Describe strategies implemented. Are they happening as intended

The Literacy Leader has focused on before, during, and after reading strategies with grade 8 teachers: 

• Before Reading strategies such as Activating Prior Knowledge and Making Predictions to help students enter texts with purpose and connection. 
• During Reading strategies including Think-Alouds, Visualizing, and Monitoring and Clarifying to make the thinking process of reading visible and teach students how to navigate complex texts. 
• After Reading strategies like Summarizing, Graphic Organizers, and Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) to consolidate understanding and deepen comprehension. 

Identify the gap you are addressing (ensure it is connected to the focus

Teachers are continuing to build the literacy toolkit for students so that they have a variety of strategies to use to access, comprehend and reflect about text in all classes.  Teachers are getting students to think about their reading in chunks: before reading, during reading and after reading. 

Include quantitative and/or qualitative sources. For whom is the learning improving/not improving?

Teachers are noticing that students are engaging in text in more intentional and meaningful ways.  More students are independently able to choose before reading, during reading and after reading strategies to help themselves access text. 

Assess what the evidence tells you about the effectiveness of the actions. Is student learning improving?

Anecdotally, teachers are noticing that students are engaging in text more intentionally.  Strategies are becoming more familiar and used across different classes. 

Data from our Grade 8 Spring Performance Based Assessment shows that approximately 70% of students are proficient at being able to identity the main ideas and supporting details, and over 50% of students can identify and use text features to interpret text. 

What practices will you affirm, adjust, adopt, or abandon?

Teachers will continue to chunk the reading strategies into before, during and after reading strategies.  Different teachers used different strategies in their classrooms.  We will try using the same strategies with the cohort of grade 8s so there is consistency between teachers, and students will have multiple opportunities to use the reading strategies across the curriculum.