Welcome to The Grimes Reading Institute

Sponsored by The Reading Institute in Williamstown, MA (Director Janet Stratton)

Administrators, in their roles as educational leaders, are more and more invloved in the details of reading instruction, but the learning curve involved can be daunting since it is difficult to stay current due to the greats strides that have been made in understanding reading and “best practices”. In addition, it is very difficult to find professional development in reading that is specifically designed for educational leaders and allows them to focus on the aspects of reading instruction that will help them spearhead changes in literacy practices. This workshop will serve as a “primer” that will focus on the key components of successful, evidence-based literacy initiatives and some central issues involved in evaluating reading practices. It will provide a kind of “road map” to guide leaders and help them find the resources they seek in making change in terms of curriculum, infrastructure, professional development, and assessment. It will outline the “hot button” issues such as a formative assessment, and the key consideration for literacy teams. Importantly, participants will be able to pose questions in a comfortable atmosphere with their colleagues and hear about successful practices of other adminstrators.

• Why fluency issues contribute widely to reading failure.
• What are the barriers to reading comprehension?
• How recent brain research in reading influences decisions in differentiating instruction.
• The five components of reading and how oral language plays a role.
• How DIBELS and AIMSweb data can guide instruction.
• The Three Tier Model of Reading and “Response to Intervention”
•The infrastructure needs of truly differentiated reading instruction.

It is suggested that central office adminstrators attend this workshop along with their building principals, reading, special education, and Title 1 leaders so that the benefits from the group work will be maximized. This workshop will be geared to K-4, but others will benefit. Film clips of interviews with public school adminstrators and teachers involved in a reading intiative will be shown.

The Nuts and Bolts of Language Development for Dual Language Learners and Others (Pre-K to Grade Two)

This workshop will provide a brief overview about “the nuts and bolts” of oral language development as it relates to vocabulary development, listening comprehension, phonemic awareness and other foundational skills for reading instruction. The presenter will provide examples of helpful activities that embellishes lecture, discussion and films that address many of the following topics:

• Why language foundations develop in the very early years and how do we assess it?

• How is this different for Dual Language Learners, for improverished children, for those with pre-cursors of language disabilities.

• How to build vocabulary (eg. choosing the right words) - how to teach it both implicity and explicity.

• Determining which children benefi t from which kind of instruction (explicit and direct or implicit and incidental?) Why?

• How to help children elaborate on ideas in stories using hands-on materials.

• How to form flexible groups for the “pre-teach, teach, re-teach” activities.

• How to provide “scaffolding” when a child is attempting a new challenge with language.

• What does “code switching” mean for children when learning a new language?

• How do children with expressive or receptive language problems become identifies.

Classroom teachers of pre-schools and k-2, special educators, paraprofessionals, parents, teacher assistants, day care workers, administrators, Title 1 educators, librarians and policy makers.

• how this desired framework can be set up by a literacy team working together

• how a multi-tiered continuum of instruction uses scientific research-based interventions that link remedial and preventive efforts within a school or district

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a school-wide system for improving student achievement by directly linking ongoing assessment to instructional decision-making to accomplish three important goals:

• Ensure that every student in need of intervention receives high-quality, research-based instruction as soon as the need is detected and reallocate resources so that consistency in instruction is provided

• Provide progress-monitoring tools to ensure that teachers are making data-based decisions about interventions and adjusting interventions based on the data

• Provide a practical and scientifically defensible method of qualifying students as eligible for special education services based on their response to the interventions being provided

• Served as one of three Lead Trainers for the Massachusetts Reading First and Bay State Readers grants & designer of the professional development plan

• Public school special educator, adjunct university professor and author of course work for literacy, as well as articles on reading and differentiated curriculum

• Ed.M. Reading and Human Development – Harvard Graduate School of Education

This presentation explains the role of fluency in the reading process and describes three research-based strategies proven to develop fluency: teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring. The session will provide educators with a description of a program (Read Naturally) that uses these strategies, but will also address how they can be applied to materials already found in many educators’ classrooms.

“Cliff’s Notes” for Leading a Literacy Initiative: A Mini GPS to help Navigate the Land of Reading

This workshop is designed for the K-4 leader who is in the process of reinvigorating a literacy initiative. The content is consistent with Response to Intervention (RtI) and state-of-the-art, evidence-based information. The presenter will very briefly outline the key areas involved in planning “whole school change” with regard to literacy and provide a “user's manual”.

The presenter will very briefly present simplified, current information from various studies, including those related to fMRI studies, which have shed light on how the five components of reading build on oral language and assist practitioners in assessment and intervention in the classroom

Sponsored by The Reading Institute in Williamstown, MA (Director Janet Stratton)

Educators are being challenged to analyze and interpret data from reading related assessments and use this data to drive instruction that meets students’ varied needs. This workshop will provide planning tools that can assist elementary teachers in designing this targeted instruction and grouping the students. It will provide a summary of recommended activities and research based practical strategies for each kind of reading difficulty revealed through assessments such as DIBELS.
The session will provide recommendations in choosing specific materials, programs, and resources and activities in each of the five components of reading for a given profile of student, based on data. It will begin to address some criteria for choosing one program over another and outline other sources of information helpful to teachers, parents, and others who are making decisions about students. This is focused on K-5 and will be interactive with a focus on paraprofessionals.

• Speaker, Educational Consultant, Provider of Professional Development in the area of Reading Development for over 15 years for administrators, teachers, parents, community groups, state initiatives and private entities
• Served on development team - MA Licensure Test, Foundations of Reading
• Served as one of three Lead Trainers for the Massachusetts Reading First and Bay State Readers grants & designer of the professional development plan
• Public school special educator, adjunct university professor and author of course work for literacy, as well as articles on reading and differentiated curriculum
• First Admissions Director – Landmark School, Prides Crossing, MA
• Ed.M. Reading and Human Development – Harvard Graduate School of Education

Dates: November 4, 2010

Time: 8:30am - 3:30pm

Location: Old Sturbridge Village
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566

Cost: $150.00 per person/$125.00 per person when 3 or more attend from the same school or district. 6 Professional Development Points, lunch and refreshments. Payment is made to The Reading Institute.

Sponsored by The Reading Institute in Williamstown, MA (Director Janet Stratton)

This workshop will provide an overview of RTI and its implications for providing reading instruction that is jointly planned and monitored by general education and special education collaboratively. The focus is K-5. The presenter will describe:
• how this desired framework can be set up
• what curricula support it
• why a literacy team and assessment team are crucial
• the need for ongoing professional development
• the need for screening and targeted progress monitoring of students.
• how a multi-tiered continuum of instruction uses scientific research-based interventions that link remedial and preventive efforts within a school or district.

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a school-wide system for improving student achievement by directly linking ongoing assessment to instructional decision-making to accomplish three important goals:
• Ensure that every student in need of intervention receives high-quality, research-based instruction as soon as the need is detected
• Provide progress-monitoring tools to ensure that teachers are making data-based decisions about interventions and adjusting interventions based on the data
• Provide a practical and scientifically defensible method of qualifying students as eligible for special education services based on their response to the interventions being provided
RtI integrates assessment and intervention in a multi-tiered system. Schools identify students who are at risk for poor learning outcomes, provide evidence-based interventions, monitor student progress, and adjust the intensity and nature of the interventions based on each student’s responsiveness.

Dates: November 5, 2010

Time: 8:30am - 4:30pm

Location: Old Sturbridge Village
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566

Cost: $150.00 per person/$125.00 per person when three or more attend from the same school or district. 7 professional Development Points, Lunch, Refreshments. Payment is made to The Reading Institute.

Northeast Affiliate Conference
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

This workshop will provide a beginning toolkit for implementing or refining a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework for K-12 Literacy that links general education, special education, Title 1, and ELL instructional plans. It will address the following issues:

• Why district and school literacy plans are essential
• The “nuts and bolts” of setting up a literacy plan
• The different “look” of RTI* in grades K-3 and 4-12 settings
• How professional learning communities, assessment-driven instruction, progress monitoring and differentiated instruction are key ingredients of a RTI plan

RtI integrates evidence-based assessment and intervention in a multi-tiered framework of instruction where school community members take collective responsibility for all students. Universal screening helps identify students who are at risk for poor learning outcomes. Teams plan and provide evidence-based interventions, monitor student progress, and adjust the intensity and nature of the interventions based on each student’s responsiveness.

The “Grimes Acid Test” model for building literacy teams will be graphically described followed by time for small group discussions on its implementation for particular settings. RTI plans for both K-3 and 4-12 will be described by guest speakers who are in various stages of developing these models in their districts. A manual of relevant resources will be made available to participants.

Dates: December 2, 2010

Time: 8:30am - 3:30pm

Location: Boston Park Plaza
50 Park Plaza at Arlington Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

Sponsored by The Reading Institute in Williamstown, MA (Director Janet Stratton)

Building Sustainability by Building Expertise
Professional Development for "Teacher Leaders"

Location: Old Sturbridge Village
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566

Graduate Credits: Three graduate credits through Endicott College are available for an additional charge of $150.00, which is paid to Endicott College on the first day of class.

This is a five day course designed to deepen the knowledge of key teachers and assist principals by providing a school district with “building experts” to serve as resource people, coach-like people, and “go to people” in the area of reading instruction K-5. The goal is to help build expertise and consistency in a building with participation by Title 1, Special Education, ELL, and General Education teachers as well as paraprofessionals. PDP’s and/or credit are provided.

• Setting up Learning Centers and small flexible groups to help differentiate instruction
• Rti-friendly practices
• Infrastructure that supports “collective responsibility” school-wide (such as using grade level & data meetings to determine area of need & interventions with given children, providing tiered instruction, “walk to read” models, etc.)
• Curriculum suggestions of evidence-based instruction
• Review of assessment & progress monitoring practices to inform instruction ~ “monitor and adjust” (M. Hunter)
• General problem solving and information sharing regarding “best practices” in current, state-of-the-art instruction
• Video examples of successful schools and practices

The course begins with a condensed overview of evidence-based reading instruction in oral language, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness, and quickly moves to the application of these practices and “make and take” ideas for immediate use.
The goal is to help leaders and teachers “drill down” to where the gaps exist in struggling readers’ backgrounds and present profiles and then prescribe flexible small group instruction, progress monitoring systems, curriculum supplements, learning center activities, technology assistance, and scaffolding that can address those areas.

Note: This course was designed by Sally Grimes, Ed.M. and is generic in nature, thus it does not promote a single set of practices or programs.

This course would build a common language and a collection of agreed upon practices and strategies to extend to other teachers. They would increase their knowledge of the following:
1. Practical applications of what we now know about reading instruction that is targeted to specific needs of specific children and is based on research-based assessments, observation and progress monitoring. These applications are mainly ones that “can be used tomorrow.”
2. Knowledge of resources (webcasts, “free” lessons and materials, parent information, supplemental curriculum materials, home-made manipulatives, etc.)
The ARRA requires that new Federal funds be spent in a manner that “builds capacity.” Since there is a shortage of Reading Specialists who are knowledgeable and skilled in evidence-based reading instruction, there is an even greater need now to develop “teacher leaders” who are trained in specific content areas, such as evidence-based reading instruction. Classroom teachers often need coaching, modeling, and training in current evidence- based practices to deal with the many details of assess- ment driven instruction.

The Presenter: Sally Grimes, M.Ed.
Sally Grimes, founding director of the Grimes Reading Institute, has provided consulting services and professional development to schools nationwide, as well as to federal, state, and private educational agencies in the area of reading instruction. Sally served as one of the three Lead Trainers in Massachusetts for the Reading First Grant under No Child Left Behind. The Grimes Reading Institute was one of the three entities that contracted with the Massachusetts Department of Education to design and develop the professional development component of the Reading First Grant. In addition, Sally’s experience includes teaching (pre-K through graduate school), diagnostic work, policy development, public service, and administration. Sally received her Master’s Degree in Reading and Human Development from the Harvard Gradutae School of Education, and her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Illinois.

Three Day Summer Reading /RtI Institute A Roadmap for Reading Initiatives – Designed Especially for Elementary Administrators and Their Teams

Dates: Tuesday, July 20, Wednesday, July 21, and Thursday, July 22, 2010

Location: MESPA Education and Technology Center, Marlborough, MA

Registration Deadline: July 15, 2010

Fee: Three Days $450

Administrators, in their roles as educational leaders, are more and more involved in the details of reading instruction, but the learning curve involved can be daunting because the complexity of the information seems to grow exponentially each year.
We now know more about the brain and the reading process than ever before, but how can our everyday practices, especially with struggling readers, reflect that knowledge? We do know how to teach approximately 95% of people to read. Our infrastructures and budget constraints and limited in-service and pre-service training for teachers and administrators make this goal seem unattainable sometimes, but it is not.
This institute will outline the critical components of meeting this goal while using the RtI (Response to Intervention) framework. It will help administrators to “know what they don’t know”, if that is what they need. It provides a “roadmap” to help navigate the path and potential “potholes” that can occur when evaluating and altering reading practices and assessment driven instruction. This workshop is designed for administrators and their literacy leaders to participate as teams, so that they are able to “hear the same thing” with regard to rationale and practices and then be able to develop action plans in a supportive setting.

• Specialist in RtI and Establishing District and School-Based Literacy Plans
• Assistant in Development of MA Licensure Test, Foundations of Reading
• One of three Lead Trainers for the Massachusetts Reading First and Bay State Readers grants & designer of the professional development plan
• Public school special educator and adjunct university professor and author of course work for literacy as well as articles on reading and differentiated curriculum
• First Admissions Director – Landmark School, Prides Crossing, MA
• Ed.M. Reading and Human Development – Harvard Graduate School of Education

Given the recent emphasis on demonstrating positive outcomes in academic skills, school psychologists must be informed—and informative—about instructional intervention. This two-day workshop will review current models for understanding the reading process, as a gateway to knowing the critical skills to assess in the areas of word identification and language comprehension, and how analysis of students’ reading deficiencies relate to intervention. The focus will be on reading remediation needs of students in the upper elementary and middle school range (i.e., Gr. 3-8).

Course #: 10-228