1. hobbies and interests
2. reading

For Teachers, Coaches
and Principals in the
Voyager Community
How to Prevent
Summer
Learning Loss
Correcting with
Confidence
Effective feedback
for struggling readers
Teaching English
Language Learners
Research-based strategies
that work for ELL
Great Strides for
Special Education
How IDEA 2004 will affect
reading instruction
Hoosiers Score Big
With Professional
Development
Spring 2005
Letter from
the
CEO
It is with great pleasure that I introduce myself to each of you in the
Voyager community. This January, Voyager became a part of ProQuest—
a publicly-held company. Some of you may be familiar with ProQuest
Information and Learning, a leader in collecting, organizing, and publishing
information worldwide for researchers, faculty, and students. We provide
libraries and schools—perhaps your schools—with high-quality, online
educational resources, including eLibrary, SIRS and XanEdu.
For a number of years, we have wanted to increase our growth and
influence in the K-12 market, particularly in providing effective curriculum.
We searched for a company with curriculum programs that didn’t just
claim results, but had proven it could deliver. When we found Voyager,
we knew we had found the perfect partner.
Voyager programs not only reflect the research-based, high-quality
material that is at the heart of our Information and Learning division, it is a
leader in designing and supporting learning solutions. We are great believers
in efficacy—that is, not just delivering resources, but investing equally in
making sure they are used effectively. Voyager makes that commitment.
Voyager is an independent division of ProQuest and, we are delighted
to say, continues with the same executive management team that has
guided its tremendous growth. Randy Best, founder and former CEO, will
join the ProQuest Board and continue to actively support Voyager.
Ron Klausner, President of ProQuest Information and Learning, is acting
as Voyager’s General Manager.
In this issue of Voyager Connection, we bring you more success stories
from campuses and districts across the United States, as well as information
about how research-based strategies and recent legislative reforms are
having an impact on reading results. I am proud to be aligned with a
company that is not only dedicated to improving education in our nation’s
schools, but also has a track record of achievement. We value your hard
work in making this happen, and thank you for being part of our
extended family.
JERI NOWAKOWSKI
EVP of Product Development,
Research & Marketing
LESLIE J. THOMPSON
Managing Editor
MICHELLE SULZER
Creative Director
KAREN NELSON
Contributing Writer
PEGGY MARRIN
Contributing Writer
KRISTEN HURST
Writer at Large
DAWN MORTON-NELSON
Writer at Large
Voyager Connection is published by
Voyager Expanded Learning and is
provided free of charge to teachers,
principals, coaches and superintendents
in the Voyager community. Customers
can also download the magazine in PDF
format after logging into the Voyager
Website.To request additional print copies,
please email lknox@voyagerlearning.com
or call Laurie Knox at (888) 399-1995.
Share your own stories, photos and
teaching tips, and you may be featured
in the next issue of Voyager Connection!
Send an email to Leslie J. Thompson at
lthompson@voyagerlearning.com, or call
(888) 399-1995 ext. 9458.Thank you for
being a part of the Voyager community!
VOYAGER EXPANDED LEARNING
1800 Valley View Lane, Suite 400
Dallas, TX 75234
Ph: (888) 399-1995
Fx: (214) 932-3236
www.voyagerlearning.com
Alan Aldworth
CEO
ProQuest
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
spring 2005
4 TEACHER TIPS
contents
Universal Literacy
15
6 COACHES’ CORNER
A Year-End Boost for Emerging Readers
7 JUST IN TIME
Correcting with Confidence
8 VOYAGER HELPS BOAZ STUDENTS
EXCEL IN READING
Children learn phonics curriculum to bridge the gap
between kindergarten and first grade
10 HELPING SPANISH-SPEAKING STUDENTS
Voyager uses research-based strategies to change reading
outcomes for English Language Learners
Passport
15 SERVING SPECIAL ED STUDENTS
10
The impact of the new IDEA legislative reforms on
teaching reading to children with disabilities
VoyagerU
18 HOOSIERS SCORE BIG WITH
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Indiana Reading Academy takes teacher training
to a higher level
Feature
20 PREVENTING SUMMER
LEARNING LOSS
How reading for ten weeks can make a
difference for a lifetime
Our Community
29 VOYAGER IN ACTION
Teachers and students using Voyager’s reading
programs share recent achievements
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
8
YOUR OPINION COUNTS!
In a continuing effort to improve
Voyager Connection, we will be
conducting a short survey with a
select group of readers later this
month.Voyager values your input
regarding the magazine’s content
and format, and if chosen, you
will receive a $10 gift card from
Amazon.com for participating.
3
Teacher Tips
Universal Literacy
Passport
A B C
K 1 2 3
The Meaning is Transparent
Here’s a fun way to play concentration with the whole class.
1
2
3
4
5
On a 5” x 5” or 6” x 6” overhead transparency grid,
write vocabulary words on half the squares with
their corresponding definitions on the other half.
Be sure to mix the words and definitions.
20
Questions
Here’s a clever version
of the classic road trip
game, adapted from
Critical Components
of Reading: Vocabulary
Divide the class into two teams.
Activities on www.texasreading.org. To begin, tell
Cover each square on the transparency with a
Post-It Note®, so the words are no longer visible.
students you are thinking about one of their
Call on one team to choose a square. Uncover the
square and read what it contains. Instruct the team to
choose another square in the other half of the grid.
If the word and definition match, cross both squares
off and award that team one point. If the squares do
not match, cover the spaces back up and call on
the second team.
or “no” questions to help them determine which
Continue play until the board is completely
uncovered. For younger students, you may
wish to use a smaller grid.
game for a time, let Team Leaders think of a word
vocabulary words. The students must ask you “yes”
word you have in mind. The goal is for students to
ask specific questions and guess the answer in less
than 20 questions. As an added incentive, you can
reward your students for each word guessed correctly in less than 20 questions. After modeling this
while other students guess.
A TOWER OF WORDS
1
Make photocopies of a paper cube cut-out so you have one per student. Cut-out
templates can often be found in language arts, math or science workbooks.
2 Distribute the paper cubes and have students write their vocabulary words
on the six sides, one word per side.
3 Have students cut out and carefully tape their cube together.
4 Students begin building a vocabulary word tower with
their cubes. The first student places his or her word cube
on the floor with the word of his or her choice facing up.
The student reads the word, defines the word, and uses the
word in a sentence. Older students may also give a list of
synonyms for that word. The next student then places his or
her cube atop the first cube and repeats the same procedure, but the student must use a different word than the
one just given.
5 Students continue to create a word tower with
their cubes until it ultimately collapses, at which
point play resumes with the next student beginning
the tower once again.
4
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
D E F G
Snip ‘n’ Switch
This game is good for students who
are learning more complex vocabulary.
First, assign several vocabulary words
to each student. Have each student
write his or her assigned words on a sentence strip, and cut the words apart. For
example, if the word is lobster, the student
should cut the word apart after the b and before
the s (lob-ster). Group students in pairs and ask them to shuffle their cards and trade all their cards with their
partner. Each student then tries to rebuild the words by matching the word parts.
Vocabulary
Match Game
Picture This!
Many students have an easier time
retaining information when they
see it in pictures. Letting students
create visual vocabulary aids can
help solidify their knowledge and
understanding of new words
from their daily lessons. First, introduce the words to the whole class.
Assign one word per student or pair of
students, depending on the number of
words there are, and direct students to create a
visual art display of their word. The poster or chart should include the word
and a pronunciation key (if grade appropriate),a pictorial depiction of what the
word means or looks like to the student, and a written line at the bottom of
the poster using the word in a sentence. For older students, have them use
the word in different contexts if applicable. Students can present their posters
or charts to the class, explaining their word. Older students may also write each
word as it is presented with its definition.
1
On note cards, write a vocabulary
word on one end of the card and the
definition of a different vocabulary
word on the other. Make sure there
is one card for each student plus one
for you. If necessary, repeat the words
and definitions to ensure that everyone can participate.
2 Review the words with the class.
3 Pass out the note cards.Allow students
enough time to silently read their word
and the definition.
4
Begin the game by reading the definition on your card. The student who
has the word that is defined by what you
read will then read his or her definition.
The student who has the word that is
defined by what the student read will
then continue the game until everyone
has participated at least once.
TELL US ABOUT the projects, activities and unique ideas that make learning come alive in your classroom!
Contact Managing Editor Leslie J. Thompson at lthompson@voyagerlearning.com.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
5
Universal Literacy
COACHES’ CORNER
Targeting
Emerging Readers
By Karen Nelson
It’s springtime, and maintaining the focus for
young children on reading improvement can
be challenging. But, the first months of the
calendar year provide a perfect opportunity to
move students with emergent reading skills ahead
to achieve proficiency on high-stakes assessments.
This is the time to focus on fluency at all grade levels.
For kindergartners, building fluency at the
word level will lead to fluency with connected text.
At this time of year, students practice reading
words the “fast way”, without sounding them out
phonetically, to build automaticity. To make
practice more fun, teachers can create flash
cards of sight words to use at the Teaching
6
Station, or have on-track students create them
to practice spelling in an independent station.
You can also incorporate duplicate sets of
the cards in a matching game at independent
stations, and send the cards home with students for
extra practice.
In first grade and beyond, the focus is on fluency
with connected text. The period between the final
two benchmarks is prime time to give emerging
readers the boost they need to end the year on track.
Following are tips for research-based strategies and
clever incentives to enhance fluency instruction
before the end of the school year using the Voyager
Universal Literacy System®.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Reaching New Heights
Teachers in Marengo County, Alabama,
use the Blast Off to Reading materials
for fluency instruction. At Sweet
Water School, a K-12 campus, Reading
First Coordinator Stephanie Pope,
Reading Coach Bobette Huggins, and
Assistant Principal Michael Bedsole
added a reading rotation in the afternoon
to provide additional fluency practice.
Teachers use Blast Off passages during
this small group instruction time and
in small group instruction during the
morning reading block. The fluency
work really pays off for young learners.
The Blast Off to Reading minibooks can be downloaded from the
Voyager VIP Website and printed out for
the classroom. Teachers can customize
each student’s independent level text
by downloading Blast Off passages from
grade level, or a grade level behind or
ahead, depending on individual student
needs. Once students are proficient with
the partner-reading and timing routines,
they can use any text for independent
practice. In addition to the Blast Off
passages, the Decodable Books—also
available online—provide alternative
text for children building fluency.
Getting a Boost
from Technology
Marengo County teachers also figured
out a way to address two needs at once
during reading practice. They aligned the
science and social studies topics in the
Coaches’ Corner section of the VIP
Website to state standards. They now use
afternoon time to have students practice
fluency on text that meets the standards
for science and social studies.
Further north, in Philadelphia,
teachers are using the first-grade
SeaCastles eVoyages with struggling
students in the second grade. The
interactive lessons on the eVoyages
CD-Rom include all the decoding
skills they need to get back on track
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
before the end of the year. The
eVoyages lessons can be downloaded
on any campus computer, because
the site license includes all computers
on one campus.
These last few months of school
give students the chance to blossom
by improving their reading fluency,
so they can comprehend what they
read. From this comprehension
springboard, children develop a love
of reading that can last a lifetime.
just
in
time
CORRECTING WITH CONFIDENCE
Kim Wagner, a special education teacher from Oxford Elementary School in
Oxford, Alabama, shares her insights concerning the use of Correction
Procedures within the Voyager Passport Reading Intervention System®.
In years past, I prodded, pleaded, prompted, begged, and many times
tried to bribe students into giving the correct response during reading
instruction. What I did not realize in all of my educated glory was that if
the students were capable of providing those correct answers, they
would have gladly done so.
Through Passport, I now know that providing immediate corrective
feedback is not only researched-based, but also best practice for effective
instruction. Passport provides a matter-of-fact and uniform manner in
which to give this corrective feedback to students without causing
them undue embarrassment or frustration. Providing
instant correct responses and having students
repeat the procedure gives them a measure of
immediate success.
I began to focus my attention more closely
on the correction procedures outlined
for each skill within the daily lesson,
making sure to “keep my language
consistent.” By following the correction
procedures, I had full confidence that I
was correcting students using the same
language and manner with which I just
provided instruction. The students are even
using the same corrective language with each other!
After seeing the tremendous growth in my students,
I attribute much of their success to this constant reinforcement and repetition.
The greatest benefit to me is witnessing the students’ increased selfconfidence and lessened frustration. The students know exactly how I
will respond to a mistake and they aren’t afraid to make them anymore.
7
Universal Literacy
Boaz Elementary School teacher Sandy Sims works with first-grade students
on reading and writing activities as part of Voyager’s Universal Literacy
System curriculum. As of the second benchmark assessment for the year,
Sims had only one struggling reader in her class.
Voyager Helps Boaz
Children learn phonics curriculum to
Local news outlets across the country frequently
report on the success of schools using Voyager reading
programs. The following article appeared in the Sand
Mountain Reporter this winter and touts the tremendous gains made by students in Boaz, Alabama, using
Voyager’s Universal Literacy System®. The article is
reprinted with permission from the Sand Mountain
Reporter, all rights reserved.
8
Kindergarten students are walking down the hallways of
Boaz Elementary School, looking at words on the walls and
sounding out the first letters.
Sounds of “Ka” for C and “Ma” for M have their teachers
excited and grateful for a new reading curriculum the school
has implemented. The rising test scores have the administration
and central office hopeful the curriculum is making a difference
in the students’ education.
BES Principal Randall Morton says the school’s
mediocre test scores had him and his faculty frustrated
about the curriculum.
“We have the best teachers, but it was like someone
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
put a lid on top of the students’ potential.
They couldn’t rise like they should’ve
been,” Morton says.
Morton identified the “lid” as a lack
of unification among the curricula in
first grade and kindergarten. Teachers
were pulling from different resources
to supplement the reading curriculum,
and where the first-grade curriculum
began was not necessarily where the
kindergarten curriculum ended.
Enter the Voyager Universal Literacy
System. The curriculum is a complete
package that provides teachers with the
resources they would need to teach
the research-based program. Because
kindergarten and first grade are using
the same program, their two curricula
flow seamlessly together.
“There are no more gaps between
first grade and kindergarten,” says firstgrade teacher Brooke Willoughby.
First grade teacher Michele Noles
says, “We would work so hard, but
there were always one or two children
who you felt were not getting what
they needed. We would get together
as a group and just cry and cry.”
“We didn’t know what else to do,”
"This program has changed the
way teachers are teaching."
– Vivian Hallman, Federal Programs Coordinator,
Boaz City Schools, Boaz, Alabama
learning various study and writing
techniques that they can build on later.”
Kindergarten teacher Lisa Tarvin says
she was “amazed” at how the program
has helped her Spanish-speaking students.
“I have one student who doesn’t
speak any English. He didn’t know
any of the letters. Now, he knows all
26,” Tarvin says.
“I feel like this program has made
me a better teacher. I am more on
task, and I have gotten to know my
students better than I ever have,” says
kindergarten teacher Tommie Childress.
The success of the program coupled
with the hard work of the teachers and
students are evident in the Dynamic
Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills™
(DIBELS), the standardized test used
to measure younger students’ progress.
The DIBELS test looks at three
year. This year’s kindergarten students,
however, have reached 43 percent
during the first nine weeks of school.
Only 44 percent of last year’s first
grade students were established in nonsense word fluency and 77 percent in
phoneme segmentation fluency by midyear. This year, 50 percent of the students
are established in nonsense word fluency
and 93 percent in phoneme segmentation
fluency in the first nine weeks.
“This program has changed the way
teachers are teaching,” says Federal
Programs Coordinator Vivian Hallman.
“This curriculum places the emphasis on
the things that are most important, student
achievement. It puts in the hands of the
teachers everything they need to teach.
It removes the obstacles for failure.”
The curriculum incorporates group
time as well as small “work stations,”
Students Excel in Reading
bridge the gap between kindergarten and first grade
By Shelley F. Smith, Managing Editor, Sand Mountain Reporter
says Willoughby.
With the Voyager program, the
students learn to identify letters and
sounds, incorporating phonics to set the
foundation for reading. The program even
provides lessons for the “crazy” words
that are the exceptions to the rules.
“It’s refreshing. It fits the needs of all
the students. There are intervention
lessons for struggling readers, and it
challenges our high readers,” says firstgrade teacher Christy Marsh. “They are
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
indicators, initial sound fluency (which
is a focus for kindergartners during the
first semester of school), nonsense word
fluency (a focus for kindergartners during
the second semester and first-graders
during the first semester), and phoneme
segmentation fluency (a focus for firstgraders during the second semester).
According to last year’s DIBELS
scores, 38 percent of the kindergarten
students were established in initial
sound fluency by the middle of the school
which allow the students to practice
what they learn through various activities
in small groups. The teachers also have
the opportunity to work one-on-one
with the students through the small
groups. Each work station—three in
total—has a team leader to serve as a
helper for the group. Each student
gets a turn being a team leader, and
the teachers say the distinction builds
confidence and responsibility skills
within the students.
9
Universal Literacy
Helping
Spanish-Speaking
Students
Voyager uses research-based strategies to change
reading outcomes for English language learners
By Kristy Hurst
Since the beginning of our nation’s history, America has been a destination
for immigrant families from around the world in search of opportunity and
freedom. Today, a growing percentage of the English language learner
population in America’s schools is comprised of Spanish-speaking
students, the majority of whom are recent transplants to the U.S. from
regions like Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.
Although states and districts make different decisions about whether these
children should be taught in English or their native Spanish, new research
is making one thing clear: Reading instruction needs to be explicit and
systematic for all English language learners to be successful.
10
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
11
“Some Spanish-speaking
children will struggle
to become readers,
regardless of the language
of instruction.”
– Dr. Sylvia Linan-Thompson, Department of Special
Education, The University of Texas at Austin
In fact, instructional methods are more
important than the language of instruction, notes Sylvia Linan-Thompson,
assistant professor in the Department
of Special Education at the University
of Texas at Austin. In other words,
whether taught in English or in Spanish,
children can master fundamental
reading skills so long as the lessons
use research-based strategies.
Because Voyager works with
districts that teach ELL students to
read in English and others that use
Spanish-language instruction, it has
developed programs for both. The key,
as Linan-Thompson points out, is that
each child needs to be taught explicitly
and systematically to read, beginning
with phonemic awareness. Voyager’s
Universal Literacy System® and Passport
Reading Intervention System® embrace
these principles in English, while
Pasaporte, released this year, is the
first reading program to provide
12
systematic instruction for struggling
readers in Spanish.
“Some Spanish-speaking children
will struggle to become readers, regardless of the language of instruction,”
says Linan-Thompson. “The key, in terms
of breaking the code for kids that
struggle, is that it has to be systematic,
and you have to build on those skills
gradually,” she says. “If you throw
too much at them, they don’t get it.
These kids need additional practice,
opportunities to respond, and feedback on what they’re doing and what
they need to know.”
Linan-Thompson’s research shows
that English learners who struggle with
reading benefit from comprehensive,
systematic, explicit instruction, whether
learning to read in English or in their
native Spanish. Not only do these
kinds of programs produce immediate
results, the children tend to maintain
their average. For English-language
instruction, creating a consistent pattern
of learning in the classroom, using
models, and providing feedback as
students move through the lesson all
help non-English speakers understand what’s expected of them. As a
result, the children don’t just learn to
read, they learn the structure of how
English works, which helps them
generalize their knowledge to learn
new words.
What Works with
English Language Learners
As a general rule, English learners who
already read proficiently in their native
language have an easier time learning to
read in English. Vocabulary and comprehension may still be a challenge,
but they’ll be able to pick up decoding
more easily, Linan-Thompson says.
“I’ve always believed that success
in a second language depends on
success in the first language,” says
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Susan Iniguez, district reading coach
at the Roosevelt School District in
Phoenix, Arizona, which uses the
Voyager Universal Literacy System as
the core reading program in ten of its
elementary schools. “A child’s literacy
skills—listening, speaking, reading
and writing—in that first language are
going to have a direct correlation to
their success in the second language.”
For school districts that choose not
to implement a bilingual program,
teaching reading in English using a
scaffolded model and explicit instruction
ensures English learners acquire the
fundamental skills they need to maintain
grade level proficiency in their second
language. But, when any given classroom
is composed of children at various levels
of English language proficiency, what’s
the most effective way for teachers to
teach English reading to every child?
Preview and review. Linan-Thompson
suggests keeping reading lessons
moving at a good pace, but working
closely with English learners to practice
vocabulary and to preview or review
material. In the Roosevelt district, teachers
are encouraged to pre-teach vocabulary
words to English learners, work with
them closely on comprehension, and
focus students’ attention on key
aspects of the lesson.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Changing Demographics
Demand New Resources
Researchers are concluding that instructional methods are more
important than the language of instruction for non-English speaking
students to learn English as a second language. In fact, teaching children
to read in their native language can facilitate the transition to an English
language program. “Developing literacy in the first language provides
a shortcut to English literacy,” writes Stephen Krashen, Professor
Emeritus of Education at the University of Southern California, in a
recent article. Voyager Pasaporte is the first reading intervention
program to apply a scientifically based, systematic approach to help
Spanish-speaking students in grades K-1 master fundamental reading
skills in their native language, providing a firm foundation for future
academic success, whether in Spanish or in English.
Several Texas school districts, including Dallas, El Paso, and Laredo,
began implementing Pasaporte this January. However, as our country’s
demographics continue to shift, demand for the Spanish-language
program is growing nationwide, including places like the Waukegan
Public School District in Waukegan, Illinois, which has a 63 percent
Hispanic student population; Seymour Elementary in Syracuse, New
York, where 46 percent of students are Hispanic; and in rural North
Carolina, to help meet the needs of 55 percent of students in the
Iredell-Statesville School District whose first language is Spanish.
Students using Pasaporte develop phonemic awareness and make
connections between oral language and print. The program also
teaches idiomatic expressions and includes a detailed and structured
vocabulary and comprehension component. Designed to supplement
Spanish-language core reading programs and taught as a 30-40 minute
daily intervention, Pasaporte moves the majority of struggling
kindergartners and first-graders to grade level in a few short months.
“It is a great intervention program, and the progress of the students is
evident in their daily work,” says Frances Perez, Reading Coach at James
Bowie Elementary School in Dallas, Texas, which launched Pasaporte last
October. “Every time they hear one of their vocabulary words being
used throughout the day, they raise their thumbs up right away [to signal the word is from the daily lesson]. I have also noticed that they are
using the recently acquired vocabulary in their daily journal writings,”
she says.
With programs like Pasaporte, educators are helping to ensure that
native Spanish speakers are not left behind.
-Jamie Batson
13
Getting Results
at Roosevelt
In the Roosevelt School District in Phoenix, Arizona,
visitors to the schools shouldn’t be surprised to hear
children’s voices ringing out in the halls in two languages: English and Spanish.
About 40 percent of the district’s students are
English language learners, almost all of them growing
up in Spanish-speaking homes. Of the district’s 4,600
English-learning students, about 800 are classified as
“new immigrants,” meaning they came to the U.S.
within the last three academic years.
Because such a large percentage of the district’s
students come from Hispanic backgrounds, all the
classrooms in the district are structured for English
immersion as mandated by Arizona’s Proposition
203, which requires that all public school instruction
be conducted in English.
“Voyager came along and focused our energies in a
positive way toward using English for instruction,” says
Susan Iniguez, Roosevelt’s district reading coach and a
former bilingual teacher in the district for 17 years.
After receiving a Reading First grant to cover reading
education at six of its schools, in the 2003-2004 school
year the district introduced Voyager’s Universal Literacy
System® in kindergarten through third grade. Today,
more than 50 percent of K-3 students in the Roosevelt
district are learning to read with Universal Literacy.
Compared to second-graders in the non-Voyager
schools in the district, English language learners in the
Voyager schools scored higher on the SAT 9 test.
Based on DIBELS scores,the Voyager students
in all four grades also scored 20 percent
higher than non-Voyager students. And,
three times more ELL students in the
Voyager schools met DIBELS benchmarks
than ELL students in non-Voyager schools.
“It was great to see the effects that the
Voyager program had on helping our
English learners get to those DIBELS benchmarks,” Iniguez says. “We could see
across the board that it really made a
big difference.”
– KH
14
Says Isabel Chanley, a second-grade teacher in Arizona’s
Mesa Unified School District, “You have to be able and
willing to be flexible enough to simplify some of the assignments and activities—and by that, I don’t mean dummy down
the curriculum, but just simplify it. You have to know how
much your students can understand at a certain point in
their education while learning a new language. But you
always want to challenge them, to stay ahead of the
curve, so they are wanting and needing to learn more.”
Provide targeted instruction. Voyager’s Universal Literacy
System is designed to teach children in smaller groups,
which helps increase students’ opportunities to respond and
“The content really
bridges the cultures, and
it brings the world into
our classroom, which
I find fascinating.”
– Isabel Chanley, second-grade teacher at
Eisenhower Elementary, Mesa, Arizona
practice—a must for students who lag behind in language skills.
Likewise, Voyager’s Spanish-language reading intervention
program for kindergarten and first-grade students, Pasaporte,
uses a small-group instructional model to accelerate struggling
readers to grade level in their native language. (See “Changing
Demographics” sidebar.)
Use visual aides. Teachers in both the Roosevelt and Mesa
districts have found it helpful to use sheltered strategies—
for example, graphic visual images to illustrate words and
ideas—which can aid comprehension for English learners.
“Voyager’s graphic organizers are wonderful,” Iniguez
says. “It’s great to walk into a classroom where we have a
high population of English learners, and to see the graphic
organizers all over. It really helps to make the lesson more
meaningful for these kids.”
Other helpful hands-on tools for ELL students—as well
as new readers fluent in English—include picture cards,
letter cards, magnetic letters and whiteboards.
“Adapting our reading instruction to accommodate
children with different needs is something we’ve worked
on quite a bit this year, and we’re continuing to make it an
emphasis,” says Iniguez.
continued on page 28
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Passport
Serving
Special Ed
Students
The impact of the new IDEA legislative
reforms on teaching reading to students
in special education programs
By Leslie J. Thompson
When Mikela Williams* entered Rita
Robinson’s first grade class at OverbySheppard Elementary in Richmond, Virginia,
she had almost no reading skills. Having only
mastered the alphabet, the soft-spoken girl was
already far behind her peers at the start of the
school year. Intervention in kindergarten and
additional reading instruction in summer school
had little effect, and she was referred to the
special education program upon entering the
first grade. But, Mikela was lucky. Because of
the instruction she received in Robinson’s class,
she was not only reading at grade level by the end
of the year, she also moved out of special ed.
It is not uncommon for children to be diagnosed
as having a disability simply because they struggle with
reading, notes Bob Pasternack, former Assistant
Secretary of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
under George W. Bush. “If you look at the 13 categories
[of eligibility for special education], 60 percent of the kids
are in the category labeled Learning Disability, and 80 to
90 percent of those kids are there because they can’t read,”
he says. “For many of those kids, if they’re identified early
and we intervene appropriately, we can fundamentally
change their trajectory in school from risk to resiliency.”
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
* Not her real name
15
Passport
Recent legislative reforms to the
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA) will allow districts to do
just that, by providing pre-referral
intervention options and revising
diagnostic requirements, teacher qualifications, instructional models, and
accountability measures. Pasternack
and other educators and lawmakers
behind IDEA 2004 hope the revised
legislation will dramatically decrease
referrals to special ed and boost literacy rates and academic achievement
nationwide in an effort to improve
outcomes and results for students
with disabilities.
with only mild disabilities were often
tracked into special ed indefinitely.
Meant to be a revolving door back
into the general education classroom,
remediation programs became a trap
door for many students with disabilities, adversely affecting their academic
achievement and increasing their risk
of dropping out of school.
“The dropout rate for students with
disabilities is twice the rate of nondisabled students,” notes Pasternack. In
addition, referrals to special education
for English language learners are
markedly higher than for their Englishspeaking peers, and referral rates for
“The dropout rate for students wi
is twice the rate of non-disab
– Bob Pasternack, former Assistant Secretary
The Road to Reform
Originally signed by President Gerald
Ford in 1975, IDEA was intended to
guarantee access to a free appropriate
public education for students with special
needs. Over the past 30 years, teachers
and parents have seen a dramatic
improvement in the quality of instruction
for students receiving special education
and related services. However, as much
as the original legislation has benefited
students requiring special ed, it has also
created a wealth of new challenges in
our nation’s schools. Complex funding
rules and compliance-driven paperwork
requirements became an endless
source of frustration for special educators
and parents. In addition, children
16
minority students, particularly African
American children, are dramatically
disproportionate to that of white students
in some parts of the United States.
What’s more, over the past 10 years,
the number of U.S. students enrolled
in special education programs has risen
30 percent. Referrals continue to increase,
despite attempts to move children back
into general ed. Although as a nation
we should be proud of how we have
improved our view of students with
disabilities and the educational
opportunities afforded them, “we are
not yet at the point where we have a
special education system that consistently produces excellent results,”
Pasternack says.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
A Sea-Change in Special Ed
It took nearly three years of bipartisan
work to create the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Improvement
Act of 2004 (H.R. 1350), which was
approved by both the House and the
Senate last fall and signed into law by
President Bush on December 3, 2004.
The legislative reforms take effect
July 1, 2005, and will have a direct
impact on nearly 7 million children
and youth with disabilities.
The inclusion of the word
“improvement” in the full title of IDEA
2004 clearly indicates the reauthorized
legislation’s primary goal. Among the
th disabilities
led students.”
of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
changes to special education instruction,
the new law requires that children
with disabilities be taught by highly
qualified teachers using research-based
curricula, including scientifically based
early reading programs. Schools must
provide “high-quality, intensive preservice preparation and professional
development for all personnel who
work with children with disabilities”
to ensure they have the requisite
skills and knowledge to improve the
academic achievement and functional
performance of these students.
In addition, the legislation includes
specific language aimed at increasing
accountability, designed to improve
continued on page 24
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Bob
Pasternack:
Committed to the Underserved
Bob Pasternack decided at a young age to dedicate his life to serving people
with disabilities. Growing up with a brother who had Down Syndrome,
Pasternack witnessed firsthand the injustices that disabled children and
adults once faced in America, and made a personal commitment to
change the way the system worked.
“My brother, Maurice, was born and lived in an era where we had
incredibly low expectations of people with disabilities,” says Pasternack,
who served as Assistant Secretary for Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services under President George W. Bush and
Secretary of Education Rod Paige.“At that point, our society
segregated and warehoused and mistreated and abused
people like him.” His brother never went to public school or
had the opportunity to receive the free appropriate public
education that has become the fundamental civil right entitlement under current federal law, he explains. For more than
30 years, Pasternack has worked with students with disabilities,
their families, as well as state and federal administrators to
help shape today’s more inclusive educational system.
After graduating from the University of South Florida, Pasternack took
a job at a state hospital in Miami teaching children with autism. He later
earned a Master’s degree in guidance and counseling from New Mexico
Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and a doctorate in special
education with a minor in neuropsychology from the University of New
Mexico in Albuquerque. He is a nationally certified school psychologist,
certified educational diagnostician, licensed special education teacher for
grades K-12 and licensed school administrator.
Pasternack’s career has placed him in a variety of leadership roles in
health, education, and all levels of government. In 1980, he worked as a
school psychologist at the New Mexico Boys’ School, the state institution
for adjudicated delinquents, and was superintendent from 1990-1993.
After leaving the Boys’ School, he was CEO of New Mexico’s first licensed
Comprehensive Children’s Community Mental Health Center, and was later
named New Mexico’s State Director of Special Education, leading the effort
to develop the New Mexico Reading Initiative. In 2001, Pasternack was
sworn in as a key member of the U.S. Department of Education.
As the legal guardian for his late brother for nearly 20 years and
throughout his career, Pasternack says his overriding goal was for society to
stop excluding the disabled and instead “celebrate the incredible contribution that people with disabilities can make to the fabric of our society.”
The landmark legislative reforms of the reauthorized Individuals with
Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) passed by Congress and
signed into law by the President on December 3, 2004, are a testimony to
Pasternack’s success.
– LJT
17
VoyagerU
Hoosie
with Prof
INDIANA READING
18
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Teaching teachers the science behind
teaching. It may be a tongue twister, but
in the State of Indiana, the Department
of Education’s Reading First program
is doing whatever it takes to see that
their kindergartners through third-graders
succeed at learning to read.
As the academic cornerstone of No
Child Left Behind, Reading First recognizes
the importance of both improving student
reading achievement and executing
programs and strategies proven to help
of Voyager Expanded Learning’s
VoyagerU program promotes teachers
coming together with guidance and
support to develop solutions. The state
really felt that Voyager offered them the
best program to achieve their goals.”
Dubbed the Indiana Reading
Academy, the professional development
program for teachers came into
fruition in the fall of 2004. The first
month. Together, these components total
80 hours of professional development.
“The design lends itself to innovation,” notes Dr. Ban. Teachers learn how
to perform informal assessments to
find out where their students are in their
reading and, in a sense, customize a
system of learning that works best for
the students involved.
Says Amanda Whitlock, Reading
BIG
rs Score
essional Development
ACADEMY TAKES TEACHER TRAINING TO A HIGHER LEVEL
By Dawn Morton Nelson
all children become successful, fluent
readers by the end of the third grade.
Indiana was the 22nd state in the
nation to be awarded Reading First
funds and to implement the federal
program. To meet the rigorous
standards set forth by Reading First,
the Indiana Department of Education
turned to Indiana University and
Voyager Expanded Learning to look for
solid and creative solutions—starting with
teachers and professional development.
The VoyagerU professional development program was selected to give
teachers a fundamental understanding
of scientifically based reading research,
and an effective array of tools and
strategies to teach reading in the elementary grades. Remarks Dr. Eric Ban,
project director at Indiana University,
“The professional development design
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
“[The program]
Consultant in the Indiana Department
of Education’s Reading First division,
increases our knowledge of teaching reading “The program helps provide a way to
some common language
to our students. We can articulate
across grade levels, as well as
be assured that we are expand the repertoire of skills and
teaching those skills that strategies of participating teachers.
are required to produce Indiana Reading First administrators
are also involved with [the Reading
competent readers.”
Academy], so they, too, are able to
– Marsha Bird, Reading First Coach
at James A. Garfield School
in Indianapolis
course in the curriculum, Foundations
of Reading, consists of eight modules,
each encompassing three hours of
self-paced online learning, three hours
of study group interaction and discussion, as well as four hours of actual
classroom practice activities each
enhance their learning of the five
essential components [of reading] and
the use of the DIBELS™ assessments to
drive instruction within classrooms.”
A Double Dose of
Professional Development
Indiana teachers will complete the first
course this spring and begin the second instructional series, Reading for
continued on page 27
19
Feature
Prevent
S
umme
20
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
ing
By Leslie J. Thompson
How reading for ten weeks can
make a difference for a lifetime
g
n
i
L
n
o
r
s
a
s
r Le
Summer has traditionally been viewed as a time to take a
break from school for three months of fun in the sun. As the
temperatures rise in the late spring, students eagerly anticipate
the coming hiatus from their educational routine. But, the
long summer vacation has a dramatic impact on student
learning. Elementary students who struggle with reading lose
considerable ground academically,and low-income students lose
substantially more than their peers, causing an ever-widening
achievement gap as they progress through school.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
››
21
“Teach
ers were
literally beggi
ng me to allow them to use these
materials during the regular school year in
F
ortunately, summer learning loss can
be prevented, and increasing numbers
of districts are using summer school as
a cost-effective solution to closing the
achievement gap. Summer school also
provides an effective and final intervention opportunity for third-graders
who otherwise would be retained.
Young learners spend each school
year mastering fundamental reading
skills, but for many, those skills are
quickly lost again every summer
vacation. Research has shown that
lower-income children generally lose
one to five months of learning during the
summer hiatus in the elementary grades,
because they have little opportunity to
practice reading outside of school.
Although student achievement for
both middle- and lower-income students improves at similar rates during the
school year, economically disadvantaged
students experience cumulative summer
learning losses over the elementary
school grades, according to sociologists
Dr. Karl Alexander and Dr. Doris
Entwisle at Johns Hopkins University.
Their research indicates this loss may
be the major factor for the achievement
gap between poor students and their
more affluent peers.
The summer months represent a
crucial time for disadvantaged students
and struggling readers to practice and
22
build on their reading skills, and delve
into material that can broaden their
understanding of the world around them.
Although middle- and upper-income
students are generally encouraged to
read throughout the summer and have
the opportunity to practice and improve
their skills, poor students all too often
enter a learning void. Implementing a
First-graders started the
summer reading 23 words
per minute and six
weeks later read 36
words per minute.
motivational, high-quality reading
program during the summer months
could increase the time these students
spend engaged in learning activities
by nearly a third, offering struggling
readers the opportunity to catch up
to their grade-level peers.
Broad Benefits
Teachers have grown accustomed to
spending the first several weeks of the
school year re-teaching material that
students have forgotten over the summer.
That means students not only lose at
least a month’s learning from the previous year, but also an additional four to
eight weeks during which they could
be learning new material. However,
research indicates that a comprehensive
summer school program can accelerate
student learning in a matter of weeks,
which in many cases is all it takes to
close the achievement gap and prevent children from being retained in
the third grade.
Over the last seven years, Voyager
Expanded Learning has commissioned
independent researchers to evaluate the
impact of a 4-6 week summer immersion
program in reading. In Alabama, for
example, a statewide summer school
program tracked the progress of firstgraders who started the summer reading
23 words per minute and six weeks later
read 36 words per minute—nearly hitting
the 40 words per minute first-grade goal.
Comparable gains for third-graders in
Georgia kept hundreds of students
from being retained. Likewise, in an
independent study in Louisville,
Kentucky, students measured before and
after four weeks of Voyager’s TimeWarp®
Summer Reading Intervention program
gained three months on the SAT IV.
Implementing a comprehensive
summer program also provides an
opportunity to improve learning for
children in special education programs.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
chers saw less evidence of the ‘summer slide’ at the start o
a
e
t
,
e
r
o
m
s
’
f the scho
hat
ol year
their classes. W
.”
– John Cavanaugh,Principal of Summer School Programs for Holyoke Public Schools
Special education students need, and are
eligible for, extended school year services
(ESY). Summer school can ensure that
progress made during the year in reading
is maintained, preventing the loss of
critical, hard-won skills. The summer
school setting offers unique and appropriate opportunities for enhancing
and practicing skills. Special ed staff,
in collaboration with summer school
teachers and administrators, can make
sure the summer learning experience
is tailored to the needs of each student.
Continued Learning
In the Holyoke School District in
Holyoke, Massachusetts, administrators
have taken active steps to facilitate learn-
ing all year long, and children are having
a great time in the process. Dr. Eduardo
Carballo made it his goal to curtail summer learning loss for students when he
took over as the superintendent of
schools in early 2002. Eighteen months
after taking office, he implemented a
summer school program district-wide to
continued on page 26
Intersession Intervention
LAUSD Adopts Voyager’s TimeWarp Summer Program for Year-Round Use
One of the primary components of No Child Left Behind
requires that specific schools provide supplemental educational
academic services to eligible students. In the Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD), the Beyond the Bell Branch
offers extended learning and enrichment programs to more
than 230,000 students eligible for these services. Among the
many resources provided is Voyager’s TimeWarp Summer
Reading Intervention program, which in the past six months
has made a tremendous impact on student achievement.
Beyond the Bell implemented the TimeWarp reading intervention curriculum in 15 middle schools as part of the district’s
Intersession program, which together with the Extended
Learning Program and Summer School provide additional
learning opportunities to K-8 students in need of intervention.
“It’s the first time we have brought in a program specifically for our year-round schools” during their off-track time,
says Joan Mezori, a Director for LAUSD Beyond the Bell
Branch. “In the past, when middle school students went to
Intersession or Summer School, they were, for the most
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
part, repeating a course in which they have had difficulty.
We wanted to provide a program that would get the kids
there, grab their attention, and help improve their skills.”
Qualifying secondary students in grades 6–9 participate
in TimeWarp for two hours a day, five days a week for six
weeks,for a total of 60 hours.Since the district uses a three-track,
year-round system, students receive two opportunities
for intervention in a single school year.
So far, the intersession curriculum is having a huge
impact on students’ performance and excitement about
reading. After the first six week track, the effect sizes
ranged from 0.20-1.12 for one group of students in grades
6-8. These numbers are impressive when compared to
the average effect size of 0.26 noted in a landmark study
that comprised more than 100 evaluations of effective
summer school programs over a 20 year period. “The
results are outstanding,” says Mezori. “Some schools are
really off the charts.”
-LJT
23
Special Ed Students, continued from page 17
instruction and provide a means of
egress for students no longer requiring
special education services.
“There’s a recognition in this law
that the way we monitored IDEA in the
past was too focused on bureaucratic
compliance and process,” says
Pasternack. “We cared more about who
had an [Individualized Education
Program] than what was in the IEP.”
Under the new law, special education and related services included in IEPs
must include a statement of measurable
For the first time, children who
cannot read will not be prematurely
measured by a battery of diagnostic
tests to determine their classification
and eligibility for special ed. Instead,
they will receive scientifically based
reading instruction, and their
response to the instruction will be
measured regularly to accurately
assess student progress prior to making
a referral for possible placement in
special education.
“The three-tiered model or
“If they’re caught early, we can
improve their academic skills
absent of putting a label on them and
placing them in special education.”
– Bob Pasternack, former Assistant Secretary of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
academic and functional goals, and
specific guidelines for how and when
the child’s progress toward meeting
those goals will be measured. Such
requirements are designed to ensure
that children have the opportunity to
move back into the general education
environment once those goals are
met. The focus now is no longer on
process, but on outcomes and results,
explains Pasternack, to ensure the
same kind of accountability for students with disabilities mandated for
all students under No Child Left Behind.
Preventative Medicine
The new legislation also seeks to reduce
referrals into special ed by providing
opportunities for educators to intervene
early. Several studies have shown that
special education instructional-reme-
24
diation programs are not effective for
students who are poor readers. However,
proven methods exist for effective
intervention in reading, particularly
when reading difficulties are identified
early, and evidence-based interventions
are provided by highly qualified,
well-trained teachers.
School districts will now be able to
use up to 15 percent of federal IDEA
funds for pre-referral interventions that
apply scientifically based reading
research to keep students out of special education. Providing targeted
intervention within the general ed
environment will help ensure that
children like Mikela have an opportunity to catch up with their peers before
being diagnosed as having a disability
simply because they have not mastered
fundamental reading skills.
problem-solving model…will allow
kids to be identified earlier, and it will
allow the diagnostic process to focus
more on their specific problem,” says
Pasternack. Rather than wasting time
and precious resources to do a diagnostic evaluation to come up with a
classification or label, educators will be
able to focus on the academic area
that has been resistant to intervention,
which most often is reading, he
says. “Most of those kids, if they’re
caught early, we can improve their
academic skills absent of putting a
label on them and placing them in
special education.”
Under the new legislation, thousands of young learners like Mikela will
have the opportunity to receive the
instruction they need and be challenged
to realize their full academic potential.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
LD Students See Big Gains with Passport
When Learning Disability Specialist Gail Moss heard
her district was using Voyager’s Passport Reading
Intervention System, she was curious to learn
more. The program was adopted by Sunnyside
Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona, last fall for
grades K-8 systemwide. Designed to dramatically
improve fundamental skills for students who
struggle with learning to read, Passport sounded like
a useful instructional tool for learning disabled
students, as well. The results, says Moss, have been
better than she imagined.
“I have had kids who literally went from not being
able to read anything—first-graders [who] knew
very few letters and sounds—now they’re reading
the words,” she says, proudly. Moss teaches LD students in grades K-5 and says she has seen a big
increase in students’ reading level and fluency since
using Passport as part of special ed instruction.
What’s more, she notes, the curriculum correlates
perfectly with the goals and objectives on the
students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
“They need phonemic awareness, they need
rhyming, word recognition, word study and spelling.
Everything that’s covered in the [Passport] lesson is
what’s covered in the IEPs every day,” she says.
Ocotillo Elementary School, where Moss teaches,
has a predominantly Hispanic population—nearly
half the students are English language learners—
and she admits that many children end up in special
ed simply because they cannot read or speak English
proficiently. “Unfortunately, they don’t have parents
at home who speak English to read with them,” she
says. As a solution, ELL students often practice reading
skills with teachers during an after-school “homework help” program.
Because teachers are using Passport in the general
ed classrooms, as well, students make a smoother
transition out of special ed when their reading skills
improve. In the past year, two of Moss’ students have
already made the move. “I think that special ed
should jump on this,” says Moss of the Passport
curriculum, adding, “The whole program—the way
it’s put together—is a sure shot for kids having success
and learning to read.”
– Leslie J. Thompson
Above: Dr. Daniel Wegener, Assistant
Superintendent for Curriculum and
Instruction in Tucson’s Sunnyside
Unified School District, congratulates fourth-grader Jazzia Vega on
her reading achievement. Left:
Ocotillo Elementary School thirdgraders Luis Pena, Rena Murillo, Rey
Murillo, and Rene Soto show off the
certificates of achievement and
Voyager T-shirts they were awarded
by teacher Gail Moss.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
25
Summer Learning Loss, continued from page 23
promote continued learning among elementary and middle school students.
Funded through Title 1 and the 21st
Century Grants from the Massachusetts
Department of Education, the program
is provided at no cost to families.
Summer is a time when “parents are
scrambling to find something constructive for their kids to get involved in,”
notes John Cavanaugh, Principal of
Summer School Programs for Holyoke
Public Schools. “We’re offering a fiveand-a-half-hour day, four days a week,
which includes transportation if necessary, breakfast and lunch time, plus
quality instruction and fun activities—
and we’re offering it to parents for
free,” he adds.
Since 2003, hundreds of elementary
and middle school students have spent
the summer months traveling through
history to explore ancient civilizations
using Voyager’s TimeWarp Summer
Reading Intervention Program. Students
learn and improve fundamental reading
and writing skills while engaging in
fun, hands-on learning projects that
allow them to express themselves
creatively. Each grade has a different
focus, such as Egypt, Greece, Rome
and Africa. Through whole- and
26
small-group lessons and collaborative
activities, students discover other cultures
and traditions while keeping their
academic skills up to par.
Eager Learners
Rather than balk at having to attend
school for part of their vacation, children
can’t get enough of the summer pro-
In Holyoke School District,
ELA scores in grades 1-5
increased 17 percent,
while grades 6-8 saw a
12 percent increase.
gram—which, incidentally, is purely
optional. Since launching the TimeWarp
series, summer school attendance in
Holyoke has increased from 350 students
in 2002 to more than 1400 last year.
Teachers are smitten with the
program, as well, notes Cavanaugh, who
says the district chose the Voyager
program because the easy-to-follow,
scripted curriculum would allow
teachers “the opportunity to let their hair
down during the summer.” TimeWarp
was such a hit, he says, “Teachers were
literally begging me to allow them to
use these materials during the regular
school year in their classes.” What’s
more, teachers saw less evidence of
the “summer slide” at the start of the
school year. Pre- and post-test scores
bear this out: ELA scores in grades 1-5
increased 17 percent at the end of
summer 2004, while grades 6-8 saw a
12 percent increase.
In the late 1970s, only half of
public schools offered summer school
to their students. A little more than 20
years later, a survey of the nation’s
100 largest school districts found that
every one had some type of summer
program. Although the trend toward
providing increased opportunities for
learning during the summer months
is positive, the call to meet the needs
of disadvantaged students is urgent.
The dramatic success of high-quality
summer programs, like TimeWarp,
which build fundamental skills and
promote reading for pleasure, illustrates
that a few short weeks during the
summer can make a difference in closing
the achievement gap and keeping all
children on track for success.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Hoosiers Score Big, continued from page 19
Understanding, in the fall. Research National Reading Panel Report,” she
has shown there are four essential says. “I am impressed with the proingredients of comprehension: fluency, gram. It not only gives the theory and
motivation, knowledge, and strategy. rationale for teaching these five eleThe research-based Reading for ments, but engages the teachers in the
Understanding course focuses on assessment of each skill with each
overcoming the problems that inhibit individual student and then provides
reading comprehension by adjusting strategies and activities for the delivery
the teaching habits of participants of appropriate instruction based on
according to the unique needs of each the data collected.”
Adds Bird, “Most of the teachers
student and classroom. In the first several
modules, teachers use an informal involved in [the Reading Academy]
assessment to discover where each of appreciate the insights into teaching
their students stands in terms of reading reading. Many have said to me that
comprehension. They learn motivational they never understood the importance
strategies, tools for furthering compre- of phonemic awareness until studying
hension skills, and how to keep children the material presented in VoyagerU.
in their ideal learning zone. Subsequent [The program] increases our knowledge
modules are aimed at developing
focused, strategic readers by studying
and practicing the strategies set forth in
the 2000 National Reading Panel
“The design lends
Report, which include monitoring
itself to innovation.
comprehension, cooperative
Teachers learn how to
learning, actively reading and
perform informal assessments
listening, forming mental images,
using prior knowledge, and
to find out where their students
generating and responding to
are in their reading, and
questions using story structure
customize a system of
and summarizing.
learning that works best
Kindergarten through thirdgrade teachers, together with
for the student.”
administrators, special education
– Dr. Eric Ban, project director
at Indiana University
teachers and ESL instructors, participate
in each nine-month course with specialized coaches supporting them
each step of the way. Currently, 49 of teaching reading to our students.
Reading First schools and 720 teachers We can be assured that we are teaching
are participating in the program those skills that are required to produce
competent readers.”
throughout the State of Indiana.
Enthusiasm about the opportunities
for group discussion dominates teachers’
A Warm Reception
positive remarks. Participants appreciate
from Teachers
Marsha Bird, a Reading First Coach at the opportunity to join other teachers
James A. Garfield School 31 in within their school system to discuss
Indianapolis, knows firsthand the effect reading successes and setbacks where
the teacher training program has on they can improve and practice their
student reading comprehension. “We teaching skills. As further incentive,
are currently covering the five essen- teachers who complete the professional
tial areas of reading outlined in the development course receive six graduate
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
credit hours in Language Education
from Indiana University.
For Dr. Ban, the success of the
Indiana Reading Academy can be
attributed to the focused attention on
the four key elements that are essential
for professional learning with teachers.
First, students and teachers have clear
expectations of the reading performance
in their classrooms. Next, trained local
reading coaches provide a safe learning
environment where participants are
encouraged to take the risks essential
in expanded learning. Third, teachers
work together to learn and implement
the tools that are the best fit for their
students. And, most importantly,
teachers are empowered in the learning
experience. They have authentic choice
in drawing on their colleagues for
guidance and a variety of quality
resources to successfully teach children
to read.
Indiana’s professional development
initiative, still in its early roll-out, recognizes that teachers, as well as students,
need a firm start for reading success.
With VoyagerU, state officials feel they
have a proven, research-based model
that can scale rapidly across districts,
connecting and supporting thousands
of teachers statewide.
27
Helping Spanish-Speaking Students, continued from page 14
“You have to have high
expectations of [children];
that’s really important. When
they are held accountable,
they do rise to the occasion.”
– Isabel Chanley, second-grade teacher, Eisenhower Elementary
Take time to teach. Teaching young
readers—especially those new to the
English language—is a time-intensive
effort. That’s why the Universal
Literacy program, which can provide
two to three hours a day of curriculum and instruction, depending on
grade level and intervention needs,
is an especially good fit for
English language learners.
“If you’re spending two hours a
day working on reading, whether it’s
comprehension, phonics, or another
area of emphasis, the kids are bound
to learn all the skills that go with it,”
Chanley says. “How else are they
going to learn to read if they don’t
actually do it?”
The Story Behind the Words
Although it’s important for children of
28
all language backgrounds to grasp
the concept of reading, the most
effective reading instruction also calls
for content that can hold young readers’
interest—whatever their cultural or
ethnic background.
The content of the Voyager programs is designed to challenge students,
expanding their vocabularies as well as
their knowledge of other cultures and the
world they live in. The entire class is
learning about cultures around the
world,” Chanley says. “The content really
bridges the cultures, and it brings the
world into our classroom, which I find
fascinating. The students are learning a
lot of geography and culture, science
and social studies.”
But bridging that cultural gap
calls for high-level vocabulary that is
particularly challenging for students
new to the English language.
“The vocabulary is very rich, and
it’s very intense,” says Iniguez. “So for
English learners, it’s all in how we
present it. We need to go out of our
way to make accommodations without
watering down the curriculum. We want
them not just to learn the content, but
to understand it.”
Pick teams. One method for
helping English learners grasp the
content is a “buddy system,” such as the
one used at Eisenhower Elementary.
English language learners in Chanley’s
class are paired with bilingual students
who can help them understand the
meaning of words and keep up with
the rest of the class.
Enlist
help.
Additionally,
Chanley’s bilingual classroom assistant usually mans the first Voyager
reading station, helping students at all
levels of English proficiency understand the content, vocabulary and
lesson plan.
Expect the best. Another key
to success with English learners, says
Chanley, is simply to expect them
to succeed.
“You do need to hold them up a
little bit, so you have to be available,”
notes Chanley. “You can’t just sit back
and expect them to be able to do it,
and that’s true for any program. But I
think you have to have high expectations
of them; that’s really important. When
they are held accountable, they do
rise to the occasion.”
With explicit, systematic instruction,
as well as some accommodations,
teachers can open up a whole new
world of reading and language to
their English-learning students.
“As No Child Left Behind tells us,
we need to have all children reading
by end of third grade,” says Iniguez.
“Our goal is to get our kids there—
even the ones who are just learning
English. We want to do everything we
can to help them.”
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Our Community
Voyager
In Action
LOVE LETTERS FROM LUBBOCK
In a room wallpapered with thank you letters and photos of
elementary school students, teary eyed Voyager employees enjoyed a heartfelt
presentation from the Lubbock Independent School District during the company’s Thanksgiving potluck
last November. Julee Becker, Lubbock’s Reading First Coordinator, and Dawn Gray, Bayless Elementary
Campus Reading Coach, recognized that many employees never have the opportunity to see the effect of
Voyager’s reading programs in the classroom. During their presentation, the duo shared remarkable
success stories from the district and thanked Voyager staffers from every department for their
commitment to teaching all children to read.
Lubbock has had great success with Voyager’s Universal Literacy System ® at
all grade levels. By the end of 2003-2004, the first year of the implementation, the
number of struggling readers in first grade fell from 24 percent to 4 percent. The
number of struggling second-graders decreased by 14 percent. And, in third grade,
the average child was reading 21 more words per minute than the previous year’s
incoming third-graders.
After the presentation and potluck, Voyager employees read the many thank
you letters from Lubbock students who learned to read with Universal Literacy.
One letter from second-grader Anthony Ruiz illustrates how students build
confidence when they learn to read. "I feel great about myself because I can
read," he writes. "Thank you for helping me learn how
to read." Other letters not only thanked Voyager, but
told of favorite stories in the reading curriculum.
Third-grader Jesse Palos writes,
“Thank you for the books. It
helps us learn about the rainforest. My favorite story is the Awesome
Andes. It was a good story.” The Lubbock letters and
photos are displayed in a special book located in the lobby
at Voyager’s corporate office in Dallas.
-Shannan Walsh
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
29
Our Community
First Avenue Elementary
Wins Accolades
Congratulations to teachers and students at First Avenue Elementary in
Arizona’s Mammoth-San Manuel Unified School District. In August 2004,
the Arizona Department of Education awarded First Avenue the status
of “Excelling,” the state’s highest-ranking recognition, based on results
from Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). A few months
before, First Avenue Elementary had received a Silver Medal banner
from Voyager Expanded Learning recognizing the school’s outstanding
VIP scores following the year-end benchmark assessment. The special
banner goes to schools that have reached the goal of 80-89 percent of
students in Voyager’s Universal Literacy System reading at grade level.
The district started using Universal Literacy in grades K-3 at First
Avenue Elementary and Mammoth Elementary in 2003-2004. Both
schools have seen stellar results, and students’ VIP scores are well above
the targeted goals in all grade levels so far this year. “Voyager is an excellent
program,” says First Avenue Principal Elizabeth Dorgan. “We now have
only one struggling reader in kindergarten.”
Mammoth-San Manuel has also embraced Voyager’s Passport
Reading Intervention System. Mary Kyle, curriculum director for First
Avenue Elementary, says she is “very pleased” with the impressive gains
made in reading scores that she has seen thus far, and she anticipates
expanding Passport in 2005-2006.
To celebrate their achievements, First Avenue Elementary teachers
and staff gathered at San Manuel High School on November 16, 2004
(see photo), where they received their Silver Medal banner. In addition
to recognition from the Arizona Department of Education and Voyager,
the school received a framed proclamation from Arizona Governor
Janet Napolitano. Voyager is pleased to acknowledge First Avenue’s
astonishing strides toward 100 percent literacy.
-Brooke Brockway
30
STUDENTS GALLOP TO
READING SUCCESS
For the past four years, first-grade students at
Drexel Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona,
have participated in a literacy project called
“Black Stallion.” Each child is given a copy of
the book The Black Stallion, and students
learn about horses as part of the daily lessons
and classroom activities. As a special bonus,
horses are brought to the campus sites of
participating schools so children can see them
up close and actually get to touch them.
“Every year, the students get really excited
about seeing the horses on our playground
and never really pay attention to the books,
mainly because they could not read them
on their own,” says Drexel Principal Lorena
Escarcega.“Not this year!” she adds, proudly.
Thanks to Voyager reading programs,students
had dramatically improved their reading
skills, and chose to focus on their books at
the playground gathering.
“The students sat down and all of them
began to read. They were more interested in
the book than in the horses”,
says Escarcega. “No one
prompted them to sit down
and read. They just did it. The
teachers could not believe it.
There was not a child who did
not want to read their book
right away.” Escarcega and
her staff were thrilled to see
the radical change in the
students’ attitude toward
reading, and look forward to
finishing out the school year
on a high note.
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
Getting a Glimpse of the Action
Parents of K-3 students were invited to an open house on November 18, 2004,
at Hempstead Elementary in Hempstead, Texas, to observe children
using Voyager’s Universal Literacy System. Upon their arrival at 8:00 a.m.,
the parents were briefed by Reading Coach Jeannie Manuel on a few
school rules before being dismissed to visit with their children.
Throughout the morning, parents and students interacted with each
other at learning stations and the teacher’s teaching station in various
classrooms. The open house proved to be rewarding for everyone
involved. “It was a success, because of our parents,” says Manuel, who
expressed her sincere appreciation to everyone who attended the event.
It’s a
Jungle
Out
There!
Last fall’s open house wasn’t the only
special event at Hempstead Elementary.
For the spring semester, third-grade
students have been busy designing
and creating an Amazon Rainforest,
inspired by the Wild Rivers theme of
the Universal Literacy System curriculum.
Hempstead students are taking part in
reading adventures to discover the
wild rivers of our world and the land
that surrounds them,ultimately bringing
the program to life in their classrooms
and school halls. Carolyn Talley’s class
researched the Amazon, wrote papers,
created models, and even brought in
stuffed wild animals to display in their
rainforests. Meanwhile, students in
Sheila Hanson’s class explored and discussed the structure of the Amazon
Rainforest,its affects on the environment,
and its importance in our world, before
designing their very own models. Now
that’s what we call a reading adventure!
Students in Sheila Hanson’s third-grade class (top photo) and Carolyn Talley’s third-grade class
(below) show off the Amazon River Rainforest artwork they created while studying Wild Rivers
as part of Voyager’s Universal Literacy curriculum.
-Kelly Freckmann
Voyager Connection - Spring 2005
31
Our Community
Students Get “Bon Voyage”
into the World of Reading
Students at Selman Intermediate in Sealy, Texas, celebrated their journey
into the world of reading with a Bon Voyage event in early January. Midyear
benchmark results for the 170 fourth- and fifth-graders participating in
Voyager’s Passport Reading Intervention System showed they had made
dramatic gains in the number of words read per minute and in their comprehension skills. In recognition of their success, Selman staffers involved
with the Voyager program hosted the Bon Voyage celebration.
“Because many at-risk learners do not often receive recognition and awards,
they were thrilled with the idea of a party in their honor,” says Larea
Gamble, Literacy Coach for Sealy Independent School District. “I think it
enhanced our program and contributed to a success-oriented atmosphere.”
At the morning celebration, students in the Passport program received a
travel bag with supplies for their journey in the world of reading, including a
bookmark, highlighter and pencil. After filling out a passport application,
each student also received a personal passport with his or her photo. The
passports will be used to track progress in the program, says Gamble, and
stickers will be issued as rewards when adventures are completed.
Students at Selman Intermediate in Sealy, Texas, are embarking on a reading voyage for their
spring semester, following a “Bon Voyage” celebration this January. Pictured are, front row from
left, Jackie Kana, Emmanuel Arriaga, Cody Penrose, and Katie Crayne; back row from left,
Yuleny Lopez, Principal Kerri Finnesand, Bianca Evans, and Elizabeth Fernandez. Photo
reprinted with permission from The Sealy News.
VIP DELIVERS KUDOS TO
VOYAGER EMPLOYEES
On November 18, 2004, with Secret Service
agents in the shadows, then-U.S. Secretary
of Education Rod Paige addressed employees of Voyager Expanded Learning at the
company’s home office in Dallas, Texas.
Dressed in a pinstriped suit and colorful
tie, Secretary Paige commended them for
their hard work and dedication to creating
literacy programs designed to meet the
needs of all children, even those who
struggle with reading. An advocate of
President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law,
Paige spoke about the importance of what
Voyager does and said that all employees
have an impact on helping children learn to
read. He also commented on the importance of education and praised our
nations’ teachers, stating, “Teachers are
the real soldiers of democracy.”
Following his presentation, Secretary
Paige visited a demonstration classroom to
see kindergartners engaged in a lesson
from Voyager’s Universal Literacy System®.
In January, Paige resigned from his post
as U.S. Secretary of Education after serving
four years with the Bush administration.
Before becoming Secretary in 2001, Paige
was Superintendent of the Houston
Independent School District. He plans to
return to Texas to work in the private
sector once his replacement is appointed.
-Shannan Walsh
Reading results. Imagine the possibilities.
MKT0691
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Voyager Connection - Spring 2005