Key to serving high school students with considerable needs in ELA/literacy is collaboration among
educators. Teachers form grade-level and vertical disciplinary teams and interdisciplinary teams to
coordinate curricula. General education teachers and specialists consult and collaborate with one
another to enhance and accelerate students’ learning. Administrators work closely with classroom
teachers, school specialists, district support personnel, and the community to manage schedules,
programs, facilities, and resources in ways that best serve students. Critical discussions about
teaching and learning, close examinations of assessments of students’ performance, co-planning,
and co-teaching occur routinely. Professional learning experiences are ongoing and target the goals
and needs of the school population and the teachers. (See chapter 11 of this ELA/ELD Framework.)
As noted in chapters 2 and 9 of this framework, a multi-tiered system of supports should be in place.
Interventions for students experiencing difficulty are well coordinated and creatively implemented so
that students needing additional or special services do not miss opportunities to engage in disciplinary
study or extracurricular activities. Supporting students strategically, in short, is a schoolwide endeavor.
Underwood and Pearson (2004, 140) state:
An intervention, in order to promote genuine learning potential among students, must
possess two characteristics: a commitment to long-tem, durable, permanent, measurable
change, and an inclusive, collaborative framework of activity for involving all participants
in the local setting in the work of raising the performance levels of struggling adolescents.
Brief encounters with an isolated teacher in an isolated classroom, while everyone else
goes on with business as usual, will not help
students meet the textual challenges they face in
schools.Chapter 2 of this framework identifies several
important instructional approaches for supporting
students strategically. For example, chapter 2 describes
scaffolding instruction, use of students’ primary
language, and grouping—important supports in all
grade levels. In this section, recommendations and
findings from research about supporting adolescents
who are experiencing difficulty in literacy include the
following:
Overall- Motivation often decreases over the years,
especially in students who are experiencing
academic difficulties, and so should be given thoughtful attention (Biancarosa and Snow 2006;
O’Connor and Goodwin 2011). (See figure 7.2 in this chapter.) - Extended literacy experiences are necessary for effecting change in reading and writing. A panel
report recommended two to four hours of literacy instruction and practice daily that takes place
in language arts and content classes (Biancarosa and Snow 2006). - Content area classes should include a focus on disciplinary literacy and reinforce the skills that
students experiencing difficulty are learning; at the same time, specialists should use content
area materials as a basis for practicing the reading skills they are teaching (Biancarosa and
Snow 2006; Carnegie Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy 2010).
Meaning making (reading comprehension) - Reading extensively and widely and writing about what they are reading builds students’
capacity to comprehend (Underwood and Pearson 2004).
... a multi-tiered system of supports
should be in place. Interventions
for students experiencing difficulty
are well coordinated and creatively
implemented so that students
needing additional or special
services do not miss opportunities
to engage in disciplinary study or
extracurricular activities. Supporting
students strategically, in short, is a
schoolwide endeavor.
716 | Chapter 7 Grades 9 to 12