DOVER -- The Dover Middle School was recently recognized for having the highest growth level on statewide standardized tests; an achievement teachers and administrators credit to a home-grown program called Dover Growing Readers. Dover’s success has school districts around the country asking “how did they do it?”
The answer is a testament to the power of collaboration and teamwork. In 2006 the district reading and writing committee looked at several publishing companies as they considered purchasing a reading program. These programs, called basal, are typically developed in large school districts in places like Texas and California.
Paula Glynn, the director of curriculum for Dover schools, said the group realized it made more sense to “write our own” to better meet the needs of Dover students and still have a program aligned to state standards. The committee spent hours in meetings, looking at systems already in place, exploring what worked and what didn’t.
With strong support from the former and current superintendent, Glynn says a key component of Dover Growing Readers is the investment in the process and the people, in particular, the creation of literacy facilitators who coach, support and model instruction. Facilitators also do some targeted interventions but their main goal is to support the teachers and consult on child specific needs.
Liz Birnam, facilitator at Garrison Elementary, says creating these positions is symbolic of Dover’s commitment to literacy. Birnam adds the district-wide system leveled the playing field for resources, created uniformity and was especially beneficial to children who moved within the city during a school year, “because we use a common assessment, we open a folder and know exactly where each student is.”
Jackie Tromba, literacy facilitator at Woodman Park Elementary, said at first schools were competitive and wanted to keep their own programs, but by involving someone at every grade level at every school, the team dynamic became a powerful force for change.
Teachers genuinely enjoy teaching the material and there is empowerment in that as well. Kelly Alford began teaching first grade at Woodman Park four years ago. She says having the core standards and lesson plans outlined is especially beneficial to new teachers.
Sharon Shea, also a first grade teacher at Woodman Park, says using a common system is also helpful if a teacher moves from one grade to another or within the city. Shea has taught for more than thirty years and has seen the downside of a canned reading program that has to be replaced every five years and she says these often lack components that work well or contain material that doesn’t.
Another key element of Dover Growing Readers is the use of reading rooms that contain books organized by level, content area and providing multi-cultural and strategic texts. Teachers throughout the school can choose material appropriate to their individual students’ needs. This sharing of resources is extremely cost-effective both in the short term by providing better selections for less and in the long term, because texts selected for reading can also meet the guidelines for other subject areas like history or science.
In a basal, the one-size-fits-all approach can result in material that is deemed ineffective. Shea says Dover Growing Readers is still growing, and books can be added or taken away at a much lower cost than replacing an entire program. The built in facilitator means the cost of professional development is lower, too.
Finally, the diverse, yet carefully chosen material allows a student to choose a book they will learn from and enjoy. That choice is a big motivator. Parents are seeing kids reading, enjoying it and struggling less.
Deb Nary, facilitator at Horne Street School, says too often you just can’t find a book in the library for first-graders that is both age-appropriate and challenging.
In Dover kindergarteners are reading non-fiction, learning about a table of contents and a glossary. Glynn says it’s just a natural for them, “we’re not just teaching children to read we are teaching them to love reading.”