Iowa Teacher Development Academy Application 2006

Concept Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI)

 

 

District:                                                                                                          AEA:

 

Building(s) Requesting Participation:

 

Mailing Address:

 

E-mail address:

 

Contact Person:

Phone:

 

1)      Alignment with District Career Development Plans (3 points):

Participation in CORI must align with the district and building goals and support the target selected for professional development in the District Career Development Plan and building level plans for PD. Each public school district in Iowa has submitted a District Career Development Plan as part of their CSIP. Prior to applying for participation in this Academy, the district professional development leadership team should review student data and the District Career Development Plan to make sure that CORI aligns well with goals and professional development targets established in the CSIP.

 

List the reading PD target for each building that is considering CORI:

 

 

 

 

2)      Leadership Team (3 points):

The district and/or building should have a well functioning leadership team that plans professional development, engages in decision making about how to sustain PD, and supports the ongoing day to day work of implementing PD initiatives.

 

Describe the composition of the PD leadership team(s) that operate at the district and building level and explain how the team(s) functions. Provide information about how the team(s) will coordinate and support CORI efforts as part of the district/building professional development.

 

 

 

 

3)      Time for collaboration (5 points):

Adequate time is provided for teachers to engage in collaborative team meetings. One hour a week to engage in collaborative team meetings with other CORI teachers on the team would be appropriate (45 minutes per week would be the minimum).

Briefly describe the schedule that will be provided for collaborative team meetings for CORI teachers:

 

 

 

 

4)      Student Population (3 points):

 

Concept Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) is a model to optimize the development of reading engagement. The instruction contains conceptual themes, real world content area interactions, self-directed learning, strategy instruction situated within conceptual contexts, peer collaboration and self-expression of knowledge through portfolios and exhibits. CORI benefits all students of all achievement levels across grade levels and content areas.

 

 

Building:

Summarize the building reading data:

Total # of students

Total # of free and reduced lunch

Total # of minority students

Total # of students with IEPs

Total # of ELL students

% proficient 8th grade for whole population and disaggregated for subgroups

% proficient 11th grade for whole population and disaggregated for subgroups

 

Optional: Any other data from reading assessment instruments

 

 

 

Repeat as needed for additional buildings.

 

 

5)      Class composition (3 points):

 

Concept Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) is a model to optimize the development of reading engagement. The instruction contains conceptual themes, real world content area interactions, self-directed learning, strategy instruction situated within conceptual contexts, peer collaboration and self-expression of knowledge through portfolios and exhibits. (The optimal implementation plan would be a collaborative effort between a Reading/Language Arts and a content area teacher, such as Social Studies or Science, for a 90-minute instructional block.  However, successful implementation of CORI can occur within a 45-minute block)

 

Number of Sections of CORI:

Estimated number of students per section.

 

 

6) Team Composition (5 points):

 

Participating districts should send a team. Team members should include:

·        Reading/ Language Arts teachers and content area teachers for collaboration (These should be grade level teams who work well together)

·        special education teachers

·         Either a principal or a central office administrator (e.g., curriculum director) or both. At least one person who has the authority to make decisions about student scheduling, resources, teacher planning time, etc. must be on the team.

First choice will be given to teams that include a principal or other school administrator on their team.

·        Participation by an AEA consultant is preferred. (A reading consultant or a consultant previously engaged in the CORI Teacher Development Academy is strongly recommended.)  Each participating school should contact their AEA consultant or the Educational Services Director for their AEA and discuss how the AEA might support this initiative. 

·        Reading coach/strategist/instructional coach would be an asset to the team

·        Media specialist would be an asset to the team

CORI TEAM

 

Teacher’s Name

Grade Level

 

Content Area

 

Teacher’s Signature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Principal/Central office Name

Job Title

Building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)      Current context at the building level (5 points):

 

For professional development to be effective it has to be fully sustained and supported. Competing initiatives make it difficult for a comprehensive effort to be fully implemented. Describe reading efforts currently underway at the building level by completing the items below.

 

Describe current programs that are in place to serve struggling readers at the building level.

 

 

Will CORI be added to the existing program(s) or replace it?  If yes, please explain.

 

 

Has the building PD in the last three years addressed reading problems of students? If yes, please describe any professional development that has focused on the reading needs of your students.

 

 

 

 

8)      Assurances

 

In order to be considered in this competition the district must assure that the following conditions will be in place. Either the superintendent or building administrator must commit to meeting these assurances by initialing each statement and completing the signature section.

 

 

a)      Resources:

 

A classroom collection of fiction and nonfiction materials is required in order to implement CORI. Students will need access to a variety of texts at various grade and content areas in order to support the CORI unit being implemented.  Research indicates the need for secondary students to have access to print materials in the classroom.

Assurance: Resources will be provided. 

__________________________________ Administrator’s initials

 

 

b)      Assessment (required):

Participants must collect appropriate formative and summative data. Measures will be explained during the Academy. Each student will be assessed using the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test and frequent informal assessments as well as content area assessments. Participating schools will be expected to collect summative assessment data as scheduled and submit the data to the Teacher Development Academy Web Site (one person will be trained to enter data). 

 

Schools will be given ordering information for the assessments when notified of their acceptance in the Academy.

 

Grant recipients pay for their own tests  (Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test -- ordering information will be disseminated after grants are awarded.)

 

Assurance:  Assessments will be conducted and data will be submitted to web site.
__________________________________  Administrator’s initials

 

 

c)      Participants must implement the program as designed (required):

 

In order to ensure that student achievement gains occur, it is necessary to implement CORI accurately. Participants are expected to implement the model as designed. Phases and principles in CORI must be integrated throughout the CORI unit. Additionally, explicit instruction of the strategies incorporated in CORI is necessary. A suggested framework for implementation will be provided in the training.

 

Only teachers trained in the Academy should teach CORI. No one will provide training in CORI unless they have acquired DE recognition to be a trainer.

 

Assurance: All team members will implement the initiative as designed. Only trainers trained in CORI will implement CORI. No one will provide training in CORI.

 

 __________________________________ Administrator's initials

 

 

d)      Full attendance and engagement in all training sessions (required):

Participating districts must agree to send each participant to every session. The training includes 5 days in the summer, 2006, and 5 days of follow up sessions during the school year. Participants will be required to submit explicit instruction lessons, reflection charts and other evidence of implementation as requested by the trainer in order to determine fidelity to the model.

 

Teachers will be asked to submit implementation data on a regular basis to their collaborative team, who will organize and analyze it in order to determine future PD sessions. Studies of the implementation data and sample lesson plans will be submitted to the trainer on a regular basis.

 

Assurance: All team members will attend all training days. Participants will submit logs and lesson plans as scheduled.

__________________________________ Administrator’s initials

 

 

9)      AEA informed (required):

 

The AEA Educational Services Director has been contacted to discuss this application and the AEA role in supporting this imitative.

 

Assurance:

 

_______________________was contacted regarding AEA consultation to this initiative.

List AEA name

 

 

10)  Signatures (required):

 

We agree that the team requesting application in this Academy will engage as described in the conditions of participation. The district will provide the supports listed in the condition of participation.

 

                       

Principal Name Typed

 

 

Principal Signature                        Phone Number                        Date

 

                       

Superintendent Name Typed

 

 

Superintendent Signature                      Phone Number                                                Date

 

 

The submission of applications will be via fax to Gretchen Kelley at 515-242-6025. Applications will be due to the Department at 4:30 P.M. on February 10, 2006.