August 2006
Uniontown Area School District

August saw many wonderful changes and exciting opportunities for the Pitt-Uniontown MP³ team.  New K-5 principal, Mrs. Paula Work, and her staff adopted a new school motto, which clearly communicates their commitment to this project and increasing their students’ achievement—“This School Reads!”  The excitement to begin planning, collaborating, and problem solving was tangible as we came together for a variety of professional development workshops prior to the start of school. 

First, Amanda met with the Superintendent (Dr. Machesky,) Director of Special Education (Dr. Conti,) and Director of Federal Funds & People Personnel (Ms. Krepps,) to review 2006 PSSA scores and the MP³ progress monitoring/decision-making framework.  At this meeting, Amanda was delighted to hear that the district hired Mrs. Renee Pramuk as the new literacy coach for the Lafayette school who will work closely with the MP³ team.  Equally exciting was the news that four reading specialists were appointed as co-teachers for grades 1-4 at Lafayette to maximize the use of expert personnel for reading instruction and intervention.  Furthermore, with the onset of full-inclusion, two Instructional Support teachers would collaborate with the classroom teachers and reading specialists to better meet the needs of students with disabilities in the general education classroom.  This school is definitely committed to improving reading outcomes for their students!  Patience, flexibility, and team work will be critical in light of so many changes.

Models of effective literacy coaching were next on the agenda as Amanda, Eileen, and Ann provided Mrs. Work and Mrs. Pramuk with some initial training about coaching philosophies and research-based frameworks.  Some of Renee’s initial tasks in her new role would be: building rapport with her new colleagues, visiting classrooms, organizing a book-drive, developing a plan for community and parent outreach, participating in grade-level team planning, pulling together resources of exemplary children’s literature for grades K-4, and providing on-site instructional support for the new Trophies series.  We look forward to working with and learning from Renee as the project continues.

The team graciously accepted the invitation to share information about the project to members of the School Board and Uniontown community on August 21st.  Dr. Machesky announced that due to low PPSA Reading scores, our project would become part of Lafayette’s “School Improvement Plan” to increase reading achievement in the elementary grades.  Amanda then presented a brief Power Point presentation about the project’s goals and implementation plan for Lafayette this Fall. Overall, the meeting attendees were interested, receptive, and inquisitive.  The highlight of the evening came when a complimentary grandparent of a Lafayette student approached Amanda and Eileen following the presentation to thank us for striving to make sure that her granddaughter would break the cycle of struggling readers in their family.

August 23rd marked our first official professional development workshop of the 2006-2007 school year.  All K-4 teachers from the three participating schools as well as some interested colleagues from other UASD elementary schools joined us for a review of the model, overview of data-based decision making, and discussion about the newly adopted Trophies series for core reading instruction.  Next, Ann facilitated activities and discussions around the NRP’s “5 Big Ideas” while teachers reflected on past practices and conceived new ideas for the quickly approaching school year.  The afternoon brought us back together with only our Lafayette team.  Kathy facilitated small grade-level team discussions about the results from the Spring 2006 DIBELS and Maze assessments.  Teachers openly shared concerns about the low scores and discussed implications for instruction.  These conversations sparked Mrs. Work’s overview of the school’s vision of co-teaching, the roles and responsibilities of newly appointed personnel, and the proposed 120 minute reading block.  The day wrapped up with lots of questions and some anxiety.  Tackling inclusion, embarking on the project, and revamping core reading instruction threw many teachers into a tail spin.  Nonetheless, their commitment to their students and general open-mindedness to change, lead us into a productive second day of training.

August 24th was filled to the brim with instructional planning.  Eileen and Ann led the teachers through systematically designed lesson plans for September and October focused on teaching the “5 Big Ideas” in 45 minutes of core instruction using the Trophies series followed by 45 minutes of flexible group instruction to reinforce and extend skills.  Each grade level team dove into planning activities by working their way through materials and conferencing with Ann and Eileen about the best ways to maximize their instructional time as well as the expertise of the additional personnel now included in the classroom.  Energy was high!  The day continued on at a rapid pace as teachers and MP³ checked inventories, rearranged physical plans, problem solved conflicting old and new practices, and became familiar with the new instructional framework. 

The wonderful frenzy spilled over into the next morning as grade-level teams solidified plans for the first week of school.  Mrs. Work and Dr. Conti met with small groups of general education teachers, reading teachers, and learning support teachers to discuss plans for collaboration and inclusion.  All openly admitted that such quick snapshots of such a lofty vision did not fully prepare the faculty for the challenges ahead and that more training and more support are needed.  While the faculty worked with Amanda and Renee’ at Lafayette, Kathy and Eileen shared Spring 2006 assessment results with teachers and administrators at Ben Franklin and Menallen schools. Teachers wrapped up the day in their classrooms preparing for Monday.  Reminiscences about past first days of school echoed in the hallway as teachers put the finishing touches on the entry way bulletin board exclaiming “This School Reads!”

Amanda Kloo - Project Coordinator, University of Pittsburgh

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