Improving Literacy Achievement: An Effective Approach to Continuous Progress

Billions of dollars are spent searching for programs and strategic plans that will prove to be the panacea for improving literacy achievement. With all of the experimental and researched programs implemented in school districts, the overall results are still at a minimum and many improvement gains have been short term. Improving Literacy Achievement focuses on literacy achievement through a Continuous Progress conceptual approach. This book features detailed steps for developing and implementing a literacy program for primary students in grades K-3 and includes chapters on looping, or continuous progress, at higher levels (grades 4-5). Carolyn E. Haley shows how looping at these levels proves to be an effective practice in increasing student achievement in all subject areas as evidenced in her research and extensive work.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 What Is the Continuous Progress Approach? Chapter 2 Defining Literacy Chapter 3 What Is Continuous Progress? Chapter 4 Nongraded versus Graded Chapter 5 Understanding the Rationale Chapter 6 Who Should Try This Program and Why? Chapter 7 Challenges to Face Chapter 8 Linking Literacy Instruction to Continous Progress Part 9 How Does This Program Differ from the Traditional School Program? Chapter 10 Performance Grouping versus Tracking Chapter 11 Level Progression Chapter 12 Using Performance Data to Close Literacy Achievement Gaps Chapter 13 Rethinking Retention Chapter 14 What Happens When Students Transfer? Part 15 Reorganizing for Continous Progress Chapter 16 Leadership and Support Chapter 17 Establishing an Effective School Culture Chapter 18 Professional Development through Reflective Practice Chapter 19 Putting It Together Chapter 20 Intermediate Looping and Continous Progress Part 21 Steps to a Successful School Reform Chapter 22 Step One: Identify Rationale for Reform Chapter 23 Step Two: Establish a Schoolwide Shared Vision Chapter 24 Step Three: Shape Your School Culture Chapter 25 Step Four: Identify Program Components in Need of Change Chapter 26 Step Five: Develop a Reform Timeline Chapter 27 Step Six: Design an Effective Professional Development Plan Chapter 28 Step Seven: Develop an Assessment and Accountability Plan

About the Author :
Carolyn E. Haley, a teacher, administrator, and educational consultant has thirty-two years of experience in education. She has spent the past twenty-one years as a school administrator in both urban and suburban school districts.

Review :
As an education reporter, I often saw educators shy from new ideas, but Haley's school was revolutionary and effective in its approach to literacy, and her students' reading scores quickly told the tale. This book is important, especially for parents and educators with students in poverty-stricken or low-performing schools. The continuous progress model is a child-centered, developmentally appropriate, effective program. It provides students the time necessary to acquire the reading skills to become proficient readers. At-risk students that come to school lagging in the background knowledge required for success in the traditional grades are never left behind. Haley's book on successfully designing and implementing the continuous progress program to improve student literacy should be required reading for teachers, administrators, and researchers alike. This planned change intervention simultaneously provides an innovative and proven alternative strategy to the one-size-fits-all approach for teaching reading skills in the public school setting. Haley stepped out from the norm when she implemented for children a continuous progress model of instructional delivery at Triangle Elementary School, Prince William County, Virginia. She found a way to successfully meet children's needs at their appropriate levels of instruction. The success she achieved was simply phenomenal.