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Three orange prescription bottles on their sides, spilling out white tablets, brown round pills, and green capsules onto a white background. The bottles have blue PHARMACY labels.

EVERFI Supports the 14th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

by EdCircuit Staff October 27, 2017

written by EdCircuit Staff 3 minutes read

Highlighting the importance of proper drug disposalby Jon Chapman

A variety of white and beige tablets and pills are scattered on a blue surface next to an open, white medicine bottle lying on its side. As we observe the 14th annual National Drug Take Back Day, which is designed to highlight the importance of properly disposing of unused prescription medication in order to prevent accidental abuse and misuse, it’s important to reflect on the impact prevention education can have in sustaining healthy and safe communities.

Last year’s National Take Back Day set a record—893,498 pounds⁠ of unwanted medicines—about 447 tons—safely deposited at almost 5,400 sites spread through all 50 states, but imagine how much more we can do if we spread the message of prevention through measurable education.

The Prescription Drug Safety Network is a national coalition of partners committed to using prevention education to empower Americans with the skills to make safe and healthy decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. One of the network’s main initiatives is an evidence-based drug safety curriculum digital platform to educate at risk youth and their families about the safe storage and disposal of prescription drugs.

How to Safely Dispose of Prescription Drugs

Medicines that are no longer being used can pose unnecessary dangers to families and youth in particular. Drug Take Back Days raise awareness about prescription drug safety and provide an opportunity for individuals to properly dispose of unwanted prescription drugs at a growing number of locations nationwide. Individuals can search for a Drug Take Back site at the DEA’s webpage or by calling 1-800-882-9539.

Why Safe Prescription Drug Disposal Matters

According to the CDC 1 in 5 high school seniors report having misused prescription drugs at least once. Two-thirds of teenagers who use prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons report getting the drugs from friends or family members, including taking them from medicine cabinets without people knowing. As a result, the importance of properly securing prescription medications, especially opioids, is even more critical.

Seventy-eight people die each day from opioid overdose, and another 20.8 million have a substance use disorder according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s report Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Young people are particularly vulnerable, The National Institute of Health’s Institute on Drug Abuse reports that nonmedical use of prescription drugs is highest among young adults aged 18 to 25.

Many people who misuse medications or opioids get their first dose by using medications prescribed to others. The growing epidemic of abuse, misuse, dependence, and overdose of opioids in the United States is deeply concerning and it is important that we protect our communities by stopping the abuse before it begins through prevention education.

Media Gallery:

Below are some images and a video from EVERFI’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention course, which launched this fall. The course features highly interactive digital learning modules that cover topics such as: proper prescription drug storage and disposal, the science of addiction, interpreting drug labels, refusal skills and other critical skills.

Prescription Drug Take Back Day – EVERFI Prevention Course from EVERFI on Vimeo.

A webpage about prescription drug abuse prevention shows sections on proper storage and disposal of medications, with blue and red areas labeled STORAGE and DISPOSAL, and images of pills. Navigation buttons are at the bottom. Screenshot of an EVERFI learning module titled Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention. The case study asks what to do with leftover pills after surgery, offering options: keep under lock, keep in cabinet, or discard safely.

A hand holding assorted prescription pills is divided into three labeled sections: Trash, Authorized Collectors, and Flushing, showing methods for proper prescription drug disposal. A webpage titled Proper Disposal shows three methods for disposing of prescription drugs: Trash, Authorized Collectors, and Flushing. An info box highlights drug take-back programs. A hand is pictured in the background.
Author

Jon Chapman, EVERFI Co-Founder and President of Global Partnerships

The Washington Post – Trump declares the opioid crisis a public health emergency
The New York Times – The Opioid Epidemic: A Crisis Years in the Making
edCircuit – Operation Prevention:

October 27, 2017 1 comment

A child holds up both hands covered in colorful paint, smiling with a blurred background. The paint on the hands is bright blue, green, yellow, and red.

10 Reasons Why You Should Implement Digital Student Portfolios

by EdCircuit Staff October 26, 2017

written by EdCircuit Staff 7 minutes read

Portfolios pass the test for this principal/father by Matt Renwick

This article was originally published on ASCD Inservice.

As both a father and a building principal, education is a personal endeavor as well as a professional one. My two children have always attended the school in which I have served as a leader. So for me to recommend anything to teachers and leaders, it has to pass muster as a dad as well as an educator.

student with tablet One of the few technology initiatives I do promote is digital student portfolios. They are defined as online collections of learning artifacts intentionally curated to showcase a student’s accomplishments and growth over time. With the availability and ease of use of digital tools today, there is little reason why students should not be able to experience this authentic process of assessment. Here are ten reasons why every student should have a digital portfolio.

1. Celebrate all students as learners

By opening up the possibilities for how success in schools is documented, all students can be celebrated for their efforts. Standardized tests are not the answer; they are designed to ensure that some students are not deemed proficient. As educators, we have to find more (and better) ways to assess learning in a way that makes students want to learn more. Digital portfolios capture each student as an individual, embracing their personalities and uniqueness that scores and grades cannot.

2. Improve home-school communication

Families are busy. They don’t always have time to get into the school to observe their children’s learning. By integrating teacher and student on computer digital portfolios into the classroom, teachers provide a window into a student’s world with regard to their best work and growth over time. In my last school that had a higher level of poverty, we witnessed several families become engaged in the school experience through their child’s digital portfolio. Using FreshGrade (www.freshgrade.com), students and teachers posted video, audio, images, and text that showed up on a parent’s smartphone or tablet through an app. This assessment work paved the way toward better relationships with parents who might not typically show up for a special event at school.

3. Facilitate better feedback

When student work is housed in an online space for others to see, the importance for the learning naturally increases. Parents, peers, and even the world can be a potential audience. And when there is an authentic audience, there is the opportunity for feedback. For example, Margaret Simon, a gifted and talented teacher in Louisiana, works in several buildings in her district. She has each of her students regularly post their learning using Kidblog (www.kidblog.org). This tool allows peers to comment on each other’s work in safe space. For Margaret, she can now recruit many individuals to be critical friends for her students, instead of facilitating feedback all by herself.

4. Highlight the process of learning

student drawing Excellent work does not come out of thin air. In writing my book on digital portfolios, I had to go through many drafts and revisions before it was ready to publish. Students can better understand this process by publishing not only their best work but also their prior attempts and efforts. For instance, an English teacher can expect their students to keep a digital portfolio of their writing using Google Sites (https://sites.google.com). Instead of only publishing the end product, such as a piece of original fiction they wrote, they can ask students to include initial drafts and revisions in their portfolio entry.

5. Demonstrate progress over time

To continue the previous example, the entire English department could decide to have students maintain a digital portfolio for their literacy work throughout their school career. That is what Chris Haeger and Josh Beck are doing at Cudahy High School in Cudahy, Wisconsin. Also using Google Sites, students are expected to collect and publish their reading and writing work on a regular basis. To increase the purpose and the audience, sophomores and seniors present their body of work to a community-based panel. This experience serves as a summative evaluation of their time at Cudahy and prepares them for the real world not that far away.

6. Guide students to become self-directed learners

Student taking notes in classroom Teachers can and should treat digital portfolios as a student-driven assessment experience. They don’t have to own it. In fact, by giving students the autonomy and responsibility to develop their own digital portfolios, kids are likely to own the results of their learning, and subsequently the learning itself. As an example, Lisa Snider is a journalism teacher in Oklahoma. For her high school course, students are expected to keep their own online space for their writing using WordPress. They also produce the school newspaper and yearbook. To pay for technology resources for the course, they have to sell advertising on their publications to purchase the computers, software, paper, and ink. That means their writing has to be worth reading.

7. Maximize formative assessment

Most teachers know that formative assessment, or assessment for learning, is a highly effective strategy for improving student learning. But how can they efficiently collect classroom results to guide students in their work? Digital portfolios can also serve as a tool for capturing the day-to-day student actions that serve as evidence of learning. Karen Fadum, a former primary school teacher, used FreshGrade to document her reading conferences with her students. She would video record her conversations, upload them to their portfolios, and then play them back at a later time. Not only could students and families see and hear this assessment and reflect on their progress, Karen could review the video to self-assess her instruction. In this example, everyone is a learner.

8. Honor the many ways of being smart

student using laptop If all students have to represent their accomplishments in school are test scores and grades, we are excluding students who may not be successful in these types of assessments. For example, teachers can have students video recording a performance task, such as a speech or demonstration, and then upload this file to a digital portfolio for families to see. This documentation of student learning adds rich context to the typical grade or score.

9. Advocate for every student

Dan Eldon stated, “The journey is the destination.” All students, and especially students on both ends of the achievement spectrum, need to see themselves as capable. Schools are tasked with ensuring that students become smarter as well as foster a desire to learn for a lifetime. With digital portfolios, students can see how they have grown over time. There is less competition and more reflection. Teachers can evaluate this growth using other students as points of reference without having to visibly compare kids with each other. Process becomes the true product of their education.

10. Work smarter as a teacher

If the last nine reasons did not motivate you to start implementing digital portfolios tomorrow, consider the benefits for yourself. You have a large repository of artifacts that can be used for your own evaluation portfolios. You have a consistent, positive message to parents about what is happening in each child’s learning life. You make visible all the good you do in the classroom, too often questioned by pundits who usually have little interest in making education better for all.

Ready to start with digital student portfolios, but not sure how? Consider the follow tools as recommended technologies to capture, curate, and publish student learning. By understanding the advantages for learning first before integrating digital portfolios, the choice in technology becomes a student-centered decision.

Blogs (digital place for students to post their thinking)

Kidblog (kidblog.org)
Edublogs (edublogs.org)

Dedicated Portfolio Applications (software designed for digital portfolios in schools)

FreshGrade (freshgrade.com)
Seesaw (seesaw.me)

Websites (online spaces for students to upload permanent artifacts)

Google Sites (google.com)

Weebly (weebly.com)
Author

Matt Renwick is an elementary principal in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Prior to this position, Matt was a teacher and school administrator in Wisconsin Rapids.

He is the author of Digital Portfolios in the Classroom: Showcasing and Assessing Student Work (2017) and the ASCD Arias book 5 Myths About Classroom Technology: How do we integrate digital tools to truly enhance learning? (2016).

Further Reading

American Press – School letter grades a sensitive subject
EdWeek – What Is the Future of Individualized Education Programs?
The Leader – Schools to receive letter grades for student performance

October 26, 2017 2 comments

A young girl looks thoughtfully at various mathematical equations and graphs drawn in white on a transparent surface in front of her, symbolizing learning and problem solving.

Hidden

Advocating for the Gifted

by Todd Stanley October 26, 2017

written by Todd Stanley 6 minutes read

A woman sits on a gym floor, watching a young boy stack blue plastic cups into a tall tower. The boy focuses on balancing the cups, and both appear engaged in the activity. As a gifted coordinator, I get asked a lot of questions. Curiously, the question I probably get asked the most is not what great things are you doing, how can I be involved, or what way do we best reach our gifted students? The question I get asked the most is what does a gifted coordinator do? Even by adults. When I was a teacher, it was easy. Someone asked what I did, I stated I was a teacher, and they just nodded their head like they knew what that meant. Now when I say I am a gifted coordinator, I get a look that indicates befuddlement.

Explaining it to students is the greatest challenge. They will ask, “are you a teacher?” When I inform them I am actually the district gifted coordinator; they ask “what is that?” My initial response is always “I coordinate gifted” as though the title bespoke the duties involved. This only causes more confusion though. The challenge is explaining the many things a gifted coordinator might do so that a person who knows nothing about it can understand the basics.

So, that leads me to the question, “what does a gifted coordinator do?” To steal a phrase my educational law professor always used; it depends. Much like gifted itself which is defined differently from state to state, district to district, so too is the idea of what a gifted coordinator should do.

A young woman with long dark hair plays a violin, holding the instrument with her left hand and the bow with her right, against a dark background. For example, I have been a gifted coordinator in two different districts, literally right next to one another and serving similar students. However, the expectations in each district were very different. In my original district, the district gifted coordinator had always been a part-time position. They usually got a retired administrator to take on the task or simply added the task to another administrator’s plate. When I was hired, I was still a classroom teacher. Two and a half days a week I would work with students as part of my regular classroom. The other two and a half days I would focus on gifted coordination.

The main goal of the school district was compliance. They wanted to make sure they were compliant with the regulations the state education department had established for gifted. What this meant was simply maintaining programs we already had in place. We had an elementary program that pulled students out one day a week for gifted services, and we had a magnet gifted team at the middle school/junior high that served 5th-8th graders.

In my two years as coordinator, I taught in these programs as well as coordinated the criteria for how a child qualified for the program, provided resources for those teachers in how to greater meet the need of these gifted students, and made sure there was documentation that these services were taking place. Because I was not administration, I was not given a budget, allowed to make decisions without running it by my supervisor, or even included in many of the conversations pertaining to gifted that did not involve the programs I was overseeing.

Given that I only had half my week to devote to coordination, keeping the existing programming going was a bulk of my time and I was hyper-focused on this goal. What this meant was I had a very small picture view of the district, seeing only the programs that were directly affecting gifted students who qualified for them. In a district with 13 buildings, I rarely made it to one of them that did not have gifted programming in them even though there were gifted students present.

A young boy stands at a chalkboard with math problems written on it, while three other children sit in front of him, one raising their hand to answer. Then I had the chance to change districts. My new district offered me a full-time position as an administrator. It also gave me resources I had not had previously, including a budget, power to make decisions, a coach for teachers and five days a week to do my job. What this allowed me to do was to have a wider view of the district in regard to gifted. This new district also had elementary pull-out and a middle school magnet program. But I have had the opportunity to expand these services and tailor the needs to individual buildings. Just having conversations with building principals have gone a long way in figuring out ways to best reach students in their schools who are gifted but did not qualify for the gifted programs. Even non-gifted but high achieving students were helped by the work we were doing.

Throughout the course of the week, I may travel to all 14 buildings in my district, working with teachers on how they can best challenge their gifted students whether they are offering formal gifted services or not. Because I have a much larger view of gifted in the district, it allows me to reach more gifted children whether it be direct gifted services or extra-curricular activities. Basically, I am helping more kids.

A young child lies on a bed next to a baby, holding up a colorful book while reading. The baby, dressed in a striped onesie, looks up and reaches out. Both are relaxed on a cozy, light-colored blanket. These two examples represent ends of a spectrum. Different coordinators fall onto different places on this spectrum depending on their job description and the expectations of the district. Ideally, every district would have a full-time gifted coordinator who is gifted-certified who would be looking out for this specialized group of students. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. There are some districts that simply put the responsibility on a principal or assistant superintendent who has their fingers in many other pies, meaning their attention to gifted will be limited at best.

There are other districts that employ an entity such as an educational service center which provides a coordinator who is overseeing several districts. Again, not the most ideal situation because this is spreading this person thin and makes it difficult to individualize the service to specific students. This is not to say these people are not trying to do their best for gifted students nor is it a condemnation of these methods of coordination. It is just to say that there is only so much time to give in a day and the focus is not fully being on gifted.

Whichever method a district employs, I would say the number one goal of a gifted coordinator no matter what their situation, is to be an advocate for gifted children. Although many parents of gifted students are vocal and try to get what they can for their children, from the school side of things a coordinator might be the only one looking out for this group of students.

Many times, gifted gets the short shrift in regard to funding, budget, and attention. Because many times gifted students will be fine even without these services, schools focus their attention on other groups who may not be fine if they are ignored or where it is the law to pay attention to them. This gifted advocacy might take many forms. It might be getting as many gifted services as possible so that more students might have the opportunity to take part in them. It might be providing opportunities for gifted students to be enriched.

Regardless of the shape it takes, as long as you are operating with the mantra of “is this what is best for gifted kids,” then a coordinator is doing a great job.

NAGC – Building Bridges and Moving Mountains: The Gifted Coordinator Role
Daily Record – 9 percent of Cañon City School District enrolled in gifted program
Portland Daily News – ‘Scioto Gives’ to ESC Gifted Program

October 26, 2017 1 comment

A pair of round, gold-rimmed eyeglasses sits on a colorful, abstract background with swirling lines and glowing light effects.

Educators

Rigor in the Differentiated Classroom

by Barbara R. Blackburn October 24, 2017

written by Barbara R. Blackburn 5 minutes read

The main question I hear from teachers is “What exactly is rigor? How do I know if our classrooms are rigorous?” In Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word, I defined rigor as “creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels” (Blackburn, 2013). Let’s look at this definition more closely, then turn our attention to differentiation.

“Making sure each student is learning at a high level in a Differentiated Classroom is key”

High Expectations

First, rigor expects each student to learn at high levels. Having high expectations starts with the decision that every student possesses the potential to be his or her best, no matter what.

Almost everyone I talk with says, “I have high expectations for our students.” Sometimes that is evidenced by the behaviors in the school; at other times actions don’t match the words.

A colorful word cloud with large words including “learning,” “Love,” “important,” “often,” “classroom,” “students,” and “school,” surrounded by smaller related educational terms in various fonts and colors. Higher-level questioning is an integral part of a rigorous classroom. Look for open-ended questions, ones that are at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (analysis, synthesis).

It is also important to look at how I respond to student questions. It is common for teachers who ask higher-level questions to accept low-level responses from students. In rigorous classrooms teachers push students to respond at high levels. They ask extending questions. If a student does not know the answer, the teacher continues to probe and guide the student to an appropriate answer, rather than moving on to the next student.

Supporting Students to Learn at High Levels

High expectations are important, but the most rigorous schools assure that each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, the second part of our definition. It is essential that teachers design lessons that move students to more challenging work while simultaneously providing ongoing scaffolding to support students learning as they reach those higher levels.

Providing additional scaffolding throughout lessons is one of the most important ways to support students. This can occur in a variety of ways, but it requires that teachers ask themselves during every step of their lesson, “What extra support might my students need?”

Ensuring Students Demonstrate Learning at High Levels

Close-up view of railway tracks with one set of tracks splitting off to the right, surrounded by gravel and wooden ties, photographed at an angle. The third component of a rigorous classroom provides each student with opportunities to demonstrate learning at high levels. I often hear that, “If teachers provide more challenging lessons that include extra support, then learning will happen.” I’ve learned that if I want students to show us they understand what they learned at a high level, I also need to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate they have truly mastered that learning. It’s important to use a common standard for rigor so that everyone has the same expectations. I use Webb’s Depth of Knowledge because of its focus on depth and complexity. As a caution, DOK is more than just verbs. If you search online and find a “verb wheel”, note that it was not developed by Dr. Webb and he does not endorse it.

Rigor and Differentiation

Many teachers have incorporated Differentiated Instruction in their classrooms. Developed by Carol Ann Tomlinson, the approach recommends that instruction be adjusted for small groups of students based on their readiness, interest or learning profile. Based on those criteria, teachers should adapt their content (curriculum), process (instruction), or product (assessment) in order to meet those needs. Notice how those adaptations match with our definition of rigor.

A table compares Blackburns differentiation definitions—Expectations, Support, and Demonstration of Learning—to Tomlinsons model: Content, Process, and Product, respectively.

Differentiated Instruction provides customized instruction for different levels of students. However, a common criticism of Differentiated Instruction is that, by adjusting instruction for struggling students, teachers lower the level of rigor. By overlaying our definition of rigor onto the model, we can ensure rigor for all students.

For example, we might choose to adjust the content for struggling students. Perhaps we are teaching a lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr. and we choose a different, easier text for struggling students. We can ensure rigor and high expectations by incorporating higher order questions, albeit on lower content, or by asking students to read grade level text after they read the easier text. By reading the easier text first, they are able to move back to the grade level text with your support, because they have built prior knowledge and vocabulary skills (a strategy called Layering Meaning).

Or, we might adjust our process, or support. Let’s say we are teaching how to solve math word problems. We can adjust our support by providing a graphic organizer to struggling students. Not all students need this structure, so we accommodate those who do need support with an additional instructional strategy.

A person with short hair sits alone among rows of empty blue stadium seats next to a stairway marked with yellow and black stripes. Finally, we might differentiate how students demonstrate their learning, or the product they complete. Perhaps I want students to analyze a series of events in a social studies lesson. A portion of my students are able to write a detailed analysis of the impact of those events on today’s society. Others may understand the material, but are unable to write an analysis paper. In those situations, it’s easy just to ask them to summarize the material, which is lowering the rigor. Instead, we could provide an opportunity for those students to verbally complete the analysis, perhaps by creating a video. In this case, struggling students demonstrate their learning at a rigorous level, just in a different way.

A Final Note

Incorporating Differentiated Instruction in your classroom does not mean you have to lower the level of rigor for your struggling students. However, we must be intentional about how we adjust our expectations, support, and demonstration of learning options so that we include rigor. Books are available at https://www.routledge.com/collections/10881. Check out my new book: Rigor and Assessment in the Classroom

EdSurge – Is Homework Compatible With Personalized Learning?
Education Week – Differentiated Instruction: A Primer

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October 24, 2017 1 comment

A child with dark hair is intently reading a yellow book, with only their eyes and part of their face visible above the book.

Community Students Parents

Taking Action Before Dyslexia and Identity Collide

by Ellen Hurst October 24, 2017

written by Ellen Hurst 9 minutes read

The identities of children as readers are decided for them. Children are all faced with the dilemma of figuring out into which worlds they will enter temporarily or peripherally and those they will enter with positions of power and prestige. For some, positions are predetermined culturally and socially. This is especially true in the schools of the United States. Children who have difficulty with literacy skills are positioned as “struggling,” “remedial,” “reluctant,” and “marginalized.” Thus, undiagnosed dyslexics, through the marginalizing labels we place upon them, are often set up to become resistant to reading. As Alvermann (2001) so aptly states, “Culture constructs disability, as well as ability” (p. 677).

Our children are never taught to consider that their reading troubles might be due to a normal difference in their genes and brains, just like being tall or short. They would never venture to guess that the alphabetic code presents a completely unnatural processing challenge to their brains. Instead, they blame themselves. They feel ashamed of themselves and ashamed of their minds. Statements like: “I’m dumb,” “I’m stupid,” “I’m not smart,” and “I’m not good in school” are all strategies to protect themselves from the shame they feel. Shame motivates children to avoid reading. It also fosters self-doubt and undermines the cognitive capacities needed to engage in other academic endeavors. Millions of children are caught in a downward spiral. Not only are they in danger of being poor readers; they are also in danger of developing aversions to the concept of learning. Shame is disabling, and it can have lifelong debilitating effects.

The words of dyslexics illuminate the ways in which the context of the classroom, teachers and peers impact literacy identities. This presents a view of literacy identity as an ongoing construction of the self, mediated by contexts in which each child is engaged. Such a view suggests a more complete picture of what it means to position oneself as a reader. Furthermore, becoming a reader is more than learning a set of skills to be performed on a standardized test. Rather, transforming one’s literacy identity changes who we are by changing our ability to participate, to belong, to create meaning.

Instructional Implications

On the first day of school, a dyslexic child faces a myriad of challenges. They must process oral instructions from teachers and remember them long enough to act on them and finish required tasks. The difficulty of every task is exacerbated by a poor working memory and subsequent unreliable short-term memory. Children with dyslexia start school at an immediate disadvantage long before the task of reading is introduced. The dyslexic takes much longer to process information, particularly in reading, where one has to connect letter patterns with associated words. Slow and poor phonological awareness may cause slow and inaccurate processing of the spoken language, slowness to read, and the possibility that the child will become so confused he or she will resort to copying from others nearby. Where teachers are ill-informed, problems with fine motor skills will make the dyslexic student look clumsy and as such is open to ridicule from both teachers and peers. The inability to organize and demonstrate on-task behaviors leaves your dyslexic in a vulnerable position with little social capital.

Long before entering school, most children possess well developed linguistic competence. They have acquired sophistication in phonology, grammar, word meaning, and pragmatics. Learning to read and write requires attention to the linguistic building blocks of words. Phonemes, the smallest sound unit, have no meaning as separate units but when represented by their graphic counterpart, graphemes, written words emerge. Syllables are composed of onsets, which are initial consonants or consonant clusters, followed by rimes, the vowel and what follows it. In order to read, one must perceive these sound units of spoken language and link them to the corresponding spelling patterns in words. The connections are formed out of the readers’ general knowledge of phoneme-grapheme correspondences that recur in many words. Given the importance of these linguistic units, educators must determine the linguistic focus and the corresponding instructional activities that offer the highest probability that word recognition will occur.

There is no consensus as to the nature of the optimum beginning reading instruction. Reductionist theorists take a philosophic stance which holds that meanings in the world can be broken down into logically, verifiable sequences, where smaller parts of a phenomenon, when added together, describe and explain the whole phenomenon or meaning. Literacy scholars who embrace the reductionist stance insist that systematic instruction in phonological awareness and phonics benefits the reading accuracy of most children, and it can be taught in various ways. Reductionists assert that systematic phonics instruction helps level the playing field by improving the reading of at-risk children and poor readers. Early identification, screening, dynamic assessment in programs that include this instruction are cost-effective and highly successful in some large-scale implementations.

However, holistic literacy researchers are dubious of the evidence that supports explicit phonics instruction is for all children. Their whole-part-whole constructivist stance contends the whole of any phenomenon cannot be broken into parts then added together while maintaining the essence of the whole. This sequence aligns with language development theory to mathematics learning and forms the basis of the writing process, whole language techniques, inquiry-based science, and authentic assessment movements in education.

As the dyslexic matures, new and equally challenging decisions face literacy educators. For those who begin the intermediate grades with weak word recognition skills or poor fluency, the challenges of intermediate-level reading can lead to or exacerbate reading difficulties and lower-achievement. The demand to read more complex texts increases in the fourth and fifth grades. Likewise, teachers at these grade levels require students to do more independent reading and independent learning from their reading as the shift from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’ takes hold (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Students with lower-achievement in reading in the intermediate grades continue to experience reading difficulties throughout high school and adulthood. Students with reading difficulties are more likely than those without reading difficulties to drop out of school. They present a compelling argument that dropping out of school is not a one-time, one-moment phenomenon, but a situation that begins early in one’s school career when the efforts to attain a kind of school literacy that reflects high-level thinking about text goes awry. The sad end is that reading difficulties overshadow reading strengths when word recognition strategies compete with memory capacity for higher-level functions such as comprehension. This results in a painstaking effort by the reader to merely “get through” the text. Slow, capacity-draining word-recognition processes monopolize the reader’s cognitive resources leaving little to focus on higher-level processes of text integration and comprehension.

If the alphabetic principle, which facilitates rapid word recognition, is slow to be acquired and internalized or is not practiced sufficiently, students extend more of their cognitive energies to making sense of the words instead of the text. This phenomenon is also known as word-level comprehension failure.

Students in the intermediate grades who still struggle with word recognition read less because reading becomes unrewarding, thus practice with reading is avoided, precluding eventual growth and development. This phenomenon is a “downward spiral” for students, suggesting that if word-level difficulties are not overcome, the students’ experiences with reading become worse. What we know about stopping this downward spiral is limited.

The National Reading Conference (NRC) emphasizes the importance of keeping adolescents’ interests and needs in mind when designing effective literacy instruction at the middle and high school level. The following insights add to the growing complexity of providing appropriate literacy instruction in the 21st century:

1.) Adolescents’ perceptions of how competent they are as readers and writers, generally speaking, will affect how motivated they are to learn in their subject area classes (e.g., the sciences, social studies, mathematics, and literature). Thus, if academic literacy instruction is to be effective, it must address issues of self-efficacy and engagement.

2.) Adolescents respond to the literacy demands of their subject area classes when they have appropriate background knowledge and strategies for reading a variety of texts. Effective instruction develops students’ abilities to comprehend, discuss, study, and write about multiple forms of text (print, visual, and oral) by taking into account what they are capable of doing as everyday users of language and literacy.

3.) Adolescents who struggle to read in subject area classrooms deserve instruction that is developmentally, culturally, and linguistically responsive to their needs. To be effective, such instruction must be embedded in the regular curriculum and address differences in their abilities to read, write, and communicate orally as strengths, not as deficits.

4.) Adolescents’ interests in the Internet, hypermedia, and various interactive communication technologies (e.g., chat rooms where people can take on various identities unbeknown to others) suggest the need to teach youth to read with a critical eye toward how writers, illustrators, and the like represent people and their ideas—in short, how individuals who create texts make those texts work. At the same time, it suggests teaching adolescents that all texts, including their textbooks, routinely promote or silence particular views.

5.) Adolescents’ evolving expertise in navigating routine school literacy tasks suggests the need to involve them in higher level thinking about what they read and write than is currently possible within a transmission model of teaching, with its emphasis on skill and drill, teacher-centered instruction, and passive learning. Effective alternatives to this model include participatory approaches that actively engage students in their own learning (individually and in small groups) and that treat texts as tools for learning rather than as repositories of information to be memorized (and then all too quickly forgotten.

Power of Discourse

The context of the classroom and the pedagogical choices made by the teacher are critical in influencing how the struggling reader experiences a literacy event. Aspects of the teacher and the activity determined whether these women considered an event worthy of effort. This decision determines their level of participation in the literacy event and ultimately their literate identities. The affinity of these women for engagement in peer discussions reinforces the efficacy of discussions as an instructional approach for dyslexic readers. Discussions provide contexts where dyslexic readers may acquire a more complete understanding of the text, practice comprehension strategies in organic ways, and engage in high-level thinking about text.

The context of the classroom and the pedagogical choices made by the teacher are critical in influencing how the struggling reader experiences a literacy event. Aspects of the teacher and the activity determined whether these young people considered an event worthy of effort. This decision determines their level of participation in the literacy event and ultimately their literate identities. The affinity of these students for engagement in peer discussions reinforces the efficacy of discussions as an instructional approach for dyslexic readers. Discussions provide contexts where dyslexic readers may acquire a more complete understanding of the text, practice comprehension strategies in organic ways, and engage in high-level thinking about text.

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October 24, 2017 0 comments

A vivid yellow umbrella stands out among many floating black umbrellas against a cloudy sky with a touch of sunlight in the corner.

edLeaders Administrators Interviews

Fighting for Personalized Education

by Ian Egan October 23, 2017

written by Ian Egan 18 minutes read

An educational leader with a lifetime of focus on the individual student A Mind Rocket Media Group Interview

A vivid yellow umbrella stands out among many floating black umbrellas against a cloudy sky with a touch of sunlight in the corner. Dr. Marilyn Denison wanted to be in education from a very young age and followed her lifelong passion for teaching through college into the classroom.

Whether as a teacher, assistant principal, or principal, her focus has always been on individualized instruction. Marilyn knew from her own experiences that all students were different, and the most effective way to educate, even while performing the state-mandated standardized assessments, was through personalization.

Marilyn has fulfilled a variety of roles at the classroom, building, and district level. Most recently, she was asked to be Assistant Superintendent for Transformation and Strategic Initiatives at her district, Coppell Independent School District in Texas. The district is a member of the Texas Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC) and Marilyn’s new role will allow her to work on transforming education with a focus on individualized student learning.

Interview Transcript:

Mind Rocket: Marilyn, it’s really nice to be spending some time with you today. It was great to meet you at TPAC. For the audience; you’ve noticed that I’ve been paying attention to these discussions around accountability systems that districts and states are examining and looking at.

I had the privilege of attending the Texas Performance Assessment Consortium a few weeks ago, and I met Marilyn there.

Marilyn, I know that your title is Assistant Superintendent for Transformation and Strategic Initiatives in the district. I’m so interested in the transformation piece of that. But I want to rewind a little bit and understand, from your perspective, your own personal journey in education ─ how that shaped and molded you into the person you are now, the person who is doing this type of work on a day-to-day basis. Obviously, you have the skill sets to be doing lots of different things. You chose, though, to personally and professionally give back to education in a way that can transform lives of children and educators.

Share a little bit about your journey in education and how it got you here today.

Dr. Marilyn Denison: Certainly! First of all, it was a pleasure meeting you as well at the TPAC meeting. I’d like to share a little bit about my journey. It really started a long, long time ago. I’ve always been interested in education. Being a teacher was something that I was interested in at a young age, and I was able to follow my passion through college and became an educator.

My passion as a teacher was to individualize learning for each student and to find out what makes somebody interested in learning or even passionate about learning ─ and that has followed me through my whole career.

I then became an assistant principal and principal. I was very passionate at the building level to help educators find that in their students. And so, my journey was really not to do the status quo of education but to really look at the individuals and the students as a whole and provide all the means for the education for a student that way.

Then, I opened up a campus. My superintendent was really passionate about what I was doing at the campus level, so he brought me to the central office so that I could impact more principals and buildings through that journey. And then, I became the assistant superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction at Coppell. Recently, they moved me to Transformation and Strategic Initiatives so that I can focus more on continuing to transform education and, again, focus on individualized learning.

Mind Rocket: Let’s take a look back. From a professional perspective, when did you first recognize the opportunity that education brought you?

I think one of the things that we are challenged as an industry is communicating all the different, interesting, and valuable positions available to young people who are thinking about education in some form of their own professional lives.

You’ve had a very interesting path. There are others who have taken a similar path. But at what point did you recognize that there was opportunity beyond sort of that linear path that, I think, a lot of people in public think which is that you’re either a teacher or you’re an administrator?

MD: I think some of the opportunities opened up for me because others saw a passion in me and the strength in me. I’m not sure that I really set out to become who I am today. I’ve allowed the journey to influence the direction that I was going. And I believe it was because I saw education a little differently than a typical teacher when you first start teaching.

I learned differently as a child. And so, I wanted to make sure that I was tapping into students differently so that each child will have that opportunity and not teach to the middle of the class.

As an educator, as a teacher, I started out looking at each individual and finding out their talents, interests, and their passions and teaching to that individual and not to the whole class. And because of that, others saw that strength in me, and they wanted to continue to impact more people.

And so, I was always asked. I was asked to become a principal. I was asked to become an executive director. Those were different journeys for me because others saw the strength and asked me to continue the journey that way.

Mind Rocket: Being asked ─ I love that. I think it’s very interesting. And it’s powerful to think about the role others play in our own professional paths, especially in education and recognizing talent.

How have you changed as a person ─ just from a personal perspective ─ with the different levels of achievement that you’ve embarked on in education?

MD: As I continue to grow in my profession, I’ve always looked back and realized that I could have done a better job at each level because you continue to learn with a broader perspective in your job and in your roles and responsibilities. But it’s also in knowing that we’re never done in education and that education continues to change because our life around us changes.

Education tends to be the slower moving institution. And so, I’m looking at what was happening beyond ─ at our world, in our society ─ that we can help students be prepared for that and not just what we’ve done in our past.

I think I’m more influenced by what’s going on around us. Those people who have continued to ask me to take new roles continue to take risks on me by allowing me to look at education differently.

Mind Rocket: It’s a nice place to be when you’re allowed that space to reflect and learn from your path.

MD: Absolutely!

Mind Rocket: Let’s turn to looking at strategies and transformation. I think this area is very interesting because as we look at what some call “reforms” and what some call “change,” it just iterates through the process of educating youngsters. I think we’ve taken a different look at the ways in which we think about parent engagement, formative assessment, and personalized learning.

Out of those three, is there one that is highlighted for you?

Those seem to be the ones that keep popping up in the discussions I’m having. When I think about it, it gets down to documenting the learning that’s going on in a way we can learn ─ to your point earlier about reflecting ─ but also making the student a part of the process. And I think that that’s a real key today.

MD: You’re speaking my language when you’re stating it that way. I am about personalized learning and students being responsible for their learning, but I’m also for setting up the environment for that.

Sometimes, it’s hard for educators… and I mean principals, everybody… to step back and really allow the students to take that learning on their own, to make mistakes, and learn from their mistakes because those are the most powerful tools ─ our mistakes ─ and do a better job the next time or find new ways to make things work.

I think that’s the way of education in the future. It’s learning how to learn and not learning what we’ve learned from the past only. Learning how to learn is very important. Everybody learns differently so we should allow space for that.

Mind Rocket: Marilyn, we look at personalized learning. If you were asked, what recommendations would you have for a district that is evaluating their personalized learning efforts? What questions can they ask that would help to basically sort of reveal the true players in personalized learning who are doing it in ways that are much more expansive and comprehensive to the individuals we’re talking about ─ these students and the teachers in the room? What questions would you have them ask themselves about their own curriculum?

MD: Personalized learning is probably a pretty common thing to say and a very hard thing to do because educators have so many students they’re responsible for in a day and also a very deep curriculum that they’re responsible for as well.

In Texas, we have so many that they’re responsible for that you can’t get it done in the amount of time. So it’s really talking about asking the questions of what truly is important that students have to know based on the state requirements or the federal requirements. It’s about being very sharp on that.

It’s also asking “How do the environment and the delivery of it impact each student?” And then, “What resources are available to support that learning?”

There are a lot of angles to that. I think there’s so much in education and it’s hard for us to do it alone. I think, sometimes, there are outside resources that we need to look at. So it may even be a question of “What’s available outside of the education world to help support those?”

Mind Rocket: And a follow up to that would be “In evaluating those resources, what questions should they be asking as a leadership team?”

I think there’s a challenge. If we’re only focused on the budget or if we’re only focused on aligning with the current legacy system, that can, then, skew the truth of what we’re really trying to see.

If you take those pieces out and you just say, “Look, if we’re evaluating resource on its own, it’s a little bit of a taste test like the old Pepsi or Coke taste test where they cover it up and you sort of say, ‘What are we really looking at and how do we evaluate whether a resource is something we can learn to grow with as a part of the student’s life cycle or something that is going to be a challenge because it is brand new and it hasn’t really been tested?’”

So help us understand that from a way in which you might evaluate it.

MD: Of course, you always have to have the budget questions or the evaluative piece to that. I wish we didn’t have to drive with the budget, but we do because we have to be real.

There are so many resources out there. We can become overwhelmed with a number of resources, and each one resource might do one thing well.

So my investigation is more about what can pool our work together and bring it to more of a one-stop-shop type thing that surrounds the whole child ─ not only the whole child but the whole education family or anybody the child is going to be working with including the family members. Whoever surrounds that child, how can we all work smarter together, not necessarily harder?

It’s not the number of resources, but it’s the resource that can bring all of that together and give true accurate data. True, accurate resources based on the individual; and it’s also the ability to work within that child’s learning style and interest so that it keeps that child engaged in their work.

Mind Rocket: I appreciate you saying “engaged in their work.” Let’s dive a little deeper. Let’s go to the formative assessment piece and really tie that to what you were just saying to accountability systems. How we met was under a discussion around community-based accountability systems and whether or not standardized tests should really be the driver or the sole driver in our examination of learning that is taking place or not taking place within a given class or related to a given student.

When you were looking at those variables, how do you ─ in your estimation ─ predict what an accountability system can be if done correctly? Have we even thought about it in those terms?

We’re so caught up in the politics and the mud of the current day that it’s hard to project out as to what it really could look like and how it could impact formative assessment, potential parent engagement, and the student engagement of their learning?

MD: We really don’t like to focus on these state assessments ─ the one-shot-in-accountability ratings and all. We don’t think it’s fair. However, it’s not going to go away. So we want to be able to work with that better.

If we were able to get out of that system like what the high-performance schools consortium tried to do… where we wrote some of those laws to try to get us out of the state testing so that we could prove and show student growth in a different way that was more accurate for a student and more informative to the community than the state accountability tests.

Of course, we didn’t get to do that. But there is such a drive and a desire to do that.

A clenched fist punches through a sheet of shattered glass, with sharp cracks spreading outward against a black background. We all learn differently, and we shouldn’t have to be at one particular level at one given day in time and then be labeled at that. Again, we learn differently, and we’re interested in different ways of learning and different materials of learning.

It would be great if we had that opportunity to really work with individual students and determine what their path is and interest levels are. I keep saying “interest” but that’s a lot of different things ─ interest in what I want to do right now but it may be interest in the future or just traits that I am good at.

Not everybody is good at what I’m good at, and I’m certainly not good at what other people are good at. But we all have strengths, and we should be able to play to that and deal with some of our weaknesses and still grow in those as well.

Formative assessments would be the way to do that ─ to be able to identify where we’re at any given time and where we’re going with that information, with that work, and how deep we can go with that learning.

So formative assessments would be a better way to show growth in a student, keep them engaged in what they need to learn and what they want to learn, and keep them on their learning journey than a one-time high stakes testing.

Mind Rocket: You mentioned “proof” earlier. It makes me wonder. How do we reconcile having to prove ─ it’s almost like we’re in court! We have to prove, we have the burden of proof ─ as educators that what we’re doing is working? In your role, transformation is even in the title; it’s a key piece. How do we reconcile a world where we always have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that we are doing well by our students and that we have crafted a curriculum correctly when we’re trying to also transform the experience knowing that learning is fluid, knowing that technology changes, and that we all learn as we grow?

It seems that those are polar opposites and could pose a challenge to those like yourself in leadership positions who are trying to transform in a world where we’re being called on a carpet in a prove-it-to-me kind of mentality.

MD: I think that’s kind of the world we live in ─ that passed-failed type of mentality that we’ve always grown up with or been exposed to. But if we could get away from pass-fail and talk about “How did I grow this year? What did I master within the last fifty-two weeks?”

I would like to see a school system where we didn’t have grade levels and not be defined by where we’re at by our age, that we have modules of work that once we can show that we have mastered that work in different ways ─ whatever works.

Some people do like a pencil and paper test. Other people like to do it through art. Other people like to do it through a performance.

As long as we can have that mastery level, then, we can move on to some other work. And so, you might see kids graduating much earlier or much later. But that’s okay because that’s important for that child.

I would rather see the ability to master through your work and not be defined by a grade or by age.

Mind Rocket: Marilyn, let’s close with this. Let’s talk a little bit about the business of education and, more specifically, the business of accountability systems. How much does the business side of things or the equation impact the practice in the classroom from your perspective?

MD: Probably far too much ─ as much as we would prefer to work around it. I think teachers always feel burdened by these high-stakes testing and the accountability and the labels that go with it. They feel such an obligation to really lean towards it. Even though we speak a loud message here in our district to not focus on the test but really focus on transformational practices and look at the future and prepare kids for their future, not our past ─ and we really work on that ─ but teachers are still feeling a little bit trapped in that.

The state says we have to do this and we are going to be given a grade. And so, that tends to bind them in feeling free to do their work as much as we try to work around that.

Mind Rocket: It means that you will ─ at least, for the near term ─ be busy because transformation and strategy take a lot of work. And they’re very lucky to have you there working on this not just in your district but also in statewide associations and with TPAC. I think what you’re doing is great. And it’s so nice to catch up with you.

Thanks so much, Marilyn.

MD: Thank you so much.

About Dr. Marilyn Denison:

Dr. Marilyn Denison graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. She went on to pursue a Masters degree in Counseling and Educational Administration from East Central University in Oklahoma.

From there, she earned her Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Sam Houston State University in 2006. Dr. Denison began her career as a teacher in Oklahoma; she later became an assistant principal and principal at various elementary campuses in Oklahoma and Texas. As a transformational leader, Dr. Denison opened Ginger McNabb Elementary School, a Great Expectations Model school, in Spring, Texas. She later served as the Executive Director of Elementary Education in Spring ISD.

Dr. Denison joined Coppell ISD in 2011 as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. She currently serves as Assistant Superintendent for Transformation and Strategic Initiatives for the district.

Follow Marilyn Denison on Twitter.

This article was originally posted in the Huffington Post
AuthorDr. Berger is one of many industry education correspondents for the Mind Rocket Media Group, An educator and former school administrator. His video interview work and conversational podcasts have been featured in various media outlets. He often hosts education panel discussions and develops strategic content. As an academic Dr. Berger is a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. A former assistant principal, he has been an adjunct undergraduate professor and developer of online college courses. He is a passionate Detroit sports fan who has also adopted Nashville sports teams as his own.

Contact the Mind Rocket Media Group if you are interested in an industry interview and a placement on EdCircuit.
Further Reading

EdSurge – My Personalized Learning Approach Isn’t About Tech. It’s About Dignity.
Education Week – What Is the Future of Individualized Education Programs?
The Hechinger Report – Massachusetts districts now trade notes on best paths to personalized learning

October 23, 2017 0 comments

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