Supporting a School-Wide Reading Initiative with Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

By: Stan Paine

How can school leaders support school-wide reading initiatives? Here are keys to leading the way in the areas of reading curriculum, instruction, assessment, and motivation.

Leading the way in reading curriculum

Know the criteria for selecting a strong core reading program
Make sure that the reading program selected is strong enough to help most kids succeed
Know how your program reflects the "five big ideas" in reading
Help staff select supplemental and intervention programs that have been shown to work
Support staff in developing and using CSI maps (grade-level plans that specify which core, supplemental, and intervention programs will be taught and for how many minutes each day to students at each instructional level)
Learn the curriculum along with the teachers

Leading the way in reading assessment

Learn as much as you can about the formative assessment used by your school
Learn how to collect data in this system and help collect data periodically
Learn how to use and interpret these reports to guide instruction
Use these reports to guide the regular grade level reading planning meetings
Talk to teachers regularly about the data on their students' reading performance, including ideas for refining instruction

Leading the way in reading instruction

Conduct classroom walk throughs regularly to gauge the strengths and needs of teachers' reading instruction
Talk to teachers about the teaching and learning process, especially related to reading
Give lots of affirmation, praise, and encouragement about teachers' reading instruction
Provide further training, as needed, to strengthen teachers' reading instruction
Support grouping of students for reading lessons
Provide adequate time (through the schedule) for reading instruction and work to avoid interruptions of reading lessons
Support outcomes over processes; the process is only as good as the outcomes

Leading the way in motivation to read

Go to classes and read to students
Let students come to your office to read
Visit classes for reading groups; praise success
Read some of the books that kids are reading and talk to them about what they are reading
Motivate students to read through programs like Reading Counts and Battle of the Books
Facilitate reading related special events for kids
Be a progress monitor periodically
Teach a small group once in a while
Challenge kids to read to reach a goal
Take some of your reading to a class to read for silent reading time (let kids see you read)

Paine, S. (2004). Supporting a School-Wide Reading Initiative by Working with Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Variables. Available at http://reading.uoregon.edu/resources/downloads/ldrship_CIA.pdf.

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