How to Assess Progress

Luisa Crespo, The Literacy Project's cofounder and administrator, yours truly (Sydney Levine, cofounder) met with Erica Shehane, MSW, MPH who graduated from UCLA's School of Social Work and is now working with El Centro del Pueblo (one of two jobs she's holding). One of her specialties is program assessment. We want to build in program assessments to keep improving and eventually to expand.

 

Before beginning Erica suggested ways to find mentors. We might promote by email with large institutions or even visit them as I will this Thursday when I go to UCLA and speak with students in the School of Social Work. There are other colleges and universities from Otis Art Institute, FIT, and Trade Tech to USC's Schools of Social Work and Education. There are also nearby high schools.

 

Literacy and self esteem are crucial to social growth. We recognize at 68% of the dropout rate at UC are Latinos. We recognize the correlation between illiteracy and criminality. With schools closing down their preschool programs and the after school programs the need to help the youth of our cities is urgent.

 

To assess aspects of the program and its impact there may be milestones by month and larger milestones such as looking at participants' grades, graduation, etc.

 

An how can we engage volunteers and keep them? What works for each student? These are the two audiences whose retention is crucial.

 

These are some points to be aware of and to follow:

 

• Follow up with those who do not stay
• Qualitative conversations with participants, parents, El Centro and among mentors themselves
• Track attendance
• Clarity about where we are going
• Bi monthly meetings with Erica by phone and / or email
• Journal keeping is very important
• Anecdotal means are fine as a method of assessment.

A branded reassessment tool is called REAME.

 

REACH –

• Target: 16 mentors, 16 participants.
• What is our outreach plan to mentors and to participants

EFFECTIVENESS - Outcomes and changes for both the target populations

• Bigger commitment?
• Getting to know one another?
• Visible changes?
• Are kids progressing?
• Are the mentors staying?

ADOPTION – Reach at an organizational level – Of the 4 programs at El Centro:

• How much buy-in?
• Are there champions pushing it?
• Virgil MS staying together?
• El Centro – staying together?
• Setting staff support leadership?
• Top down?
• Implementation and change – what and why?

 

MAINTENANCE – Over time, resources

 

EFFECTIVENESS – 3 months, 6 months

• Need a Mission Statement
• Improving literary skills
• Improved self-esteem
• Need mentor goals 
• Need first month goals: e.g., get 16 mentors and participants
• Long range goals:
• Grants from such as Annenberg, Mary Pickford Fndn for Funing Meida, Liberty Hill, Federal Gov't
• Partners such as Community Centers, Schools, LA Latino Film Festival and membership, Los Angeles Film Festival

 

 

 

Need Books? Ask The Molina Foundation

The Molina Foundation's mission is to reduce disparities in access to education and healthcare by underserved populations.  Providing replicable and sustainable models that enhance access to education and reinforcement of activities shown to improve student achievement is one of the overarching goals of The Molina Foundation.

The Molina Foundation has 4 programs that support its goals:

 

1. Book Buddies
2. Step Up to Math
3. Experience Counts
4. Everybody Writes

History
Dr. Martha Bernadett is the eldest daughter of the late Dr. C. David Molina, the founder of Molina Healthcare, Inc. Both Dr. David Molina and his wife Mary were elementary school teachers prior to Dr. David Molina’s return to medical school. Thus, Dr. Bernadett, or “Dr. Martha” as she is known, and her siblings were raised with a deep value for education.

 

As a Family Physician, Dr. Martha understood the importance of literacy and education in overcoming health disparities. In addition, as the Principal Investigator of a demonstration project funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Hablamos Juntos (We Speak Together) Program, she understood the barriers to health access faced by those with limited English proficiency.

 

 

 

In 2003, Dr. Martha started a program to provide books to children without access to books in an effort to improve literacy of children to help them overcome barriers to healthcare access and impact their long-term overall health status. This program was called Book Buddies. Through support and partnership of similar 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, Book Buddies grew and grew, establishing itself as a cornerstone of literacy efforts throughout California.

 

  

To address these important issues in an ongoing and sustainable manner, Dr. Martha Bernadett formed The Molina Foundation in August, 2004.

 

 

 

I. Book Buddies

 

Book Buddies™ Literacy Program: This program has distributed about 1,000,000 new or gently used books since 2003 and was the one of the reasons driving the formation of The Molina Foundation. Through this program, we have identified and distributed hundreds of thousands of books through schools, libraries, community based organizations, hospitals and health care facilities. These books are distributed where cohorts of children and adults have been identified at high risk for low literacy, primarily due to poverty or prevalence of English as a second language. Books are received through donations from book publishers and distributors, book drives at schools and community organizations, and low-cost book purchase. The Book Buddies program has received and distributed books for First Book, the National Book Bank and numerous publishers and distributors of new and used books.

 

Book Buddies has partnered with literacy programs and existing 501(c)3 organizations to support their projects. Book Buddies has built over 50 libraries at community based organizations and schools.

 

Click here to visit our Book Buddies site.

II.  Step Up to Math

 

The Step-Up-to-Math program targets 6th graders who are at the Basic level on the California Standards Tests (CST) in math and may include English Language Learners. The program has three objectives:

• To motivate and encourage students to increase math skills
• To attain proficiency in math for the rigors of 6th grade pre-algebra
• To encourage parents to give positive messages while tracking their student’s school work.

 

Step-Up-to-Math is a model that can be applied wherever qualified and interested high school students and middle school students are already gathered in a supervised setting. The model, once proven, can be applied in Community Based Organizations offering programs for these age groups.

 

III. Experience Counts

 

Experience Counts is part of the Molina Foundation. The goal of Experience Counts is to support current school educators and administrators by sharing the expertise of experienced retired administrators and educators.

 

Experience Counts helps through: 

• Support advice online.
• Support by phone.
• In person mentoring.
• Free seminars.

Click here to visit our Experience Counts site.

 

IV. Everybody Writes

 

Everybody Writes a program of The Molina Foundation that produces writing conferences to encourage children to write.

 

Everybody Writes is a program designed to inspire children to write outside the classroom by offering exciting and engaging activities through which the children do not realize they are learning while writing.

 

The conferences and program is conducted by authors, literacy specialists and engaging teachers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rimes & Onsets: Help in Tackling Literacy Issues

When you, the mentor, or the participant reads or writes and you begin to analyze words together, you can approach the material at hand, whatever it may be, by locating rimes and onsets.  This creates pattern recognition.  Here are some example of rimes and onsets which you can feel free to print out and copy.

StarSpell 2.3 Onset & Rime lists Copyright © Fisher-Marriott Software 1999. These lists may be copied and used for non-commercial purposes. Please acknowledge our copyright.



RIMES (2 letter endings)

'.ad' as in dad:

dad: A dad is a father

lad: Here is my dad as a lad

sad: I feel sad to see you go

'.ag' as in bag:

bag: Her bag holds a lot

rag: She wipes her paintbrush with a rag

wag: A happy dog will wag his tail

'.am' as in jam:

jam: I like jam on bread

ram: The ram had big curly horns

'.an' as in pan:

fan: A fan keeps me cool

man: Every man was once a boy

pan: I'll boil an egg in the pan

'.ap' as in tap:

gap: My teeth have a gap at the front

nap: Sleepy people need a nap

tap: Water runs from a tap

'.at' as in cat:

cat: My cat laps up milk

hat: He wore a woolly hat

rat: A rat has a very long tail

'.ed' as in bed:

bed: I sleep in a big bed

fed: Cats often purr when they're fed

red: This box is red all over

'.eg' as in leg:

leg: I can stand on one leg

peg: My coat hangs on a peg

'.en' as in hen:

hen: My hen lays brown eggs

pen: She writes with a red pen

ten: My toes add up to ten

'.et' as in pet:

net: We need a net to dip in the pond

pet: I have a spider for a pet

'.ig' as in pig:

dig: Let's go and dig for gold

pig: The pig gave a grunt

'.in' as in pin:

bin: I put the bag in the bin

pin: A pin is very sharp

tin: Mum opened a tin of beans

'.ip' as in lip:

lip: I bit my lip

pip: An apple tree grows from a tiny pip

rip: Her new dress has a rip in it

'.it' as in bit:

bit: This bit fits here

hit: My hammer hit the nail first time

sit: I want to sit in this comfy chair

'.ob' as in rob:

job: His job is washing up

sob: It made her sob to lose her bear

'.og' as in dog:

dog: Our dog barks at cats

fog: Its hard to see far in the fog

log: A log is a seat for a frog

'.ot' as in cot:

cot: The baby sleeps in her cot

dot: My pet flea is hiding behind this dot

pot: I'll plant a bulb in this pot

'.ud' as in bud:

bud: Soon the bud will be a flower

mud: I must get the mud off my boot

'.um' as in sum:

mum: A mum is a mother

sum: This sum gets a tick

'.un' as in sun:

bun: I love a sticky bun

run: You'll never catch me when I run

sun: Summer sun is hot

ONSETS (single letter starts)

'b..' as in bed:

bag: Her bag holds a lot

bed: I sleep in a big bed

bun: I love a sticky bun

'c..' as in cat:

cat: My cat laps up milk

cot: The baby sleeps in her cot

cup: Gran has a cup of tea with me

'd..' as in dog:

dad: A dad is a father

den: He hid in his den

dog: Our dog barks at cats

'f..' as in fox:

fan: A fan keeps me cool

fox: A fox hunts to eat

fun: Her party was a lot of fun

'g..' as in gap:

gap: My teeth have a gap at the front

get: We will get wet in the rain

'h..' as in hat:

hat: He wore a woolly hat

hen: My hen lays brown eggs

hug: I like to hug my Mum

'j..' as in jet:

jam: I like jam on bread

jet: I like to fly by jet

jug: Milk comes in a jug

'l..' as in leg:

leg: I can stand on one leg

lip: I bit my lip

log: A log is a seat for a frog

'm..' as in man:

man: Every man was once a boy

mat: Please wipe your feet on the mat

mum: A mum is a mother

'n..' as in nut:

nap: Sleepy people need a nap

net: We need a net to dip in the pond

nut: I saw a squirrel hide a nut

'p..' as in pig:

pen: She writes with a red pen

pet: I have a spider for a pet

pig: The pig gave a grunt

'r'.. as in rat:

rag: She wipes her paintbrush with a rag

rat: A rat has a very long tail

red: This box is red all over

's..' as in sun:

sad: I feel sad to see you go

six: An ant has six legs

sun: Summer sun is hot

't..' as in ten:

tap: Water runs from a tap

ten: My toes add up to ten

tin: Mum opened a tin of beans

'w..' as in web:

wag: A happy dog will wag his tail

web: I saw a spider spin a web

win: Only one of you can win the prize

RIMES (3 letter endings)

'.amp' as in lamp:

camp: Our camp had four big tents

lamp: The lamp gave a soft glow

stamp: Every letter needs a stamp

'.and' as in hand:

band: I'd love to play drums in a band

hand: My hand is to hold things

sand: There's so much sand at the seaside

'.ang' as in bang:

bang: Bangers go bang

rang: The bell rang for playtime

sang: The singer sang a silly song

'.elt' as in belt:

belt: A belt holds up my jeans

melt: Snowmen melt in the sun

'.end' as in bend:

bend: Drive carefully round a bend

mend: Can you mend this broken toy?

'.ent' as in bent:

bent: The shelf was bent

dent: The crash made a dent in my car

tent: I'm going to sleep out in my tent

'.est' as in nest:

nest: Four eggs rest in a nest

rest: He had to rest after running so far

'.ilk' as in milk:

milk: I put some milk in my tea

silk: A silk scarf is soft

'.ing' as in ring:

king: The king sat on his throne

ring: She has a ring on her finger

wing: This bird has hurt its wing

'.ink' as in sink:

drink: A fizzy drink tickles your nose

sink: His sink was full of washing-up

wink: A wink is a one-eyed blink

'.int' as in mint:

mint: This mint is sweet but very hot

print: My work is neat when I print it

'.ist' as in list:

fist: Shut your hand to make a fist

list: I made a list of my friends

mist: The trees are hidden in the mist

'.ond' as in pond:

fond: I am very fond of my sister

pond: Why has this pond got no ducks?

'.ump' as in jump:

bump: I got a bump on the head when I fell

jump: A frog can jump over a log

lump: I had a lump on my head from a fall

'.unk' as in bunk:

bunk: Tom slept in the top bunk

dunk: I dunk a biscuit in my drink

trunk: A trunk is a very long nose

'.usk' as in tusk:

dusk: Just before dark it is dusk

rusk: Our baby likes to chew a rusk

tusk: An elephant tusk is long and white

ONSETS (2 letter starts)

'bl..' as in blob:

blink: Eyes blink all the time

blob: A blob of jam fell on the cloth

blot: Drip some paint and make a blot

'br..' as in brick:

brick: Here's a brick to start a wall

brim: My glass is full up to the brim

bring: Postmen bring the post

'ch..' as in chin:

check: This pattern is a check

chimp: The chimp was unhappy in the zoo

chin: Every day he shaves his chin

'cl..' as in clap:

clap: I clap my hands to the music

cling: A baby will cling to its mother.

club: The giant had a big club

'cr..' as in crab:

crab: A crab hid in a rocky pool

crisp: You can have the last crisp in the packet

crust: Who wants the crust off this new loaf?

'dr..' as in drum:

drink: A fizzy drink tickles your nose

drop: A drop of rain fell on my hat

drum: We dance as he bangs his drum

'fl..' as in flag:

flag: The flag flaps in the wind.

flap: This flap is for the cat

'fr..' as in frog:

frog: A frog sits by a pond

frost: There is frost on the window

'gl..' as in glad:

glad: I'm glad you can come to my party

glum: The bad news made her glum

'pl..' as in plum:

plank: A plank of wood can make a shelf

plug: A plug keeps water in a sink

plum: I hope this plum is sweet

'sh..' as in ship:

shell: A snail has a shell on its back

ship: The ship sails out to sea

shop: Her shop sells toys

'sk..' as in skin:

skid: Mud makes cars skid

skin: You need skin to keep your body in

skip: She likes to skip with her new rope

'sl..' as in slug:

sling: His arm was in a sling

slip: A banana skin made him slip

slug: A slimy slug slid slowly past

'sm..' as in smug:

smock: I put on a smock when I paint

smug: She looked so smug when she won

'sp..' as in spot:

spot: The paint drop made a small red spot

spud: My hot spud is full of butter

'st..' as in step:

stand: We saw the match from the stand

step: She fell from the top step of the stairs

sting: A wasp will sting if it is angry

'sw..' as in swing:

swim: I can swim across the pool

swing: Push me high on my swing

'th..' as in thin:

thick: A big brush paints a thick line

thin: A thin dog needs his food

thing: A cup is a thing for holding drinks

'tr..' as in truck:

trot: The horse set off at a trot

truck: The truck carried a load of bricks

trunk: A trunk is a very long nose

READING FOR UNDERSTANDING - SUMMARY OF THE BOOK. PART I

READING FOR UNDERSTANDING by Ruth Schoenbach et al. is the text which describes a course called Academic Literacy which encompasses reading apprenticeships and a professional development support network.

The course is based on connecting the known (what is in your head) to the new (what is there waiting for discovery in the world of text). It encourages students to make predictions based on partial information and understanding. Participants learn how to make their thinking public to others so that other participants can learn to benefit from each other’s difficulties and insights. The results are the discovery of the agonies and ecstasies of being a committed reader, the process of engagement, introspection, reflection, metacognition (thinking about thinking) and public sharing of cognitive secrets. All these reading skills parallel writing processes as well.

• Mentors will hold updates monthly with El Centro professional staff.
• Mentors and staff will have updates every 3 months regarding implementation and evaluation methods of our own adapting and testing.

What follows are excerpts and summations of chapters in the book READING FOR UNDERSTANDING, the basic text for this mentorship program.

Assessment of the Curriculum

• Assessment: Buy The Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) test from Touchstone Applied Science Associates p. 187 and use Chapter 6 to answer the question, “Do students who have been in a course designed to engage them in problem solving to comprehend text perform better at a well known comprehension task as a result of the course?”

• Include pre- and post- course survey on page 188.

• Test-averse participants need to be urged to take these tests seriously PLEASE.

Chapter 1. Rethinking the Problem: Crisis and Opportunity

We all know academic texts can be utterly boring. However, armed with appropriate strategies and mental habits, students can make their own decisions about what texts they will or won’t work through – decisions based on the goals and not on their reading ability.

In the words of one ninth grader who took the actual course in Academic Literacy: “What I can really do what I didn’t do before was think about what the book is saying and try to reflect and give some thought to what is going on in the book instead of closing it and not thinking anything when I read it.” Our goal is for our participants to be able to say the same.

Chapter 2. The Reading Apprenticeship Framework
Reading is not just a basic skill.

Reading is a complex process. Think for a moment about the last thing you read. An El Centro del Barrio bulletin? A newspaper analysis of education in California? A report on water quality in your neighborhood? If you could recapture your mental processing you would notice that you read with reference to a particular WORLD of knowledge and experience related to the text…which you are familiar with already, before reading the material.

Learning is a social-cognitive interactive process with participation of the student and others in the same group: parents, siblings, teachers, peers. In this environment are a variety of cognitive apprenticeships in which the mental activities characteristic of certain kinds of cognitive tasks such as computation, written composition, interpreting texts, and the like are internalized and appropriated by learners through social support of various kinds. Learning to read is yet another task that requires a cognitive apprenticeship. Compare it to learning to ride a bike: the proficient other is there to support the beginner and calls attention to often overlooked or hidden strategies. From the beginning, reading apprentices must be engaged in the whole process of problem solving to make sense of written texts, even if they are initially unable to carry out on their own all the individual strategies and subtasks that go into successful reading. The hidden, cognitive dimensions must be drawn out and made visible to the learner. For adolescents, being show what goes on behind the curtain of expert reading is especially powerful in helping them gain adult mastery.

Reading is problem solving.

Fluent reading is not the same as decoding.

Reading is situationally bound. An experienced reader of dessert cookbooks may not understand a political science article and vice versa. Reading is influenced by experiences of the reader.

Good readers are:

• Mentally engaged
• Motivated to read and learn
• Socially active around reading tasks
• Strategic in monitoring the interactive processes that assist comprehension:

• Setting goals that shape their reading processes,
• Monitoring their emerging understanding of a text, and
• Coordinating a variety of comprehension strategies to control the reading process

THE SOCIAL DIMENSION

Participants can be taught by a transmission approach to teaching in which students are shown strategies, asked to practice them, and then expected to be able to use them on their own. Orchestration of this interactive teaching and learning is what we call a reading apprenticeship approach to developing strategic readers.

The center of the above is an ongoing conversation in which mentor and participant think about and discuss their personal relationships to reading, the social environment and resources of the classroom or learning center, their cognitive activity, and the kinds of knowledge needed to make sense of the texty. This is metacognitive conversation and it goes on internally as both read invidudually and consider their own mental processes and externally as they talk about their reading processes, strategies, knowledge resources and motivations and their interactions with and affective responses to texts.

• Metacogition is thinking about thinking.

• Metcognition is key to deep learning and flexible use of knowledge and skills.

• Metacognition takes place through small group conversations, written private reflections and logs, personal letters to the teacher or even to characters in books. These lead students to knowing their own minds.

Developing a sense of safety is fundamental to the activity of investigating reading. Discuss what makes it safe or unsafe for students to ask questions or show their confusion in class.

Building interest in reading:

Sharing books on topics that appeal is one way to build interest in reading. What was exciting, fun, interesting or important.

Engaging students in asking questions about reading and literacy and its relationship to political, economic, and cultural power is another way to build interest in reading:
• Who reads, what do they read, why they read, how reading affects their lives
• Who does not read, how does not reading affect their lives.
• Read and talk about historical disengranchisement through lack of literacy of particular groups of people in society.
• Talk about the relationship between literacy and power of various kinds including economic, political and cultural power.

Sharing reading processes, problems and solutions:

• Talk about what is confusing in texts
• Share how teachers and students deal with comprehension problems as they come up in class texts
• Participate in small group problem solving discussions to make sense of difficult texts.
• Notice others’ ways of reading, of thinking aloud about difficult texts, of different reading strategies.
• Try the strategies out: skimming, scanning, read through ambiguity and confusion, read ahead to see if confusion clears up, review the big picture to check comprehension. Chunk groups of text, break chunks down to smaller segments, identify or clarify pronoun references and other textual connections.


THE PERSONAL DIMENSION

Personal dimension of reading comes though metacognitive conversation (internal and external).

Developing reader identity

• Write and talk about previous reading experiences.
• Write and talk about reading habits, likes and dislikes.
• Write and talk about reasons for reading.
• Set and periodically check on goals for personal reading development.

Developing metacognition

• Notice what is happening in your mind in a variety of everyday situations.
• Identify various thinking processes you engage in in a variety of everyday situations.
• Notice where your attention is when you read.
• Identify all the different processes going on while you read.
• Choose what thinking activities to engage in; direct and control your reading processes accordingly.

Developing reader fluency and stamina

• Demonstrate that all readers, including teachers, are developing readers and that everyone has room to grow during a lifetime of reading.
• Identify the role effort plays in the growth of reading comprehension over time; notice that effort p;ays off in becoming a stronger reader.
• Notice and celebrate progress as a developing reader; increase patience with yourself as a learner.
• Persist in reading even when somewhat confused or bored with a text.
• Build stamina for reading longer texts and for longer periods of time.

Developing reader confidence and range

•  Bring the huge variety of different kinds of texts students read in their daily lives into the classroom.
• Investigate how students approach and make sense of these different kinds of texts.
• Connect the competencies students demonstrate in approaching these texts to the resources students will need to approach unfamiliar texts.
• Have students read, with support, short pieces representing a wide range of unfamiliar types of texts.
• Draw attention to what students do understand when reading unfamiliar texts.

To feel in charge is important, as shown in their choice of clothes, music, free time. If you can convince the adolescent that the hard work of improving reading is an avenue toward increased individual autonomy and control as well as toward an expanded repertoire of future life options, half the battle is won.

THE COGNITIVE DIMENSION, see page 30

• Getting the big picture

• Breaking it down
• Monitoring comprehension:

• Check to see whether comprehension is occurring.
• Test understanding by summarizing or paraphrasing trhe text or self-questioning.
• Decide whether to clarify any confusion at this time.

 • Using problem-solving strategies to assist and restore comprehension:

• Question texts, authors, and yourself about the text.
• Talk to the text through marginal annotations.
• Visualize what is described in the text.
• Make meaningful connections between the text and other knowledge, experiences, or texts.
• Reread sections of the text to clear up confusions.
• Summarize, retell, or paraphrase texts or parts of texts.
• Represent concepts and content of texts in praphic form.
• Represent concepts an content of texts through metaphors and analogies.
• Organize and keep track of ideas in a text through graphic organizers, outlines, response logs, and notes.

• Setting reading purposes and adjusting reading processes:

• Set goals or purposes for your reading whenever you approach a text.
• Read the same text for different purposes.
• Notice how reading purposes affect reading processes.
• Vary reading processes depending on purposes for reading. 

THE KNOWLEDGE BUILDING DIMENSION, see page 34

• Mobilizing and building knowledge structures (schemata) **

• Developing content or topic knowledge:

• Brainstorm and share knowledge or information about the topic.
• Identify conflicting knowledge or information about the topic.
• Imagine yourself in situations similar to those that will be encountered in the text.
• Explore conceptual vocabulary that will be encountered.
• Take positions on a topic before reading about it, perhaps by writing essays on the topic before reading.
• Evaluate the fit between your prior knowledge or conception of a topic and the ideas in the text.

• Developing knowledge and use of text structures:

• Identify the ways particular texts are structured.
• Notice patterns in structure across texts of similar kind.
• Identify particular kinds of language used in particular kinds of texts.
• Create word families associated with particular ideas or subject areas.
• Use text organization and structure to assist in comprehension of particular texts.
• Preview a text to build a schema for it; notice structural markers such as headings, subheadings, and illustrations.
• Notice that particular words or phrases signal that the text is heading in a particular direction.
• Use signal words and phrases to aid comprehension and to predict the direction particular texts will take next.

• Developing discipline- and discourse-specific knowledge.

• Identify the possible purposes that the authors of particular texts may have had in creating these texts.
• Identify the possible audiences particular texts seem to be addressing.
• Identifhy the functions particular texts serve in particular circumstances.
• Explore the large questions, puroses, and habits of mind that characterize specific academy disciplines.
• Inquire into the ways texts function in particular disciplines.
• Identitfy the paritcual ways of using language associated with particular academic disciplines.

 END OF PART I

**Schemata is plural for worlds of knowledge and associations as they are read, triggered by particular ideas, words or situations. Schemata for particular networks of knowledge and information are activated as individuals read and add to their existing schemata as they encounter new information. In addition, their existing schemata influence the ways they approach and make sense of texts. Schemata, stores of knowledge about texts and about the world, are organized a networks of associations which can be triggered by a single word. For example, the word BALL may call up images of baseball diamonds, backstops, and bases as well as the pitchers, batters, catchers, umps, fielders and even sports commentators who take part in the game. Innings, errors, random statistics about particular players and even the smells and sounds of baseball stadiums may quickly and automatically come to mind as such images and ideas flood into consciousness. The same word, BALL, may for another reader call up a competing schema: Images of fancy gowns, corsages, tuxedos, limousine rides, and the blushing self-consciousness of a first prom. Proficient readers know they must relinquish any schema that proves inappropriate as they encounter further information from the text, but less experienced readers will often hold onto inappropriate images that block meaningful connections with the text.

Next Meeting March 25 The Literacy Project: Reading for Understanding

Become a mentor and mean something to someone who needs you.

Our first meeting was held last night to introduce mentors to the staff of El Centro del Barrio.  Given traffic, distance, last minute snafus, the meeting was very successful and exciting and the next meeting is set for MARCH 25 5pm to 7pm.  We hope all interested mentors and others will be there.

We seem to have settled on some vocabulary.  We are mentors and the students, who may range from 10 to 18, are "participants".  At the mentors' first meeting with the participants, tentatively set for April 5, we will have one-on-one meetings in which each participant with a parent will interview and be interviewed by each mentor for 5 to 10 minutes before moving to the next interview.

We're also setting up a the timeline for the next three months as well as the exact dates for mentors to work with the participants.  Time slots will be set at either 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 or 7:00. The staff of El Centro del Barrio will always be available to back up, coach and support the mentors as well as the participants with whom they work.

Reading for Comprehension, the text basis for the pedagogical work of the mentors - who will be giving and getting so much more than a mere "teaching" experience - will be donated to the mentors by El Centro.  Thank you Sandra Figueroa for your constant support and thank you El Centro staff as well.

I will post a summary of the text Reading for Comprehension over the coming days.  For now, a brief sampling plus an article I recently read in the LA Times which should remind us that

Reading is not just a basic skill.

Reading is a complex process. Think for a moment about the last thing you read. An El Centro del Barrio bulletin? A newspaper analysis of education in California? A report on tax credits if you buy energy saving appliances? (see below).  If you could recapture your mental processing you would notice that you read with reference to a particular world of knowledge and experience related to the text with which you are familiar already, before you began to read the material.

ENERGY
by Kathy M. Kristof

It takes a lot of energy to figure out if you qualify for this tax credit

Taxpayers who replaced items such as furnaces, water heaters and even windows with more energy-efficient models in 2009 may get the break, but the rules are complex.

I wasn't thinking about tax credits when my 12-year-old water heater went on the fritz last fall. I was thinking about a hot shower.

I called the plumber. A few sticky days and $1,000 later, I had hot water.

Now, like millions of other consumers, I faced a tax challenge.

The federal government decided to reward taxpayers who made their homes more energy efficient in 2009 by creating a series of tax credits for those who replaced furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, insulation, doors, roofs, skylights and windows with more energy-efficient models.


But trying to figure out whether the things you bought qualify for one of these rewards is bedeviling to even the sagest of experts.


I asked Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst with CCH Inc. and one of the nation's most careful and quoted tax authorities, to explain what equipment qualifies. Luscombe responded by reading a long paragraph, loaded with references to U-factors and BTUs, out of an IRS technical ruling.


I was confused. The words were in English and there were lots of them, but that was about the limit of my comprehension. When I asked Luscombe what it all meant, he paused and chuckled.

"I have no idea," he said.

I'll save you details about the dozens of phone calls that ensued and cut to the crux of the matter: If you completed your energy improvements early in the year, you're (almost) home free.

Until June 1, 2009, you could rely on the label or the manufacturer's assurance that the equipment you bought met the requirements of the government's Energy Star program. That could land you a tax credit that amounts to 30% of the cost of buying and, sometimes, installing this equipment.

But, if you bought later in the year, like I did -- particularly if you acted without thinking about the credit when buying -- you'll earn every dollar of that credit in sweat equity. You're going to have to go on something of a treasure hunt to figure out whether the stuff you bought qualifies for the credit.

"It's very complex," acknowledged Karen Schneider, manager for the government's Energy Star website, which aims to explain the tax credits.

"It's very hard for a consumer to know the information they're supposed to know to do it right," she added.

Part of what makes the process complicated is that the rules changed a couple of times during the year.

The tax law had no 2009 energy credits until Feb. 17, when President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the economic stimulus bill. In that bill, Congress revived a series of energy tax incentives that had expired at the end of 2007.

Instead of making the tax credits effective on the date the law was signed, Congress made the credits retroactive to the beginning of 2009. But the law also tightened the requirements to get the credits.

Because Congress had telegraphed its intention to revive the 2007 credits, there was a debate about whether it was fair to tighten the rules without warning the people who bought their storm doors in January. Thus lawmakers said the people who bought by Feb. 17 could be governed by the 2007 rules.

Then the window people complained, Energy Star's Schneider said.

Assuming that the revived energy credits would be good for business, window companies had built up inventories of sashes and sliding glass doors that would meet those old requirements. The new requirements were stricter, leaving the companies with warehouses full of suddenly unattractive panes.

Tax authorities responded with a ruling that said the old rules would apply to windows through May, giving these manufacturers a chance to unload their inventory.

Naturally that sort of favoritism didn't play well with manufacturers of furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, roofing material and insulation, which had inventory too.

By the time the IRS printed tax forms and instructions in late 2009, the agency had changed the rules to give people who bought any energy-efficient equipment before June the ability to take a credit as long as they were willing to say they had "relied on the manufacturer's certification issued before Feb. 19, 2008, that the purchases met the standards in effect before Feb. 18, 2009."

How you would know when the manufacturer issued its certification is a mystery, Schneider said. But if you bought before June last year, you have a loophole. Go with it.

If you bought after that, you'll have to wade through standards peppered with references to U-factors, BTUs, thermal efficiency and the like. These are not details that are listed on your window or your water heater.

To figure out if your equipment meets the requirements, you need to get the name of the manufacturer and the model number. You can find this either on the unit itself, on your invoice or you can get it from your contractor.

With that information, you can go to the manufacturer's website. Many manufacturers prominently advertise the models that qualify for the credits on their home pages, said Mark Petrarca, senior vice president of public affairs for A.O. Smith, the South Carolina company that made my water heater.

What if your manufacturer doesn't? Check out www.energystar.gov. Near the bottom of the home page, there's a link for "Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency." Click on it.

This page is split into two sections -- one for the residential energy credits we've been talking about, and a second for people who revamped their homes to add solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps or wind turbines.

Unless you went hog-wild on energy efficiency last year, you can skip that second section and look up the equipment you bought in the first section.

So if you replaced a gas water heater, you'd click on that link to find out that your heater would need to have an "energy factor" of at least 0.82 or a "thermal efficiency rating" of at least 90%. Armed with that information, you can return to your manufacturer's website and look up "spec sheets" for your purchase, which divulge all those technical factoids.

If your appliance or other improvement does qualify for the break, you're not done. Now you need to fill out IRS Form 5695 to claim your credit. That form should be filed with your tax return. You'll need to keep the receipts for the equipment you bought, as well as the certification that it meets the energy guidelines in your tax records, in case you get audited.

Me? My water heater didn't qualify. Luckily, I can drown my sorrows in a hot shower.

business@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

First Meeting March 4 5-7...Please come!

Become a mentor!

Just an update to all who are interested. We hope you are all interested and will attend our first meeting


This Thursday March 4 at 5 – 7 pm

El Centro Del Pueblo
1157 Lemoyne St.,
Echo Park CA 90026

(That’s just off Sunset, just east of Alvarado)

The mentors and advisors of The Literacy Project will meet the administration of El Centro Del Pueblo.
(So far we have about 10 mentors and need 6 more.)

We will discuss

- -who we are
- -who the staff is
- -who the children we will work with are and
- -why they are being recommended for this one hour weekly mentoring program.

Other points of discussion will include

- What is the overall idea of mentoring:
- Personal communication leading to awareness of learning styles and skills needed to read and write, cooperative reading and writing leading to sustained reading
- Evaluating progress
- Confidentiality
- Creating an interview for mentors and students the next meeting
- The date of the weekly meetings and times

We’ll also go over the Volunteers Handbook!

Please keep a copy of these emails for your future reference and look at the blog at http://TheLiteracyProject–pilot.blogspot.com. Your comments are welcome.

And order from Amazon (prices start at $8.99) READING FOR UNDERSTANDING by Ruth Schoenbach.

Sydney Levine
SydneyJLevine@gmail.com

What is the Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI)?

As Co-Director of WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI), Schoenbach has worked closely with Co-Director Cynthia Greenleaf and other staff since 1995 to increase access to higher-level literacy learning for adolescents, particularly those who have not yet met their academic potential.

Building on prior research and locally based research, Schoenbach and Greenleaf developed the Reading Apprenticeship® instructional framework, which they describe in their best-selling WestEd book, Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms. This book has become the catalyst for an international movement of educators who use the Reading Apprenticeship framework in their local schools — from elementary schools to community colleges to teacher education courses.

In response to requests for training related to the book, SLI has developed national training institutes, regional (continued on next page) professional development services, a growing cadre of certified consultants, and numerous publications and tools for classroom and professional development use. Literacy coaches, middle and high school teachers, district and site administrators, community college teachers and teacher educators from more than 28 states and Germany have participated in SLI-led professional development, impacting an estimated 170,000 students nationally and several thousand more in Germany, where Reading for Understanding has been translated into German. Numerous local studies in schools and districts reflect promising outcomes for students whose teachers are implementing Reading Apprenticeship. SLI's Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy course was chosen in 2005 as one of only two adolescent literacy programs in the nation designated by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences for further study and evaluation. Schoenbach directs SLI's participation in this Enhanced Reading Opportunities study. The program was chosen by an independent panel of experts on adolescent literacy, which evaluated the extent to which an adolescent reading program is high quality, including issues of how to motivate adolescents to read, whether there is research-based evidence of the program's effectiveness, and whether the program is comprehensive and linked to content-area reading.



Schoenbach has co-edited two more books — Building Academic Literacy: An Anthology for Reading Apprenticeship, and Building Academic Literacy: Lessons from Reading Apprenticeship Classrooms, Grades 6-12 — and has co-authored numerous articles appearing in such publications as the Harvard Educational Review and the Phi Delta Kappan. The Reading Apprenticeship framework is cited as one of four programs in Reading Next, a document on adolescent literacy published by the Alliance for Excellent Education. View more articles about Reading Apprenticeship.



Schoenbach received a BA in social sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, a Bilingual Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University, and an EdM in teaching, curriculum, and learning environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.



SLI's Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy course was chosen in 2005 as one of only two adolescent literacy programs in the nation designated by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences for further study and evaluation. Schoenbach directs SLI's participation in this Enhanced Reading Opportunities study. The program was chosen by an independent panel of experts on adolescent literacy, which evaluated the extent to which an adolescent reading program is high quality, including issues of how to motivate adolescents to read, whether there is research-based evidence of the program's effectiveness, and whether the program is comprehensive and linked to content-area reading.



Schoenbach has co-edited two more books — Building Academic Literacy: An Anthology for Reading Apprenticeship, and Building Academic Literacy: Lessons from Reading Apprenticeship Classrooms, Grades 6-12 — and has co-authored numerous articles appearing in such publications as the Harvard Educational Review and the Phi Delta Kappan. The Reading Apprenticeship framework is cited as one of four programs in Reading Next, a document on adolescent literacy published by the Alliance for Excellent Education. View more articles about Reading Apprenticeship.



Schoenbach received a BA in social sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, a Bilingual Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University, and an EdM in teaching, curriculum, and learning environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

THE LITERACY PROJECT

Reasons:  We have all the reasons, so look for the reasons that empower you and make a difference.

The reason we are inviting people to volunteer their time and attention to this pilot project is that our society is in great need of help and this is a simple, briefly time consuming and very personal way to make a huge difference in the life of someone who needs help to become a valuable member of our society. If you can’t commit to volunteering for six months but can help in other resources we will put you in a supporting group.

Statement of purpose: Teaching literacy (reading and writing) to the working poor via its children who will teach it to their parents . The ability to read with understanding and to love reading is the aim of this volunteer program which will unite kids and mentors for one hour a week (minimum) with a homework assignment of teaching to parents what was learned that day.

Ultimate goal: Finding the voice to tell one’s own story.

There will also be a monthly film component, where one evening a month an entertaining and socially interesting film will be shown with the filmmaker or a community expert on the subject attending for questions and answers after the film is made.

The final goal is that the student will learn to read and write with pleasure and understanding. Evaluation will be through teachers’ reporting back to the center and, later perhaps through some volunteer evaluation professionals. It will begin in March 2010 and will go through August.

Volunteers will give one hour a week for six months to develop a one on one relationship as a tutor/ mentor with a middle school student needing to learn to read and write. This pilot project's students are all clients (with their families) of El Centro del Pueblo, a not for profit community service agency founded in 1974 by Sandra Figueroa-Villa for the purpose of alleviating and mitigating negative effects of poverty and gang violence and of improving the quality of life for youth and families for prevention, intervention and education. Tutors will have support from interns and from one of the three departments which will select the students: L.A.’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development, L.A. City Department of Children and Family Services, L.A. County Department of Mental Health, Children and Family Services.

Goal setting and progress will be supervised initially by Sydney Levine, a volunteer who earned her Masters in Education at USC and has taught and volunteered as a student of University of California’s Tutorial Project, interned for two years in Willowbrook School District of Los Angeles County and taught five years in the Oakwood, Venice area of LAUSD. (However, she did this a long time ago and has been in the film business for most of her adult life.) Film will have a component with a monthly screening for all the Center’s constituency.

Tutors will take the child where he or she is at, initiate conversations to ascertain interests which will lead to what relevant materials will be used. We will have many books to choose from; a limited number of computers is also available. Perhaps sheet music will be available, or cook books with pictures. The choice of materials will be made by the students and from their choices, the tutors will be both assessing the student and helping develop the skill of discernment which is crucial to reading and many other activities but is rarely recognized as an actual academic skill. This is the sort of activity which develops through communicating and interest in the student. Tutors have many interests to share from creating telenovelas, to dancing, singing, physical activities, cooking, and all special interests are most welcome.

Experience in teaching is not a requirement because the program provides that teachers learn as much as the students. What is required is love, creativity and commitment for 6 months. The homework assigned to students is that the student must teach the parent what has been learned that day. Lessons will be designed as progress is made and will be based on a loose version of Ruth Schoenbach’s Strategic Literacy Network’s Reading for Understanding which everyone is invited to order through Amazon and read if interested.