Reading First Brings Literacy Research and Professional Development Into the Classroom

“Reading First has brought about massive changes in the way students are taught literacy in Kalamazoo Public Schools,” says Marlene Sadler, an “Educator on Loan” to the Michigan Depart-ment of Education. As a Reading First facilitator for the state, Sadler helps teachers in four elementary buildings in this urban southwest Michigan district improve the way they teach literacy.

“I work with teams of teachers in four schools, and I can honestly say there’s not a single teacher who isn’t supporting this effort,” says Sadler. “It was tough at first, but once we started seeing growth in the children, it became very empowering for all of us.”

Sadler’s work is part of the Reading First initiative, which has awarded more than $21 million to 22 Michigan school districts since 2002 (see Reading First Fact File). She’s just one of the state’s 26 Reading First facilitators who provide professional development to classroom teachers and literacy coaches, helping them use research-based best practices to help students learn to read and write.

Reading First Teachers Use Data to Drive Instruction

Reading First relies on a “trainer-of-trainers” model to bring new knowledge to teachers about how to teach literacy. Instead of going out to a daylong seminar on one aspect of reading instruction, teachers receive ongoing support right where they work—in the classroom.

“One of the main differences with Reading First is that teachers are learning to use a continual cycle of assessment, evaluation, planning, and instruction in the classroom,” says Sadler. “This means they are getting much better at using data to inform instruction.”

Sadler trains and oversees the work of literacy coaches—one in each building—who collaborate with classroom teachers to plan differentiated instruction for students, based on students’ individual strengths and needs. Coaches also facilitate weekly grade level meetings, during which teachers discuss new ways to approach challenges their students face.

Kathryn Catherman serves as literacy coach to Milwood’s teachers. A former second-grade Reading First teacher herself, Catherman analyzes student data for 215 students, models teaching strategies for teachers and paraprofessionals, and supports teachers in the classroom.

“Reading First is the most organized approach we’ve had to teaching reading,” says Catherman. “It looks at intervention in a systematic way for
at-risk populations. We haven’t done that before.”

Milwood principal Charles Pearson agrees. “Reading First has helped us to focus. It’s the ‘whole package,’” he says. “It has easy-to-use materials, teacher support, classroom management, and organization—it’s all there.”

New Methods and Technologies Boost Student Interest—and Achievement

If nearly two hours of literacy instruction seems like too much “seat time” for young learners, think again. At Milwood, students are on the move and engaging all their senses. In Ben’s first-grade classroom, small groups of students make the rounds of literacy workstations set up throughout the room.

Ben’s group takes a turn at three computer stations, where students put headphones on and play literacy games that follow up on lessons from their reading textbooks. Other groups build words out of letter groups with teacher Michelle Mallory, read aloud to a teacher intern, or work independently practicing the week’s spelling words. On this particular Friday, a favorite station is manned by the class’s paraprofessional, Cathy McAllister. Her small group gathers to review words by writing them in puddles of sweet-smelling shaving cream. Despite the students’ squeals of delight, Catherman points out there’s some serious learning going on. Each stop in the round of workshops has been carefully planned in advance by the classroom teacher, who regroups students as their needs change.

“This is very data-driven,” says Catherman. “Interventions are carefully planned to match what we learn from assessments and observation. It takes a lot of work on the teacher’s part, but the results we’re seeing are worth it.”

Reading First Builds Teamwork

Pearson reports that the first year was hard on teachers because they were expected to approach literacy instruction in new ways. “When I first started as a teacher, I went to my classroom, closed my door, and worked pretty much alone,” says Pearson. “With Reading First, you’re not alone, you’re part of a team. It’s stressful in some ways, but on a good day, most of our teachers would say it’s a better way to work. This year is easier for them, and I expect results to be even better.”

All this collaboration is producing results at Milwood. At the end of the program’s first year, assessment results show progress among some of the school’s most at-risk students, and reading achievement is up overall.

“When we started the program, Reading First schools were the poorest-scoring schools in the district,” says Catherman. “Now our first-graders are outscoring students in non-Reading First schools in the word analysis sections of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.”

Students like Ben, however, measure achievement a little differently. When asked what he’s going to do with all the new spelling words he’s mastered, Ben doesn’t hesitate for a moment.

“It’s what I’m going to be when I grow up—an author,” he says. “I’m going to sell my books to the school library.”

With the backing of Kalamazoo’s Reading First team, it looks like Ben might be well on his way to reaching that goal.

To learn more about Reading First in Kalamazoo Public Schools, contact: Marlene Sadler, Milwood Elementary School, 3400 Lovers Lane, Kalamazoo, MI 49001, (269) 337-0690, mar243@juno.com or Kathryn Catherman, (269) 337-0660, cathermanks@kalamazoo.k12.mi.us.

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