Student Growth with Reading Apprenticeship: Aligning Leadership, Literacy Instruction, and Professional Learning Rich Township, IL - Student Growth | Rich Township High School District 227, IL Rich Township Increasing Literacy Ninth graders at Rich Township High School District 227, IL (“RTHS”) nearly doubled their growth in reading achievement in 2023-2024. This gain took place in a community that experienced a lot of change in the early 2020s. RTHS leaders sought a way to bring teachers, administrators, staff and students together to improve student achievement through a focus on community and a common vision of success. As part of this work, they embarked on a multi-year implementation of Reading Apprenticeship and coaching with WestEd. Located in Cook County, south of Chicago, RTHS’s student population is predominantly African American and the district serves over 2,300 high school students. RTHS has been experiencing many of the challenges shared by districts all over the country since the pandemic – lower student engagement, consolidation of schools due to low attendance, students entering high school with lower proficiency in core academic subjects, and less use of collaborative and dialogue-driven teaching strategies in the classroom. To address these challenges, the RTHS set goals focused on student learning, as well as for teacher and administrator professional growth. RTHS Goals and Teacher/Admin Supports Improve students’ literacy performance and engagement in school Provide teachers and administrators shared support for three years to create a professional, positive culture for both faculty and students Engage leadership in instructional change and professional learning alongside teachers Identify specific measurable goals and related measures shared district-wide Getting Started with Reading Apprenticeship Teachers and principals work together Once RTHS determined that Reading Apprenticeship was a match for their district’s teacher professional learning and student learning goals, they embarked on a multi-year plan with WestEd to implement Reading Apprenticeship and engage in ongoing support for teacher learning and student growth. RTHS leaders identified ninth grade student achievement growth as a keystone to district-wide improvement and engaged all 100+ ninth-grade teachers and three high school leaders in professional learning. They supported their teachers to make positive, evidence-based changes in instruction using Reading Apprenticeship; as most districts do, they engaged in other interventions (one for math, one for writing, etc), but their leaders used Reading Apprenticeship to build coherence. Inclusive Planning and Support for Literacy Learning Across Disciplines and Roles Dr. Gallick points out that involving administrators, principals, and teachers together in the work has been key to their positive changes, as has been the consistent support from WestEd’s facilitators Laurie Erby and Dr. Tinaya York. These Reading Apprenticeship experts work with district leaders through the planning, adapting implementation and improvement cycles as teachers integrate practices into their existing schedules and curriculum, while still staying true to the design principles that have assured Reading Apprenticeship’s success in efficacy studies. “Having teachers and administrators involved throughout was key. They all really loved the work and being involved in designing learning opportunities in ways they hadn’t before.” Asst. Supt. Gallick School-Year Support and Well-Paced Learning Across all Subjects Following the initial Reading Apprenticeship professional learning sessions, RTHS teachers began integrating Reading Apprenticeship into their classrooms and they received support from WestEd’s expert Reading Apprenticeship coaches during the school year, and, importantly, reserved planning time. “WestEd would come out for a coaching visit, and we would all circle up and plan those two days together, so it really empowered and supported the principals and teachers.” RTHS Administrator One of Reading Apprenticeship’s norms is “Go slow at the beginning in order to go fast over the long run.” Gallick says this was in evidence – that teachers expressed appreciation for not being rushed. He and his administrator colleagues noted that more than 80% of teachers surveyed by the district about the professional learning said it was valuable – this is well above their usual trend with satisfaction rates for professional learning experiences. Improved Student Growth – in Class and on Assessments RTHS teachers report that their students’ use of academic language in class has improved, as has their ability to have more substantive, text-based dialogue in class. This change is also showing up in their reading and writing. The ninth-grade students have demonstrated exceptional growth, with practically ‘doubling their reading levels’ and achieving a 17% increase in reading and writing SAT 9 scores. This achievement surpasses that of any other grade level. Teachers have also observed a significant shift in student persistence and problem solving when facing difficult texts. As George Vlahakis, a social studies teacher, noted, I’ve seen the students much more confident, attacking texts they find ‘boring’… in all of their classes, not just mine…. They’re able to grapple and struggle; they’re okay with it and thus much more advanced than they used to be.” Social studies teacher, Vlahakis Leadership Stays the Course In line with much of the Reading Apprenticeship team’s experience, the success of the ninth-grade teachers created curiosity and excitement in their colleagues the following school year. “We are especially excited because many of the 10th grade students will be familiar with the literacy routines, thus will be starting with some of these strategies already in hand because of their 2023-4 experience with Reading Apprenticeship last year….“We are especially excited because many of the tenth-grade students will be starting with some of these strategies already in hand. We plan to stay with our three-year commitment … This was important to our principals.” Asst. Supt. Gallick So, in 2024-25 RTHS added both depth and breadth to its ongoing professional learning work. Their work includes: 9th grade teachers continue to engage with Reading Apprenticeship coaching support 10th grade teachers began Reading Apprenticeship Essentials School leadership teams engage in “Leading for Literacy” which is Reading Apprenticeship’s online and/or two-day learning experience leaders Based on their 2023-2024 success, Rich Township District 227 set goals for the future aligned with these strategies: Rich Township graph showing benchmarking success RTHS leaders, despite the many urgent issues needing their attention, were willing to make the time to assess teacher and student needs, identify solutions, articulate goals, and engage with every level of their school and community. Beyond meeting their own needs, RTHS leaders are willing to be a part of the larger education vision of our country and have made time to speak with leaders in their region, education news outlets like EdWeek, and our WestEd staff. Thank you RTHS! Everyone can meet RTHS leader Kevin Gallick and other educators in a December 4 webinar (recording will be made available on our website). Generate positive im

Student Growth with Reading Apprenticeship: Aligning Leadership, Literacy Instruction, and Professional Learning

Rich Township High School District 227

November 22, 2024

Ninth graders at Rich Township High School District 227, IL (“RTHS”) nearly doubled their growth in reading achievement in 2023-2024. This gain took place in a community that experienced a lot of change in the early 2020s. RTHS leaders sought a way to bring teachers, administrators, staff and students together to improve student achievement through a focus on community and a common vision of success. As part of this work, they embarked on a multi-year implementation of Reading Apprenticeship and coaching with WestEd.

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