By Dr. Jan Hasbrouck

I started my career as a reading specialist nearly 40 years ago, initially teaching students who were struggling with reading at the elementary and middle school levels. I found that many of my students had learned the basics of decoding, and many even had sufficient vocabulary and background knowledge to understand what they were reading … but something was getting in their way.

In those days, teachers weren’t often using assessments to examine things such as accuracy and rate. But just by working closely with these students and observing them carefully, it was clear to me that the rate at which they were reading—and the many other components that we would now refer to as “fluency”—was often a major stumbling block.

Now, almost four decades later, we have learned so much about the process of learning to read, and specifically we know much, much more about the essential skill of reading fluency! This year, in a collaboration with my esteemed colleague Dr. Deb Glaser, I have finally had the chance to share some of what we now understand about fluency.

The following information is taken from a book Dr. Glaser and I cowrote titled Reading Fluency: Understanding and Teaching This Complex Skill.

Learning to read is like constructing a structure with blocks. Fluent readers have established a firm foundation for reading by integrating various component skills so well that the act of reading occurs without the reader having to intentionally will the skills into action. When these various skills are fully established, reading happens automatically.

What is reading fluency? Many questions surround the definition of fluency as a concept, in part because fluency has many subtle mechanics that are interdependent and therefore difficult to separate. We define fluency as:

Reasonably accurate reading, at an appropriate rate, with suitable prosody, that leads to accurate and deep comprehension and motivation to read.

Component #1: Accuracy

We purposefully listed accuracy first to underscore its crucial role. In order for a reader to understand what a text means, clearly that text first must be read with a certain level of accuracy. This may sound simplistic. However, to read text accurately a reader must read individual words accurately, which requires learning letters (graphemes) have associated sounds (phonemes) that need to be accurately identified and skillfully processed. Irregular words must also be read accurately. The recognition of common letter patterns as well the correct spellings of words also play roles in text accuracy. Then, of course, the correct meaning of words must be accessed. All this must happen simultaneously and automatically for a reader to be fluent.

Component #2: Rate

Rate is often mistakenly used as a synonym for fluency. Fluency is far more complex than rate alone! An all-too-common fallacy about rate is that “faster is better,” although most teachers likely know from their own experience that this cannot be true. Teachers know students who read quickly but still may not have good comprehension. Certainly, the rate at which text is decoded and recognized represents an important aspect of fluency. However, reading fast is not the same as reading fluently! 

Component #3: Prosody

Prosody is the technical term for what most teachers refer to as “good expression.” Prosody includes the pitch, tone, volume, emphasis, and rhythm in oral reading. Another aspect of prosody is how readers “chunk” words together into appropriate phrases. There is only minimal evidence that prosody influences reading comprehension. At this point, researchers in this field believe that prosody may be an outcome, rather than a contributor, to comprehension.

You may have noticed that we used some rather vague descriptors in our definition of fluency. Accuracy must be “reasonable.” Rate “appropriate.” And prosody “suitable.” What does that all mean? Stay tuned for my next EdView360 blog, Part 2.

Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., is an educational consultant with Gibson, Hasbrouck & Associates, an author, and a researcher. She served as the executive consultant to the Washington State Reading Initiative and as an advisor to the Texas Reading Initiative. Dr. Hasbrouck worked as a reading specialist and literacy coach for 15 years before becoming a professor at the University of Oregon and later Texas A&M University. She is the author and coauthor of several assessment tools, research papers, and books, including The Reading Coach: A How-to Manual for Success and The Reading Coach 2: More Tools and Strategies for Student-Focused Coaches. 

About Jan Hasbrouck

Books by Jan Hasbrouck: The Reading Coach

By Dr. John Woodward
We understand the issue more and more every day. For years, we’ve been told that our students don’t stack up in math when compared with their peers in other countries. Our performance isn’t that bad at the fourth grade, but TIMSS and PISA data clearly show significant comparative declines as our students end eighth and tenth grade. One of many interpretations of these data is that math at the intermediate and middle grades is an exceedingly weak link in our educational system.

Were that not enough, the link between mathematical competence and success in the workplace is becoming ever clearer as the economy slowly emerges from a deep recession. A recent and fascinating issue of the Atlantic Monthly (Davidson, 2012) provides a lucid account of the extraordinary gaps in knowledge between highly successful manufacturing workers and their less-skilled counterparts who are employed, at least for now, on the same factory floor.  The former possess increasing amounts of quantitative knowledge, while the latter live in fear of automation or outsourcing. Success in math at the middle grades, which is obviously fundamental to success in high school and beyond, is a cornerstone for securing the future for American students.

Standards such as the Common Core are one way to renew our commitment to raising mathematical performance. Yet the challenges are significant, as evidenced in a recent survey of school districts from around the country (Center on Education Policy, 2011). Most districts agreed that the Common Core State Standards are more rigorous than most state standards and that, if implemented well, they will improve student math skills. Yet respondents also felt that new curricular materials, as well as fundamental changes in instruction, would be needed.

The Need for Professional Development

Every business organization, including school districts, wants to hire “turnkey” employees. These are teachers who can hit the ground running and deliver instruction at a high level. Yet with changing standards and what we know about how long it takes any professional to develop a high level of skills, this desire is unrealistic. The hope for turnkeys also puts aside the millions of teachers who already work in our schools. Again, the international message is clear and consistent: high-achieving countries hire the best candidates they can, but they continue their professional development through many years of employment (Akiba & LeTendre, 2009; McKenzie & Company, 2007). We need to adopt this thinking if we have any hope of raising the math performance of our students in today’s schools.

There are distinct features to high-quality professional development in mathematics for today’s teachers. First, it is crucial that teachers understand the concepts they are teaching. Some would argue that this means extensive refresher courses in college-level mathematics, most of which are taught in a traditional, symbolic fashion.

Learning more formal mathematics can possibly help some teachers, but it is an unlikely solution for most. Also, there is little guarantee that any of this kind of professional development transfers to the classroom. Instead, teachers need vivid demonstrations of key concepts (or “big ideas”) as well as opportunities to engage in learning activities that promote the kinds of instruction advocated in the Mathematical Practices component of the Common Core. Teachers – and their students – need opportunities to analyze, discuss, and reason about concepts. They also need to solve the kinds of problems that promote strategic thinking and persistence. Naturally, how to integrate thoughtful skills practice is also part of the picture.

Teachers also need to see the “big picture” within the different strands of mathematics. For example, they need to see how rational numbers develop in complexity over grades 3 through 7. This kind of connected understanding of a strand helps teachers see how the big ideas link together, how what was taught at a previous grade level needs to be reviewed, and how what students do at one grade level is important for the next grade level.

Vivid examples of classroom practice are also critical. How do I use fraction bars effectively? How do I orchestrate a classroom discussion with an eye toward students who do not normally participate? How do I assist students when they get stuck grappling with rich mathematical problems? Well-designed video examples can go a long way to improve practice, and they are something teachers can return to again and again.

Finally, teachers need a tremendous amount of assistance when it comes to instructional planning. Linking the contents of a district’s math adoption to Common Core State Standards is challenging in itself. Even more, creating opportunities within a unit of instruction for students to engage in mathematics at a high level is new to many teachers. It is easy to skip this kind of instruction, particularly if it is a new kind of classroom practice. Teachers need guided assistance doing this as well as developing a variety of assessments that tap into the kind of thinking we want today’s students to do in math.

There is good news.  We can provide the kind of professional development our teachers need. Our challenge is to accept the fact that this kind of work is an unavoidable feature of today’s successful school systems.

Dr. Woodward is a professor and dean of the School of Education at the University of Puget Sound. In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, he worked with the REACH Institute on a collaborative five-year program that examined teaching methods for helping students in grades 4-8 with disabilities succeed in standard-based instruction. Dr. Woodward is coauthor of the TransMath mastery-based intervention solution for middle and high school students and a lead trainer for NUMBERS math professional development.

References

Akiba, M., & LeTendre, G. (2009). Improving teacher quality: The U.S. teacher workforce in a global context. New York: Teachers College Press.

Center on Education Policy. (2011, September). Common core state standards: Progress and challenges in school districts’ implementation. Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy.

Davidson, A. (2012, January/February). Making it in America. The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved January 26, 2012 from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/making-it-in-america/8844/

McKenzie & Company. (2007). How the world’s best-performing countries come out on top.  Retrieved January 26, 2012 from http://mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/Education/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf

By Jill Jackson
I remember when my local office supply store started stocking the big red “EASY” button on the counters near the register. I had visions of carrying it with me when I embarked on my weekly, travel-for-work exploits! Just the thought of stepping out of the line as my flight is delayed for the umpteenth time and finding a quiet corner at O’ Hare and smacking that “EASY” button seemed somehow soothing … if only it worked that way!

Oddly enough, I think that quite a few folks in education are trying to bring that “EASY” button into their offices or classrooms.

Here’s what the “EASY” button sounds like: “Gee, teaching didn’t used to be this hard; what happened to the good ole days?” or “Wow! I need to figure out an easier way to do this!” or “Isn’t there a way that I can make this faster?” or “If only the parents/prior teachers/board/administrators/community would do ____, then I wouldn’t have to spend so much time.”

Here’s the secret: THE EASY BUTTON HAS LOST ITS POWER! Well, it never really had any power, but let’s not get hung up on that.

The real deal is this: Teaching is hard. There, I said it! Teaching is hard, and it’s not for the faint of heart —or the faint of spirit, for that matter.

So we really need to level with ourselves and change the conversation from “How can I simplify this?” to “How can I make this more powerful for the students?”

By switching the conversation, we are placing the focus on the STUDENTS we serve. We organize around what is best and most efficient and effective for the kids—even when it’s tough on the adults … even when it stretches us and causes us to stay a little later, prep a little longer, ask a zillion more questions, or ask for help and risk admitting that we don’t have the answer. And who benefits? The kids AND the teachers.

Why is dumping the “Easy” button helpful to teachers? Because we gain confidence in what we’re capable of doing for our students. That’s the way confidence grows: by trying something you didn’t think you could do and actually doing it! And NOTHING tops a confident teacher!

So once we dump the “EASY” button, what will things look like on our campuses?

• We will discuss options for fixing teaching problems without the filter of “How much time will this take?”

• We will analyze our current practices and ask: What practices serve me well, but don’t necessarily pay off for my students?

Effective Models for Responding to Problem Behaviors in Students With EBD

By Dan Habib

Issues Summary

Over 2 million young people in the United States have an emotional/behavioral disability (EBD). Statistics released by the Southern Poverty Law Center and The Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders reflect the grim outcomes for these students:

• Students with EBD have the worst graduation rate of all students with disabilities. Nationally, only 40 percent of students with EBD graduate from high school, compared with the national average of 76 percent.

By Sopris Learning

Sopris Learning is looking for passionate educators to share their views with an online community of colleagues through our EdView360 blog. Enter by blogging about your choice of three given topics and submitting of a short video explaining why we should hire YOU! The public will vote, and the winner will write for EdView360 at $100 per blog! Click Here for contest details.

By Anne M. Beninghof

In my workshops on inclusive schools, I frequently ask participants to complete the following simile:

The marriage between special education and general education is like …

After a few chuckles, participants silently begin to write their responses, some thinking of an answer immediately, while others stew for awhile. When it is time to share, the similes run the gamut from horror story to every teacher’s dream.

The marriage between special education and general education is like …

… peanut butter and jelly—each good on its own but better together.

… an elderly couple—constantly bickering about trivial details but dependent on each other.

… a fine wine—it gets better with age.

… a roller-coaster ride—sometimes thrilling, sometimes making you sick to your stomach.

… a hidden gem—just needs some elbow grease and polishing to make it shine.


Imagine doing this activity with your faculty. You provide them with blank index cards and ask them to complete the simile anonymously. When they are finished, you collect the cards and read the examples aloud. What would the overall tenor of the examples be? Mostly positive? Mostly negative? Somewhere in the middle? The vast majority of teachers believe that the similes would be heavily negative, reflective of their experiences. These similes reveal a pervasive problem in our schools—a climate of separateness between specialists and classroom teachers

Proactive steps can be taken to develop a new climate of collaboration and inclusiveness. Dozens of ideas for promoting a healthy school climate have been suggested and implemented by leading educators. Specific steps for developing positive inclusive climates include:

• Creating a vision and mission statement that embrace collaborative relationships. Which comes first—the vision or the mission—is kind of like the argument about the chicken and the egg. What is not in dispute is the fact that organizations need a heart and a head—a belief and a set of processes and skills—to bring about change.

By Dr. Dewey Cornell
A survey of school principals regarding school discipline found that there were two contrasting groups: some principals strongly advocated a firm, no-nonsense, zero-tolerance approach to discipline, while others favored a more supportive and understanding approach. Many adults could readily categorize their school principals into one group or the other. But which strategy is more effective? Are students and teachers safer in a school with strict discipline or one where there is a less punitive and more supportive approach

Although the distinction between strict discipline and a more supportive approach seems compelling, it is probably too simplistic. Decades ago, research by developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind at the University of California-Berkeley found that the best parents were both demanding and supportive, a style of parenting she described as “authoritative.” Later researchers more formally specified two dimensions of parenting that yielded four groups of parents. One dimension measured whether the parent was high or low in demanding appropriate behavior. A second dimension was whether the parent was high or low in being emotionally supportive of the child (also termed “responsiveness”). This generated four types or styles of parenting:

1. Authoritarian parents are high in demandingness but low in supportiveness

By Dr. Steven Richfield
Children challenged by the social interaction deficits of Asperger syndrome face daily trials and troubles within their family, peer, and extended social worlds. Difficulties with demonstrating empathy, understanding nonverbal behaviors, and producing reciprocal verbal responses are three primary inhibitions.

Parents witness these communication barriers and try to unlock and translate the social puzzle for their child. As discussion ensues, it becomes clear that the child with Asperger syndrome is mystified by emotion, and doesn’t use it as a compass for successfully relating to others. If this confounding circumstance describes you or someone you know, read on for some ways to help them become more emotionally attuned to others

As children with Asperger syndrome tend to be strong visual learners, use this pathway to identify and color code emotions. Display the “palette of emotions” by linking a color with familiar feelings, such as happiness, anger, fear, and sadness. Introduce different “shades” of feelings that are harder for them to decipher. Loneliness, shame, embarrassment, pride, surprise, confusion, and many others will need a color that displays the continuum of strong and stunning feeling vs. light and muffled expression. Encourage them to participate in this “color the feelings” activity so that they can better identify with the result.

Using the feelings palette as a foundation, identify past social puzzles, and link them with the appropriate color. Write a brief vignette of what happened to jog the child’s memory and explain, “Each color clues us to not only what the other person is feeling, but how we should respond to it.” Elaborate on the notion of color clues by identifying how a person with an angry (red) feeling is sending a clue that he or she wants to be left alone. Review the list of colors, add vignettes, and draw lines to the appropriate written response. For example, draw a line between the color of pride in an accomplishment with the response of “Say to the person: Congratulations for doing such a great job!”

Continue to add details to their relationship compass by demonstrating how emotions tell us even more about how we are to proceed with people. Stress how once a feeling is correctly identified, the conversation can flow in the direction of that color. This notion helps them understand the importance of not abruptly changing the subject “when a feeling is still flowing with color.” Provide examples of this conversational flow by having them observe others begin a conversation with a color and stick with it until it is clear that the feeling has faded out, and it is fine to change the subject. Look for instructional examples of this “flow to fade out” conversation in other places, such as television, car pool discussions, etc.

Hone the child’s compass by referring to the feelings palette as social situations provide a rich source for learning. Privately review these events and offer much praise for their movement toward more successful social understanding and interactions.

Dr. Steven Richfield is a clinical psychologist in Plymouth Meeting, PA. He has developed a child-friendly, self-control/social skills-building program called Parent Coaching Cards. He can be contacted at director@parentcoachcards.com or 610-238-4450. To learn more, visit www.parentcoachcards.com

About Steven Richfield

Products by Steven Richfield: The Parent Coach

By Linda Farrell
An almost universal habit that struggling readers exhibit is looking up from the page when reading. In my previous EdView360 post, I stressed the importance of teaching students to keep their eyes on the words when they read. I also noted that, when students stop looking up and start looking at the word in order to use decoding strategies, many show immediate improvement when reading.

A number of teachers responded to the blog. Many wrote that they had not noticed how often their students looked to them for approval or for help with reading. Several teachers asked what they could do to help their students change their habits so that they keep their eyes on the words when they read. This blog offers some suggestions.

Helping students change the “looking up” habit requires diligent attention and patience, patience, patience. It helps to understand the different reasons students look up so that we can respond in the most effective way.

Students look up from the page for three primary reasons:

1.    Students look to the teacher for approval. These students look directly at the teacher and wait for the teacher to say “good job” or something similar.

2.   Students look up to signal to the teacher that they don’t know the word or need help. These students also look directly at the teacher. In many classrooms, the teacher or another classmate tells the student the word.

3.   Students look up to think about what the word might be. These students are trying to pull the word from memory and generally look into space, not directly at anyone.

1.   Students Who Look Up for Approval

Looking up for approval is the easiest of the three behaviors to correct. Please don’t mistake “easiest of the three” to mean easy. As with any habit, this one can take time to change.

One respondent to the blog wrote about a technique we also use: “We emphasize maintaining focus on the word from beginning to end with a few simple techniques. For those students having difficulty breaking the habit, I’ve tried standing/sitting behind them while they read! Worked like a charm—it was very evident to the student how often they broke focus, how reliant they were on teacher approval and how self-sufficient they became so swiftly.”

Some students look up for approval just two or three words before they finish reading. Often, this causes them to misread one or more of the final words. To change this habit, every time a student looks up before finishing reading, the teacher reminds the student he or she looked up, and then has the student reread. The teacher has the student reread whether all the words were read correctly or not. Doing this each time a student looks up will foster the habit of keeping eyes on the page at all times. We have found that if we have the student reread only when words are misread, the habit doesn’t change nearly as fast, if at all.

Some students have a difficult time recognizing that they look up before finishing the sentence. In this case, the teacher can put a hand lightly on the student’s head and tell the student not to look up until the teacher takes the hand away. Another technique is to have the student say “period” when he or she comes to the end of the sentence, then tap a fist on the desk before looking up. We have used both these techniques successfully with a number of students.

2.  Students Who Look Up Because They Want the Teacher to Tell Them the Word

Students who look up because they want the teacher to tell them the word need to be reminded to keep their eyes on the word. The teacher can say, “Remember that you need to say ‘Word, please.’ Start from the beginning and say ‘Word, please’ when you come to any word you don’t know.”  Many students start by saying “Word, please,” but still look up as they say it. Teachers need to remind students to keep their eyes on the word, even after they ask for help, and then follow up by having the student repeat “Word, please” with eyes on the word.

After a student asks for help with a specific word, the teacher can elect to (1) have the student sound out the word if the spelling patterns are ones the student should know or (2) provide the word if the student is not expected to know how to read it.

3.   Students Who Look Up to Think About the Word

Students who look up to think about the word are perhaps the most difficult to train to keep their eyes on the page. These students generally have very poor decoding skills and strong language skills. Their experience has taught them that glancing at the word and thinking about possible words is easier and sometimes more successful for them than taking the time to decode the word.

Students who look up to think about the word are different from those who look up because they want teacher approval or want to be told the word. They think that they can “find the word in their heads.” Therefore, teachers need to ask these students to continue to look at the word as they try to read it. If they can’t read the word, they need to say “Word, please.”

Kindergarten and first grade teachers can keep the “looking up” habit from developing. First, they can teach that accuracy is critical when reading. All teachers can help students achieve accuracy by insisting that they look at words the entire time they read. When any student misreads a word, the teacher can stop the student at the end of the sentence or word list, and follow these steps:

1. Tell the student the number of words read correctly (or say, “You read perfectly up to this word” as you point at the missed word).

1. Ask the student to sound out the word if it is decodable or give the word if the student hasn’t learned its spelling patterns.

By Dr. Steven Richfield
Among the challenges of raising children with Asperger syndrome are the emotional ones placed upon the family. The collection of glaring social issues, mixed with subtle thinking variations and occasional unpredictable emotional swings, transforms parenting into a confusing trip of trial and error. When errors mount, family life is often mired in conflict, and the child’s issues are exacerbated. Parents may resort to blaming one another, leading to further downward spiraling.

To guard against this dysfunctional family dynamic, consider the following coaching tips.

Increase awareness of how Asperger syndrome places a child or teen in a handicapped position with respect to many circumstances in life. The nature of the disorder makes it difficult to readily adapt to change, recognize the subtleties in circumstances, take the perspective of another, and resist reacting to any perceived injustice/false accusation. As events unfold at home, these troubles pop up without warning, eroding smooth discussions and ensnarling the family within the world of Asperger syndrome. It’s easy for family members to unwittingly precipitate more conflict due to an approach that shows little Asperger IQ (AIQ).

Developing AIQ entails using your awareness of the typical impairments that place those with Asperger syndrome at a distinct disadvantage in life—and being prepared to effectively navigate around them. For example, those with Asperger syndrome tend to process emotionally laden events in “black and white” terms, making it hard for them to attribute meaning to the weight of circumstances. This sets them up to react emotionally and without sound perspective when accusations fly, family conflict stirs, etc. This can easily translate into them blaming the person who is yelling the loudest. Parents and other siblings can use their AIQ to reassure them that some conflict is normal, curtail accusatory tones of voice, and model reparative tones and behaviors.

Keep in mind that Asperger syndrome tends to magnify emotional reactions and restrict social understanding. Therefore, it is critical for other family members to consider these tendencies and to recognize and review common themes that have triggered past meltdowns due to limitations imposed by the disorder. Typical themes include misunderstanding the intention of jokes or sarcasm; expecting past events to always repeat themselves within similar circumstances; failing to consider timing, present company, and privacy matters when social boundaries are to be heeded; and tendencies toward excessive preoccupation and trouble refraining when enjoying something or somebody.

Using a loving tone of voice and tender words, discuss these issues with the family member who has Asperger syndrome. Explain how the tears in the family relationships can be repaired if everyone takes responsibility and works together. Describe how past conflicts have demonstrated how helpful it will be for everyone to develop stronger AIQ—including them. Suggest mantras they can call up in their mind, such as “My family loves one another, even when we don’t get along.” This can help restore emotional balance. Introduce “no-conditions time-out requests” where any family member can put interaction on pause for five minutes in order for cooler heads to prevail.

Dr. Steven Richfield is a clinical psychologist in Plymouth Meeting, PA. He has developed a child-friendly, self-control/social skills-building program called Parent Coaching Cards. He can be contacted at director@parentcoachcards.com or 610-238-4450. To learn more, visit www.parentcoachcards.com

About Steven Richfield

Products by Steven Richfield: The Parent Coach