Running Head: ANALYZING A SCHOOL LITERACY PROGRAM 1
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ANALYZING A SCHOOL LITERACY PROGRAM
Analyzing a School Literacy Program
Amanda McGee
American College of Education
Analyzing A School Literacy Program
For this assignment, I completed a survey to assess my school’s literacy program by using a survey that was adapted from research on outstanding literacy programs conducted by Patty, Maschoff, and Ransom (1996). The survey outlined the instructional program and the literacy program infrastructure of my school’s literacy program. The following analysis describes the strengths and weaknesses of the literacy program of a diverse school in Portsmouth, Virginia. I will be discussing a strength and a weakness, supported by student data, from the literacy program infrastructure of my school’s literacy program. Then, I will then include steps that I would take in order to improve the school’s literacy program. As I am currently in my second year of teaching first grade, as well as my second year of teaching, I hope to improve my approach to teaching literacy through this process.
From the survey I completed on my school’s literacy program, I found that my school is adequate in performance for most of the literacy characteristics relating to the instructional program and the literacy program infrastructure. However, I would like to see the school improve and have some more outstanding characteristics. Our literacy program needs improvements especially in the areas of parent involvement with the literacy program, teachers working with the librarian in order to strengthen literacy, and teachers being able to understand and integrate technology into the literacy program. The school does do a great job with regards to using summative assessments to determine how to differentiate instruction and to decide what interventions to put in place. We also use multicultural resources and materials while teaching literacy, and while making decisions about future literacy instruction. I would like to see my school continue to do well with these characteristics, as well as work to strengthen the characteristics that are adequate and need improvement.
The biggest strength that my school has in its literacy program is the ongoing summative assessment of the students and the programs that are used. The literacy programs that are in use are iReady, PALs, and the Reading Street textbook series. iReady is an independent, computer-generated program that students use daily as an online instructional tool. It personalizes learning for each student based on the student’s state, grade, and ability. It also connects traditional literacy and media literacy. According to Young and Daunic, “Involvement in media literacy programs can spark interest to engage in literate practices” (2012). iReady also accepts feedback from teachers for future improvements. We use iReady’s summative assessments, that are performed three times during the year, to determine what standa...
