Based on our Fall Grade 8 Reading for Information assessment, the majority of our grade 8 are demonstrating emerging or developing levels of proficiency. We are also curious about the literacy needs of students with disabilities and diverse abilities and would like to explore common supports and strategies for students across the curriculum.    

Our Inquiry Question is: 

How can we support the literacy needs of grade 8 students with disabilities and diverse abilities so they can deepen their confidence to interpret and understand text, independently choose strategies to support reading comprehension, making meaningful inferences, and make connections text, self and the world around them. 

Our goal is to start our grade 8 students off in a good way, which includes strengthening their literacy skills.  Based on the Reading for Information assessment, we are noticing that:

• 16% of students are proficient at identifying the main idea and supporting details
• 26% of students are proficient at decoding text
• 11% of students are proficient at explaining how they are using text features to make meaning of text 
• 8% of students are proficient at making connections

The grade 8 team is committed to examining the data from the Reading for Information assessment, as well as anecdotal data from teachers to create an overall grade-wide class profile of strengths and stretches so that we can develop targeted next steps. 

When we looked at the data from the Reading for Information Assessment, we noticed that the majority of students with disabilities and diverse abilities are achieving emerging or developing levels of proficiency.  We are curious about how we can support students with explicit instruction across the curriculum specifically in the areas of: 

• identifying main ideas and supporting ideas
• making meaningful connections
• making inferences

so that students can deepen their understanding of text, increase their independence and confidence as a reader, and move towards greater reading proficiency. 

Fall Grade 8 Reading for Information Assessment

Spring Grade 8 Reading for Information Assessment

Teacher observations about student literacy skills in class

Here are the actions to support our inquiry question: 

Dedicate time at department meetings to share data from Reading Information Assessments, examine patterns and trends, ask questions and determine next steps.

Create a grade-wide grade 8 class profile to examine strengths and stretches of the cohort based on the Reading for Information Assessments and teacher observations.  Use this information to support targeted instructional strategies in classrooms.   

Build capacity of the Grade 8 team by participating in the district’s Literacy Community of Practice initiative.  This opportunity will support teachers to collaborate with other colleagues outside of the school, examine their practice, share strategies and determine next steps to respond to student needs. 

Collaborate with the grade 8 team and Literacy consultant to explore more specific ways to target instruction across the curriculum.   

Success will be measured by teacher observations in classes, and the Spring Reading for Information Assessment.  Success will be evident when students can independently and consistently:

• identify the main ideas and supporting ideas
• make meaningful connections between the text, themselves, and the world around them
• make insightful inferences that relevant and meaningful

Similar to the Fall, students will complete a Spring Reading for Information Assessment. We expect that there will be a decrease in the number of students achieving emerging and developing proficiency levels, and an increase in the number of students at the proficient and extending levels.