Reading skills are so vital to the success of students, and educators are constantly trying new literacy programs to help children learn to read.

A new balanced literacy program in Tonawanda, New York has shown great success at reaching all learners, according to an article published by the Hope Foundation.

Early intervention, a home reading component, individualized instruction, and proper training and support for staff are all part of the Tonawanda Balanced Literacy Reading and Writing Program.

In 1999, only 40% of elementary learners in the district were proficient readers, according to John McKenna, principal of Mullen Elementary School. Because of this, the school district was red flagged by the New York State Education Department.

However, “today over 95% of the students at Mullen Elementary School read at or above grade level,” said McKenna.

Research clearly indicated the importance of early intervention, and showed that the key to success was to begin in the pivotal year of first grade.

The district has also revised their kindergarten program and created a pre-kindergarten program.

In addition, a home reading component was added to actively involve parents so that they read daily with their children.

To me, a home reading component is one of the most important things that you can provide for your children, starting when they are young babies.

Read out loud to your babies and toddlers. Have a large selection of books around the house. Bring the kids to the library. Model reading habits.

I realize that this is easy for those of us who had our parents do this for us, but it’s a struggle for families that aren’t so lucky to start new habits.  

The literacy program also stresses individualization of instruction as key to having students make achievement gains. 

In addition, there is “the importance of using data, data, and more data to implement and maintain the structural reforms,” said McKenna.   

“At our school, every child has a success story,” he concluded.

For  more information, see the study below.

See also:

Nonprofit Group Offers Literacy Programs to Detroit Public School Students

From Red-Flagged to Blue Ribbon: A Balanced Literacy Reading and Writing Program That Reaches All Learners  

 Published by the Hope Foundation

Written by John McKenna, Ed.D., has been principal of Mullen Elementary School in Tonawanda, New York since 1995. He completed his doctoral dissertation at the University of New York at Buffalo in 2008. It was a comprehensive seven year study entitled A Case Study of the Development & Implementation of a Balanced Literacy Intervention Program. Dr. McKenna may be reached at: jmckenna@tona.wnyric.org

n last month’s newsletter (McKenna, 2009), I wrote about how Tonawanda, New York, began its journey from being a small city school district Red Flagged by the New York State Education Department in 1999—because only 40% of our elementary learners were proficient in reading as measured by the State ELA Assessment—to our status today, when over 95% of the students at Mullen Elementary School read at or above grade level, thanks to the Tonawanda Balanced Literacy Reading and Writing Program (McKenna, 2008, 2009).

We began with the research of Michael Fullan (2001), Kenneth Leithwood (2006), Todd Whitaker (2000), Alan Blankstein (2004), and others. As I read the literature on change and honestly analyzed our school, I realized that we did not have clear vision, mission or goals, did not have a system to collect and analyze data, and had no mechanisms in place for collaborative teams to meet and discuss instructional initiatives. Our building leadership team worked together to establish the structural parameters we needed for a successful school improvement process (see McKenna, 2009).

The Need for Early Intervention

With the structural pieces in place, we were able to start our journey to develop and implement instructional changes.  The prevailing research on reading instruction clearly indicated the importance of early intervention.  The key to success was reaching children in the early primary grades.

The key research we utilized to begin our programs was:

·                                 Marie Clay – Reading Recovery 1993.  This helped us to see the importance of individualizing instruction, taking running records, and using student data to develop instruction.

·                                 Fountas & Pinnell – Guided Reading 1996.  This gave us our balanced literacy framework that integrated reading and writing instruction.

·                                 The differentiated instructional strategies of Robert J. Marzano (2001), Richard Allington (2001), Harvey & Goudvis (2000), and Chris Tovini (2000). 

The conclusions from the research indicated that early intervention was imperative for success and that individualization of instruction was key to having students make achievement gains.  We chose the balanced literacy model because it empowered teachers to differentiate instruction, allowed for integration of all subjects, and focused on the needs and interests of the whole child.  

We chose to begin our program at the first grade level because the research pointed to this as the pivotal year to start early intervention.  We have since revised our kindergarten program and created a prekindergarten program to implement intervention strategies as soon as possible.  Furthermore, we have added a home reading component to actively involve parents to read daily with their children and to provide them with materials and training to work cooperatively with the classroom teacher.

Developing the Staff

Once we began the program, it was imperative that the staff be given the proper inservice training and support to effectively deliver instruction. We took the following steps to develop and support our staff:

·                                 Entire staff received the “Fountas & Pinnell” Guided Reading Book.  We read it as a staff and discussed it.

·                                 Found related workshops and sent staff for training.

·                                 Brought in presenters to our District to train staff.

·                                 Utilized reading teachers to model lessons and conduct mini workshops during common planning time.

·                                 Allocated building resources to create a central leveled literature library and classroom leveled libraries, which currently have over 3,000 titles.

·                                 Monitored Action Plans quarterly to check on student achievement.

·                                 Discussed progress at vertical team meetings and common planning time.

·                                 Based on feedback from staff, we revised our kindergarten program to reflect the balanced literacy model, and within two years the entire school was trained and utilizing the model.  Most of the training was done in house by fellow staff members.

In 2003, the Tonawanda City School District redistricted, and the District adopted our balanced literacy program for the entire District. Staff development and training became a primary focus for the District ELA Committee. Currently all elementary buildings utilize the same action plan format, utilize the same assessment system, and have vertical and horizontal meetings across the District. In 2008, of 106 children at Mullen (excluding severely handicapped students) who took our English Language Arts test, 104 children scored at or above grade-level proficiency. Two students scored just below proficiency (missed by 1 point), possibly due to time constraints. We are striving for 100% proficiency.

In our next issue, I’ll detail the importance of using data, data, and more data to implement and maintain the structural reforms we needed for our district’s absolute focus on student achievement. We’ll also discuss the effect and affect of success. At our school, every child has a success story.