Refocusing Priorities for the Common Core: Literacy Instruction in Odds-Beating Diverse Elementary Schools

• In Event: 52.022 - Defining Characteristics and Practices of "Odds-Beating" Elementary Schools Implementing the Common Core Learning Standards and the New Annual Professional Performance Review

Abstract

Literacy is an important conduit for social justice in diverse communities (Lee, 2007). While prior to the implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), elementary educators spent much of their effort on literacy instruction, the CCLS were designed to refocus their efforts. The purpose of this study was to investigate literacy practices in “odds-beating” diverse elementary schools.

Theory

This study is rooted in sociocultural theory in recognition of the “social turn” in literacy research that challenged the deficit paradigm of literacy practices in diverse communities (Heath, 1983; Luke, 1992). This social view suggests that literacy development both impacts and reflects the local contexts and is best understood by taking into account cultural and historical contexts (Author, 2013; Gutiérrez, Morales, & Martinez, 2009).

Methods

In this mixed-method multiple case study we used regression analyses to identify a sample of elementary schools with significantly higher performance on Common Core-aligned literacy assessments. Several of these schools had fairly diverse populations (socioeconomically, culturally, and linguistically).

The current study was delimited accordingly. It focused only on the most diverse schools to address three main questions: How do educators in diverse schools with comparatively higher performance on CCLS-aligned assessments approach literacy instruction? How did they proceed with the adoption and implementation of CCLS-aligned instruction? How do these educators explain their students’ performance on the CCLS-aligned literacy assessments?

Data Sources and Analytic Procedures

Compared to the state average, the three schools in this analysis had higher poverty (e.g., “Yellow Valley ES”) and/or higher African-American (e.g., “Bay City ES”) and/or higher Hispanic/Latino and English learner populations (e.g., “Goliad ES”). Methods included key informant interviews with principals, mainstream teachers and English Second Language teachers; focus groups; documentary evidence; and classroom observations. Cross-case analyses utilizing NVivo software were conducted to identify salient characteristics of practice.

Findings

The data analyzed from the three schools revealed variations in the extent to which each used the New York State Education Department’s pre-packaged CCLS modules for ELA. Notwithstanding these differences, these schools shared particular characteristics with regard to CCLS implementation. Although the higher-poverty, yet less ethnically diverse school in the sample (“Yellow Valley ES”) had not adopted the State’s ELA modules, while the other two schools had done so with high degrees of fidelity, evidence suggested that strict implementation fidelity was not the most important factor.

Students’ achievement on the Common Core literacy assessments was related to the following factors found in all three schools: (1) An already strong tradition of literacy instruction characterized in part by embedded and ongoing professional development for teachers in the use of differentiation techniques, close reading of text, and an emphasis on informational reading;
(2) Provision by district- and school-level leaders of clear, coherent and aligned district and school goals, recommended instructional practices, and data-driven instructional monitoring systems.

Significance

The paper will highlight the factors related to diverse student achievement on the CCLS-aligned ELA assessments. These findings have import for future research and practice with regard to CCLS ELA implementation in diverse elementary schools.

Authors

• Kristen C. Wilcox, University at Albany - SUNY

• Janet I. Angelis, State University of New York

• Karen Gregory, University at Albany - SUNY