The Building Blocks for Good Readers

Modern Red SchoolHouse (MRSH) has successfully led the way in comprehensive school reform for the past ten years. In fact, a recent study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University indicated highly promising evidence of MRSH's effectiveness in improving student achievement, reporting that MRSH has had greater effects on student achievement than the three most widely studied school improvement programs in America.

As a comprehensive provider of school improvement services, we deliver a wide array of customized on-site training and coaching to schools and districts. We help educators build their capacity to use effective, research-supported instructional practices, while providing immediate solutions designed to boost student achievement. MRSH has gathered expert practitioners from across the United States to build a consultant team that can provide the help you need to respond successfully to the important goals of No Child Left Behind.

As your school or district strives to achieve performance goals through implementation of NCLB programs, including Reading First; School Improvement; Comprehensive School Reform; Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals; Educational Technology; and Professional Development, our MRSH team is ready to assist in developing a flexible, customized work plan. This work plan is not a pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all design. We help you build on work already underway instead of forcing an overhaul of your entire system.

The proof the impact of our approach has on school achievement is in the test scores. In a 2001 study by the RAND Corporation comparing comprehensive school designs, MRSH schools showed greater gains in reading and mathematics than schools using other designs despite having the highest rates of student poverty.

One of the five NCLB performance goals requires that by 2013-2014, all students will reach high standards, at a minimum attaining proficiency in reading/language arts and mathematics. Reading First, a NCLB- funded program provides schools and districts with assistance in implementing scientifically-based reading researched (SBRR) programs, administering and using diagnostic and classroom-based instructional reading assessments, and providing meaningful professional development on essential components of reading instruction for teachers of students in kindergarten through grade 3 and special education teachers of students in kindergarten through grade 12. Our Building Blocks for Good Readers modules address the areas required in Reading First:

• Preparation in all the essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension;
  
• Instructional strategies focusing on early intervention and remedial approaches, instruction in the use of screening, diagnostic, and classroom-based instructional reading assessments; and
  
• Professional development designed to make teachers more highly qualified in reading instruction.

Research has shown that teachers who participate in well-designed professional development get better results from their students. The Modern Red SchoolHouse Building Blocks for Good Readers professional development modules go beyond mere requirements to provide meaningful learning opportunities for participants. They are customized and delivered by highly qualified trainers with, on average, over 20 years of experience in schools and districts. Like the students they serve, schools are understood to have different needs. Any work done in your school is linked to your instructional program, your resources, and state standards. Training for teachers is highly engaging, a mix of presentation, coaching, and mentoring. Not only do teachers learn the most current information regarding effective reading instruction, but they also gain understanding of how effective reading instruction occurs in the classroom by balancing the following 4 critical elements: curriculum, assessment, instruction, and environment. Integral to these improvement efforts are the practice lessons and modeling that MRSH consultants provide in the classroom. Our goals, simply put, are to build capacity and boost results in your school or district.

Diagnostic

A Modern Red SchoolHouse reading specialist will work with your school leaders to gain an understanding of the challenges faced by your school and/or school district. The reading specialist will conduct a comprehensive inventory of instructional practices, assessment tools, and materials being utilized in your school and review their effectiveness in bringing about improved student achievement in reading. This inventory will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of your current practices and materials. Careful examination of student achievement data, teacher and student mobility rates, levels of parent and community participation, teacher certification, reading assessment tools, and other relevant data will contribute to a clear understanding of your school and/or school district's needs. All stakeholders will be provided a comprehensive report as a tool for planning customized professional development for the reading initiative.

Customized Professional Development Proposal

Working collaboratively with district personnel and school administrators, MRSH reading specialists will develop a customized professional development proposal. The proposal will include a clear description of suggested professional development to be provided by MRSH, a detailed timeline, and budget. Each professional development proposal will include and address the following areas required in NCLB 's Reading First: 1) preparation in all the essential components of effective reading instruction; phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension; 2) instructional strategies focusing on early intervention and remedial approaches, instruction in the use of screening, diagnostic, and classroom-based instructional reading assessments; and 3) professional development designed to make teachers more highly qualified in reading instruction. As with all MRSH professional development, the school's instructional program and its resources are linked to state standards. In addition, the professional development will include historic background and scientifically-based reading research on key findings for each essential reading component. Our customized professional development proposal and highly qualified reading specialists are proven scientifically-based reading researched (SBRR) solutions that will assist you in responding successfully to requirements of NCLB .

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds, or phonemes in spoken words. Instructional strategies include: blending and segmenting, recognition and production of rhyming words, onset-rime, and phoneme matching. In the professional development, MRSH reading specialists will include scientifically-based research findings that will help teachers build their students' phonemic awareness. In addition, professional development will include background on phonemic awareness. According to the National Research Council, the following are key findings regarding phonemic awareness:

• Phonemic awareness can be taught and learned;
  
• Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read;
  
• Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to spell;
  
• Phonemic awareness instruction is most effective when students are taught to manipulate phonemes by using letters of the alphabet; and
  
• Phonemic awareness instruction is most effective when it focuses on only one or two types of phoneme manipulation.

We respect the hard work you have already done. MRSH professional development is linked to your school's current instructional program, its resources, and state standards.

Phonics

Phonics is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes, the sounds of spoken language, and graphemes, the letters and spelling that represent those sounds in written language. Identification of letters, sound-symbol relationships, blends, multi-syllabic words, and spelling are normally found in phonic instruction. As you participate in professional development focusing on phonics, MRSH reading specialists will apply rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures for teachers to build knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading difficulties. Background information and scientifically-based reading research will be included. According to the National Research Council, the key phonics findings are as follows:

• Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is more effective than non-systematic or no phonics instruction;
  
• Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves kindergarten and first-grade children's word recognition and spelling; and
  
• Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves children's reading comprehension.

If your school already uses a scientifically-based reading researched phonics program, Modern Red SchoolHouse reading specialists can help maximize its impact.

Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary is the development of stored information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communication. The following are the four types of vocabulary: a) listening vocabulary - the words needed to understand what is heard; b) speaking vocabulary - the words used when speaking; c) reading vocabulary - the words needed to understand what is read; and d) writing vocabulary - the words used in writing.

Instruction usually includes synonyms, antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Roman roots, inflectional endings, semantic feature analysis, concepts of definitions, and analogies. MRSH reading specialists will coach teachers as they build their skills and knowledge of vocabulary acquisition, instructional strategies, and analysis of assessment data with the latest reading research and key findings. According to the National Research Council, the key findings for vocabulary development are as follows:

• Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language; and
  
• Some vocabulary must be taught directly.

We believe that vocabulary is a key component to success in all subject areas. MRSH reading specialists will focus on vocabulary development across the curriculum.

Fluency

Fluency is the ability to read text accurately and quickly. As students shift from the decoding to the making of meaning, classroom instruction normally includes repeated reading, chunking, intentional teaching, and reading punctuation. MRSH reading specialists provide scientifically-based reading researched (SBRR) professional development that leads to improved fluency in student reading that is sustained over time. Our reliance on methods that provide valid data is a benefit when focusing on this essential component. MRSH reading specialists will model effective instructional strategies focusing on early intervention and remedial approaches, analysis of assessment data, and the latest in research key findings. According to the National Research Council, fluency key findings are as follows:

• Repeated and monitored oral reading improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement; and
  
• No research evidence is available currently to confirm that instructional time spent on silent, independent reading with minimal guidance and feedback improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement.

Comprehension

Reading Comprehension is the understanding, remembering, and communicating with others about what has been read. Direct explanation, language experience charts, story-mapping, metacognitive techniques such as think-alouds, self-monitoring of comprehension, ways to decode unknown words and phrases, active discussion of text, and literal, inferential, evaluative comprehension are instructional strategies found in classrooms that have participated in professional development with MRSH reading specialists. Teachers are equipped with practical and age-appropriate strategies to increase students' comprehension of narrative and expository text. In addition, the latest scientifically-based reading research and key findings are included in the professional development for reading comprehension. According to the National Research Council, the key findings for comprehension are as follows:

• Text comprehension can be improved by instruction that helps readers use specific comprehension strategies; and
  
• Students can be taught to use comprehension strategies.

These effective instructional strategies used by MRSH reading specialists have been described in peer-reviewed journals, such as Reading Research Quarterly, an International Reading Association publication, and approved by independent reading experts.