Top (U.S. Department of Education, 2010) • Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010) Benedictine University

4. Response to Intervention (RTI) • Response to Intervention (RTI) is a federally funded program designed to integrate assessment and intervention within a multilevel prevention system to maximize student achievement • The major feature of RTI is a leveled-intervention system that often includes: the core reading program for all students; supplementary instruction for students with early reading difficulties; and intensive intervention for students who still struggle Benedictine University

5. Response to Intervention (RTI) • RTI involves educators in identifying students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitoring student progress, providing evidence-based interventions, adjusting the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on student responsiveness, and identifying students with learning or other disabilities • An increasing number of states have developed RTI models to address students at risk of school failure that may involve new assessment techniques, data management tools, and instructional methodologies for teaching and monitoring students showing the least progress Benedictine University

6. RACE TO THE TOP • Race to the Top is a federally funded initiative that provides competitive grants to encourage and reward states that develop educational plans that emphasize the following: • creating the conditions for innovation and reform • achieving significant improvement in student outcomes • making substantial gains in student achievement • closing achievement gaps • improving high school graduation rates • ensuring student preparation for success in college and careers Benedictine University

7. RACE TO THE TOP • The State proposals must include specific educational plans in four core areas: • Initiating standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy • Developing data systems that measure student achievement and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction • Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most • Turning around our lowest-achieving schools (U.S. Department of Education, 2010) Benedictine University

8. COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS • In the Spring of 2010, the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSSELA) were released • The standards articulate a vision of what it means to be “a literate person in the twenty-first century” • Most educators agree that the federally funded programs, RTI and R2T, as well as the CCSSELA will have a dramatic impact on literacy instruction and assessment in American classrooms in the coming decade Benedictine University

9. National Reading Panel Report (NRP) • The report of the National Reading Panel (NRP) (NICHHD, 2000),led us to focus on five factors of instruction: • Phonemic Awareness • Phonics • Fluency • Vocabulary • Comprehension Benedictine University

10. National Reading Panel Report (NRP) Although these areas of skill development are essentially to reading instruction from the viewpoint of basic reading processes, they are by no means a magic bullet that will lead to successful literacy achievement by all students, and they do not address areas of reading and writing that are seen by many states, districts, schools, and teachers as being equally important Benedictine University

11. National Reading Panel Report (NRP) • We must be cautious about viewing the act of reading as a sum total of discrete processes, whereby instruction in one weak area will magically improve students’ “reading achievement” Benedictine University

12. National Reading Panel Report (NRP) • Instead, we argue for consideration of evidence-based best practices within a comprehensive literacy framework • Such a framework includes: • Attention to motivation • Opportunities to read and write • Differentiated assessment and instruction • Reading, writing, listening, and speaking for wide, authentic, and varied purposes Benedictine University

13. Moving Forward… • There is universal agreement in our field that the foundation for all instructional practice, regardless of one’s theoretical or pragmatic orientation to reading, is the goal of improving reading achievement for all students Benedictine University