# Presentation: 297657

## Refuel your Vehicle for Teaching:Instructional Strategies and Approaches that Spark Student Interest in Learning

**Job Corps’ National Leadership Summit**
**Washington, DC * November 6, 2006**

## New Direction in Student and Staff Training

**Core Components**
- Standards-based Training
- Integrated Learning Experiences
- Programs and Services for Students with Special Needs
- Staff Training and Development
- Use of Technology
- Resources and Support

## Job Corps: 21st Century System of Excellence

**Standards and Accountability**
- Use of content standards in
- Planning instruction
- Setting student learning goals
- Implications on Job Corps practices
- Development of individual learning plans
- Ongoing formal and informal assessments
- Focus on rigor (curriculum and instruction)
- Development of staff capability

## Workshop Objective

**Share information on Regions II’s Literacy/Numeracy Project**
- Background and scope of the project
- Field assessments
- Findings
- Implications for classroom practice
**Presenters**
- Lynn Intrepidi, Regional Director, Philadelphia
- Dr. Jeanine Staples, Literacy for Life, LLC
- Valerie Klein, Math Foundations, LLC

## Refuel your Vehicle for Teaching:Instructional Strategies and Approaches that Spark Student Interest in Learning

- National Leadership Summit
- November 6, 2006
- Lynn Intrepidi

**Notes:**
Discussion about why academic instruction must change.
We have all heard in the last several years about the new economic landscape, where high level reading and math skills will be essential students if they want to have jobs with sustainable wages.  The old economy is gone, yet Job Corps clings to its model from the 70”

## New Definition of Literacy

**“****Adolescents who are literate can use ****reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking**** to learn what they want/need to learn and can communicate/demonstrate                that learning to others who need/want to know.”**

**Notes:**
Here is the new Definition that the National Office has decided on.  Lets not think right now how we will measure if they have attained this.  Lets just say that this is our goal.  This is what we want for our students, for our own children for that matter.  To help our students achieve real literacy, we must focus on completely different types of learning activities that encourage communication and thinking skills, and that engage our students by being relevant to their lives and interests.

This workshop will showcase our education experts, Dr. Jeanine Staples and  Valerie Klein, from Math Foundations, Inc., who have been working with us over the past year and one half to upgrade the quality of instruction at our centers.  It will give a very fundamental understanding of how Job Corps must change!

## Region II Evaluation - Year 1:Purpose

**To evaluate the literacy and numeracy practices at 5 Centers in Region II**
**To provide recommendations for improving instruction in literacy and numeracy**

**Notes:**
Over the past several years, Region 2 has been increasingly concerned with the level of academic preparation of our students.  Students were graduating with low learning attainment, and their ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing was far below the level that would be needed in the types of careers that they hoped to enter.  For the past several years, Region 2 hosted several conferences for reading and math instructors, and as presenters at those conferences we were lucky enough to have Dr. Jeanine Staples at a literacy workshop, and Dr Angela McIver, founder of “Math Foundations” .  These two individuals opened our eyes to a wonderful array of new innovative instructional methods that would actively engage young people in the learning process.  
I wanted to rush ahead and retrain all of our teachers immediately, but the experts, Dr McIver and Dr. Staples developed a research based, methodical approach in which they first spent considerable time evaluating the effectiveness of the current instructional practices, at five Job Corps centers in our region.  

## Evaluation Process

- Observed Instructional Practice
- Interviewed Teachers
- Interviewed Students
- Reviewed Curricula
- Reviewed Policy
- Interviewed Administrators

**Notes:**
So this is what our consultants looked at the five lucky centers:  Starting in the fall of  2005, they visited and observed instructional practice at five centers, interviewed teachers, interviewed students, reviewed curricula, talked to administrators and looked at policy as it relates to what teachers think they have to accomplish.
 I wanted an expert opinion about the quality and level of instruction that was occurring at JC centers.  
The findings of this evaluation revealed several key issues that must be addressed regarding Job Corps’ Readiness to implement more ambitious National Initiatives 

## Findings

- Classroom instruction in Job Corps Centers tends to focus on rote learning of basic skills
- Individualized instruction does not allow for the development of strong communication and reasoning skills
- The TABE® represents a minimum level of competency and does not adequately assess communication or reasoning skills

**Notes:**
PRH requirements inadvertently emphasizes rote learning of basic skills.  The PRH states that centers have to teach certain aspects of reading and math, but provides absolutely no direction as to the standards which need to be attained by youth.   For example the prh states that centers must teach math  skills starting with addition,subtraction, etc.but never states what young people should be able to do with the math skills.   The order that items are listed in the PRH is the order that the items are taught, in a very “elementary school” fashion, without 
Our open entry, open exit enrollment process has led us to this Individualized instruction which  has been interpreted as silent classrooms with students working predominately out of workbooks or on worksheets at “there level”  . Little to no conversation takes place in these classrooms and students have little opportunity to develop critical thinking skills (which can only be done in interaction with others)
This is the worst thing that has happened.  OMB focused on TABE level gains as a common measure, so TABE gains got incorporated into our OMS.  Now, teachers, students, administrators alike are so focused on TABE gains that they cannot focus on anything else.  Everyone on centers talk about “TABING OUT”  Teachers’ understanding of the TABE® has resulted in a narrowing of the curriculum with a predominate focus on rote learning of basic skills even though two-thirds of the reading and math tests require students to have a deeper conceptual understanding of reading and math concepts (higher-order thinking and reasoning)

## Recommendations

- Revise PRH content requirements to support a more holistic understanding of literacy and numeracy
- Revise the TABE® reading and math diagnostics to better reflect the content of the test
- Restructure classrooms to promote the development of whole literacy and numeracy – new definition!
- Provide more opportunities for students to develop strong literacy and numeracy skills after the training day (evening activities)
- Provide on-going training of teachers to support changes in the classroom

**Notes:**
1.  Must add standards of knowleges, criterion referenced assessments and rubrics to determine student understanding.  , 

2 Two-thirds of the reading and math TABE require higher order thinking and reasoning skills yet the diagnostic emphasizes acquisition of low-level procedural skills (i.e. decoding, adding, subtracting, etc)

3.  After you see the videos in this presentation , you will see what student who have “TABED OUT” really know.  So, we must do away with individualized instruction as our principle means and move toward lesson plans that teach academic skills in context,  and provide opportunities for students to practice whole literacy

## Year 2: Purpose

- To improve classroom practice at all Centers in Region II (Summer Institute)
- To implement Intensive Pilot Program at 2 Centers in Region II which will:
- Improve student achievement through changes in classroom practice (daily routines and classroom-based assessment)
- Improve student achievement through after-training-day activities that support literacy and numeracy development

**Notes:**
The Summer Institute for Literacy and Numeracy in Harrisonburg Va.  Region  2 invited all reading and math teachers to a one week series of workshops designed to improve instructional practice.  Wonderful activities for both math and reading instruction that were fun, interactive, exciting and relevant to students. Teachers learned practices that could be translated to after hours activities.  We actually followed this up with a CD conference where social development managers heard how to improve after hours activities.  Using materials that are relevant to students, such as popular periodicals, movies, popular culture etc.  They learned how to encourage discussion, writing, evaluation of media, etc.  
Pilot program – Assist centers in changing classroom practice to include more rigor and relevance in the curriculum. Assist centers in implementing after-training-day activities that support the development of strong literacy and numeracy skills.  This will be an intense on site technical assistance visit where the consultants work with teachers AND administrators to insure that new practices are supported and encouraged.  

## Implications of Findings on National Initiatives 

- Increased Rigor and Relevance
- Standards Development
- Applied Academics

**Notes:**
If Job Corps really intends to provide students with instruction that leads to careers in high growth technical areas, it MUST increase the rigor and relevance of its curricula.  It must insure that students have an opportunity to practice communication, critical thinking, reasoning, and analysis of information.  That will never happen if we continue to focus on TABE scores and allow student to TABE OUT

We must provide teachers and administrators with guidance on what students need to know and how they will be able to demonstrate what they know.  Industry based standards of knowledge and application of knowledge are critical to the movement of Job corps from a 20th century to a 21st century model.

Academics in context.  Its vital when dealing with young people to make sure they see the relevance of the information.  Not all applied academics needs to be related to career training.   Applied academics can be related to recreational activies  and life skills as well.  For example,  math skills for budgeting household expenses, math skills when figuring out the interest payments on a car loan.  Reading skills when looking at credit card applications.  We MUST stop teaching academics in a vacuum.  That may work in 2nd grade, but it will not work with our age group.  

## Refuel your Vehicle for Teaching:Instructional Strategies and Approaches that Spark Student Interest in Learning

**Job Corps’ National Leadership Summit**
**Washington, DC * November 6, 2006**
**Dr. Jeanine M. Staples**
**Literacy for Life****TM****, LLC**

## What are Criterion-Referenced Assessments?

- Classroom based examinations of students’ demonstrable skills
- Standards driven
- Measure benchmark competencies necessary for success in high-growth industries
- Tied to concrete strategies that support growth in areas of weakness

## Why use Criterion-Referenced Assessments of Literacy?

- Correspondent to rubrics that help students and teachers identify specific literacy strengths and weaknesses
- Provide students with opportunities to demonstrate what they know and understand about literacy tasks
- Provide teachers with a clear understanding about students’ thinking in relationship to literacy tasks
- Clarify points of intervention for effective instruction
- Act as regular records of students’ literacy abilities in relationship to real-life literacy tasks
- Support success in norm-referenced assessments (like TABE®) by training critical thinking

## What Job Corps Students ActuallyKnow and Understand

- Preliminary analysis of student performance on criterion-referenced literacy assessments given to Job Corps students in the Spring of 2006 demonstrated that students’ literacy skills were weak in four aspects of literacy awareness:
- Literal Comprehension
- Document Manipulation
- Verbal Automaticity
- Auditory Automaticity

**Notes:**
For the purpose of this presentation I will highlight findings about Literal Comprehension and Verbal Automaticity. Information about Document Manipulation and Auditory Automaticity are reviewed in the Region II Literacy Guidebook.

## Literal Comprehension

**Literal Comprehension** is the ability to understand information that is read in print, recognize developmentally appropriate words in and out of context, define terms and construct meaning from what is read.
- A function of Word Awareness
- Assessments show that, overall, Job Corps students who TABE®d out of reading could not show evidence that they comprehended information they read in middle school or higher level texts, nor were they able to *use* the information to make reasonable inferences about passage topics.

## Verbal Automaticity

**Verbal Automaticity** is the ability to clearly express what is known and not known and pose questions that further understanding and meaning making about information gleaned from print or dialogue/ conversation
- A function of Oral Awareness
- Assessments reveal that Job Corps students who TABE®d out of reading were unable to use words or articulate ideas in ways that support reasonable or interpretive thinking; students could not explain *how* they arrived at their conclusions or *why* they were correct.

## Examining Job Corps Students’ Word and Oral Awarenesses

**Notes:**
The clips you are about to see depict two students’ responses to criterion-referenced assessments of word and oral awareness. Each student was provided documents, instructions and support when completing the assessment. They were asked to read a developmentally appropriate passage of information and answer three ?s. Students’ fluency was good. However, their comprehension and automaticity levels were low. Both students TABE’d out of reading and were not engaged in any reading instruction at the time of these assessments.

## Issues to Consider

**Keith experienced a miscue he was not able to make sense of. He thought the word “increase” signified that his answer should reflect a **_**big number**_**.**
**He did not understand that “increase”, in its context, meant that he should calculate the **_**difference**_** between the rates of joblessness in 2000 and 2004. ****(Note: actual correct answer is the difference divided by the original percent, multiplied by 100/1)**

## Issues to Consider

**Although she referred to the passage in front of her to find information she needed to respond to the Interviewer’s questions, Riva **_**relied on her own erroneous opinions**_** to make an “educated” guess.**
**Riva **_**used the numbers she saw on the page**_** to answer the Interviewer’s questions. She did not have an idea that she needed to manipulate the numbers to arrive at a reasonable conclusion, nor that her responses did not make sense.**

## What does this mean for students?

**Job Corps students seem to have emergent proficiencies in relationship to some literacy competencies (i.e. auditory automaticity).**
**Job Corps students do not appear to demonstrate meaningful levels of competency in other areas (i.e. literal comprehension).**
**All levels of competency should be assessed in relationship to literacy standards and supported through effective instructional methods because they are critical for career acquisition and advancement. **

## What does this mean for teachers?

**Job Corps teachers need an understanding of the ways literacy awarenesses are/are not assessed on the TABE****®**** and how developing literacy awarenesses can support success on standardized tests. **
**Teachers need resources to motivate and engage students as they develop their literacy awarenesses.**
**There is a need for ongoing professional training that clarifies how students function as ***fully*** literate individuals and ways to support and assess their development in light of literacy competencies.**

## Daily Routines that Can Inform Effective Instruction

- Strengthen each literacy awareness
- Integrate strategies for strengthening literacy awarenesses
- Can be implemented with individuals or groups of students
- Can be implemented at the beginning, middle or end of a class period
- Require ten to fifteen minutes

## Region II Literacy Guidebook

- Provides an overview of the Region II 2006 Professional Development Institute
- Provides a discussion of new literacy initiatives’ alignment with national initiatives
- Presents a discussion of the ways criterion-referenced assessments support success on TABE®
- Highlights literacy strategies for students
- Explains literacy routines for the classroom
- Clarifies after-training day activities that support literacy development

## Refuel your Vehicle for Teaching:Instructional Strategies and Approaches that Spark Student Interest in Learning

- National Leadership Summit
- November 6, 2006
- Valerie Klein

## Improving Students’ Numeracy Skills Activities & Strategies for Classroom & After-Training-Day Initiatives

## What Job Corps Students Know and Understand

- Preliminary analysis of student performance on assessments given to Job Corps students in the Spring of 2006 demonstrated that students’ numeracy skills were weak in four key areas:
- Automaticity
- Number Sense
- Communication
- Reasoning

## Automaticity

- 	The ability to recall basic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication or division.
- Assessments found that Job Corps students’ recall of basic mathematical facts was slow, making problem solving difficult and frustrating for the student

## Number Sense

- 	Understanding the relative size and magnitude of numbers; understanding how numbers are related; understanding the effect of basic operations on numbers (including rational numbers)
- Assessments of Job Corps students found that basic number sense was missing from their thinking which made reasoning and problems solving difficult (if not impossible) for most students

## Communication

- The ability to verbalize mathematical thinking
- Assessments in Spring 2006 found that Job Corps students were unable to use common mathematical terms and vocabulary to describe their reasoning (including reading and saying numbers out loud).

## Reasoning 

- 	The ability to explain how one arrives at a solution to a problem.
- Students had tremendous difficulty explaining the reasoning they used to solve a problem and often gave answers without being able to provide any type of reasoning.

## Implementing Daily Routines in the Classroom

- Building Job Corps Students’ Foundational Skills in Math

## Building Students’ Automaticity

- Minute Math
- Students receive daily practice in completing 50 multiplication problems in 1 minute.
- Mental Math
- Students receive daily practice in solving problems “in their head” and develop strategies for manipulating numbers and solving problems quickly
- “24” Challenge
- Classroom and after-training-day activity to build speed and accuracy

## Consider Luis’ automaticity skills

- LP:	Hispanic males are 22 percent and the white males are 16 	percent.
- AM:	Could you do that in your head? What the difference is?
- LP:	22 take away 16?
- AM: Yes
- LP: 	(laughing......, long pause). I can do it on my fingers.
- AM: Okay
- LP:	(long pause)
- AM: Tell me what you’re doing while you’re doing it.
- LM: I’m subtracting
- AM:	What were you subtracting?
- LM: Twenty-two take away sixteen

**Notes:**
Luis (like many Job Corps students) found it difficult to do simple addition and subtraction in his head. While the problem given to him (a graph of obesity rates by gender and ethnicity) required a deeper conceptual understanding, Luis was slowed down by his inability to do simple calculations. These calculations should be automatic for Job Corps students and must be developed in the classroom.

Luis’ attempt to solve the problem included trying to represent 22 fingers and then take away the entire 16. He did not have any other strategies to find the answer (i.e. counting up from 16), nor was this fact stored in a way that could be recalled quickly (i.e. the difference between 16 and 22 is 6 because the difference between 6 and 12 is 6 and the difference between 26 and 32 is 6, etc....)

## Building Students’ Number Sense

- Mental Math
- “24”
- Problem-of-the-Day
- Mental Math and “24” help build students’ number sense; however having students explain their thinking and reasoning using problem-of-the-day activities is critical in the development of students’ sense of numbers.

**Notes:**
All of these activities help build students’ number sense; however having students explain their thinking and reasoning is critical in developing students’ sense of numbers.

## Number Sense:Using benchmarks to order fraction cards

- 3/7, 3/5, 7/8, 14/13
- What we’re looking for:
- An efficient way to order the fraction cards based on an understanding of benchmarks or
- An ability to order the fractions once given benchmarks........or
- A learned procedure for ordering fractions (i.e. diagrams, etc...)

**Notes:**
Val for purposes of time, we could take this slide out. What it would require is for you to set up the video of the Job Corps student ordering fraction cards

## Consider a Job Corps Students’ Number Sense.....

**Notes:**
This student TABEd out of math

## A Job Corps student’s number sense when using the number line....

**Notes:**
Video of Hope

## Developing Students’ Communication & Reasoning  Skills

- Most Job Corps students assessed were unable to use mathematic-specific vocabulary to talk about math problems presented to them.
- Of 32 students interviewed, 29 were unable to read or say decimal numbers out loud.
- Many students were unable to read mathematic-specific notations when solving problems out loud
- Job Corps classrooms ***must*** provide ongoing opportunities for students to talk about and solve math problems out loud

## Consider one Job Corps Students’ Understanding of the following problem

-     Meat at Big Save grocery store costs $2.55 per pound. Ms. Smith bought 0.85 lb. Did she spend more than, less than or exactly $2.55? Explain your answer.

## TJ:	Meat at Big save grocery store cost $2.55 per pound. Ms. Smith bought 85 lems. Point 85 lems. Did she spend more 	than, less than, or exactly  two fifty-five?

AM:	What did Ms. Smith buy?

TJ:	She bought meat

AM:	And how much did she buy?

TJ:	She bought 85 ....point 85 lems?

AM:	What is that? Do you know what that is?

TJ:	No

- AM:	What did Ms. Smith buy?
- TJ:	She bought meat
- AM:	And how much did she buy?
- TJ:	She bought 85 ....point 85 lems?
- AM:	What is that? Do you know what that is?
- TJ:	No

**Notes:**
This student had the highest TABE and GED score on Center

## AM:	So did she spend more than, less than or exactly $2.55 cents?

TJ:	Less than

AM:	Why?

TJ:	Because it’s two dollars and fifty-five cents.......(long pause)

AM:	Why?

TJ:	Because (long pause)....I don’t know....because she bought 85 	cents worth of meat....She bought less

AM:	Why?

TJ:	Because it’s $2.55 cents per pound and she bought 85 cents a 	pound...I don’t know!

- TJ:	Less than
- AM:	Why?
- TJ:	Because it’s two dollars and fifty-five cents.......(long pause)
- AM:	Why?
- TJ:	Because (long pause)....I don’t know....because she bought 85 	cents worth of meat....She bought less
- AM:	Why?
- TJ:	Because it’s $2.55 cents per pound and she bought 85 cents a 	pound...I don’t know!

## Using the Guide

- This guide is a resource for:
- Understanding Job Corps students’ competencies and how they affect student achievement
- Identifying daily routines that can be introduced into all math classes and encourage the development of strong numeracy skills
- Identifying After-Training-Day activities that can be implemented to support numeracy development