Antioch High School, located in Contra Costa County, is a school dedicated to addressing the needs of a once-rural community that is rapidly changing into a bedroom community in the Bay Area. Educators describe Antioch High as "a school in transition with a proud tradition". A partial breakdown of its diverse student population is as follows: 43 percent are white, 32 percent are Hispanic, and 1014 percent are African American; 46 percent are socioeconomically disadvantaged; and 7 percent are English learners. The mission statement for the school states: "The mission of the Antioch High School Community is to prepare students to participate actively in a changing global society. We hold and communicate high standards of academic and social behavior for an evolving and diverse school community. Our goals promote student excellence through self-esteem, self-discipline, and academic achievement."
Antioch High leaders have included a literacy coache to promote a comprehensive, schoolwide literacy focus. The school has successfully implemented a yearlong academic literacy course for all incoming grade nine students that uses methods from Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms. (Beginning in the fall 2006, the Academic Literacy teachers are piloting a 40 week, expanded curriculum from Reading for Understanding which includes the folowing unites: Reader Identity, Reading History, and Reading Science.This curriculum will be available in 2007 and those interested should contact the Strategic Literacy Initiative (Outside Source) at WestEd regarding secondary training/resources; contact person is Ruth Schoenberg at rschoen@wested.org.) Students take Academic Literacy in addition to English 9. Both courses follow California's content standards; however, Academic Literacy focuses on nonfiction to teach literacy strategies. Silent sustained reading (SSR), a major component of the Academic Literacy course, allows students to read fiction or nonfiction at their own pace and to improve their reflective writing skills.
Additional reading interventions are in place for low-achieving students, including a class titled 9th Grade Skills (to be replaced in 2006-07 with an Algebra support class for all grade nine students based upon their scores in the CAT/6 grade eight assessment).; a school tutoring program operating three days a week that covers all subject areas; and after-school tutoring for the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) in English and mathematics. English learners are placed in English-language development when appropriate and are offered Power Learners, a special tutoring program for English learners.
The school's library media center provides students access to a large number of books, including appropriate ones for English learners and students with special needs. The library media teacher provides instruction to help students develop library skills and other information literacy competencies involving the use of the Internet, evaluation of Web sites, and citation of sources for bibliographies.
Professional development is the engine that drives the literacy reforms at Antioch High. A structured, ongoing plan that began seven years ago oncorporates seve literacy strategies in all content areas to help students meet more rigorous standards. Teachers' use of literacy strategies in all content areas is a component of the annual teacher objectives and evaluation. Laminated posters highlighting individual literacy strategies have been created for each classroom. A staff room display highlights a literacy strategy of the month. In the words of a student who had completed the Academic Literacy class, "This semester I have learned many things, especially about myself as a reader. The academic literacy class has helped me improve my reading skills. I needed a lot of improvement in my reading and reading comprehension. I have learned many new skills and new strategies to help me better understand a piece of text. . . . I have also learned how to use this class to help me with my other classes. . . . I think I could have done better in my past classes if I would have had this class when I was smaller."
Four years agao, a group of teachers from middle and high schools in the Antioch Unified School District began meeting informally once a month to discuss literacy articulation and district goals. This network group grew to include eleentary teachers and district administrators as well as community college representatives. Two years ago the Antioch Literacy Network became the Antioch Unified School District Literacy Task Force which included teachers from every school. The Task Force has met regularly; its subcommittees have been responsible for writing and producing secondary and elementary resource binders for all teachers; producing a video for the Antioch Unified School District rollout of the K-12 literacy plan in spring 2006; writing a coaching manual for site literacy coaches; and coordinating literacy articulation between grade leves. Currently the Antioch Unified School District has literacy coaches in middle and high schools (.2 released time) and some elementary schools.; planning is in progress to have coaches at all sites with an increase in released time. The Antioch Unified School District has provided training to all coaches through participation in four-six day workshops incorporating the work of Laura Lipton (Mentoring Matters).
Schoolwide Literacy Goals
- To participate in off-site conferences, workshops, and literacy initiatives to acquire knowledge, methodology, and content related to literacy
- To sustain an on-site staff develoment program that encompasses literacy across the curriculum in all content areas
- To design (second semester, 2006) and implement (2006-07) a math literacy staff development program encompassing many of the characteristics of the literacy staff development program
Criteria for Identifying Students at Risk of Below-Grade-Level Performance in Reading and Writing
- English-language development (ELD) (PDF; 949KB; 93pp.) testing; STAR test (Renaissance Learning); Spanish Assessment of Basic Education (SABE); California English-Language Development Test (CELDT)
- Special education testing
- Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) twice a year in Academic Literacy classes and in grade 10 English classes
- California Achievement Test; Sixth Edition (CAT/6) reading scores
- Recommendation by grade 8 teachers regarding the placement of students in the 9th Grade Skills or Algebra support class
Content Literacy
The grade nine Academic Literacy course (one year) focuses on three units based on the Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) curriculum.; Reader Identigy, Reading History, and Reading Science. Texts used are articles, excerpts, essays, and textbooks. The following strategies comprise the curriculum of the Academic Literacy course in the freshman year and staff development in all content areas:
Pre-Reading Activities
- Anticipation guides
- Vocabulary charts
- Pre-reading chapter or article guides
Reading Activities
- SSR in conjunction with reflective writing
- Visualizing, predicting, chunking
- Talking to the text (questioning the author)
- Think aloud in response to text
- Vocabulary strategies
- Question-answer relationships (QAR)
- Paraphrasing, clarifying, summarizing
- Graphic organizers
- Double/triple-entry handouts
- Cornell note taking
Reciprocal teaching
- Test-taking strategies
- Maps/charts/graphs
Library Media Program
- A scavenger hunt is conducted for all literacy classes during the first month of school, followed by instruction about how to use the library
- Internet literacy classes are conducted in the library for all literacy classes during the first semester. The purposes are to teach students how to:
- Identify appropriateness of search engines and subject directories for research
- Write citations for a bibliography
- Evaluate and use Web sites as appropriate to the research topic
- A large number of books are in the library collection, including books appropriate for English learners and special education students.
English-Language Arts Core
- English 9 is a required course for grade 9 students
- English 9 and Academic Literacy follow California's content standards for language arts, reading and writing
- Academic Literacy focuses on nonfiction to teach literacy strategies
Reading Interventions
- Academic Literacy course for most grade 9 students
- Algebra support class for grade nine students based on CAT/6 math scores in grade eight
- Placement in English-language development (ELD) when appropriate
- On-site, after-school tutoring program covering all subject areas
- Power Learners, a tutoring program for English learners
- After-school tutoring for the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) in English and mathematics
Home/School/Community Literacy Partnerships
- Tutoring program: on-site, after-school tutoring in all subject areas
- Parent Assisting Student Success (PASS): a program carried out by parent volunteers on four Saturday mornings during the school year
- Antioch Unified School District Literacy Task Force/Literacy Coaches
- Antioch Continuous Achievement Plan (ACAP): a planning committee that meets monthly to review and revise programs related to school reform in the areas of literacy, mathematics, tutoring, parent involvement, AP challenge grant, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), technology, and content standards
- Partnership with Migrant Technologies
Schoolwide Literacy Activities
- Reading component in the 9th Grade Skills class
- Writing preparation for CAHSEE in which students complete an essay that is evaluated by different English teachers at the grade 9 and 10 levels
- Academic Literacy course required for most freshmen
- DRP testing in grades 9 and 10
- Literacy staff development to begin in 2006-07
Structured Time for Independent, Student-Selected Reading
- SSR is a major component of the Academic Literacy course and is used in selected content areas.
Professional Development/Ongoing Support
- Ongoing staff development has been provided:
- Year One (2000-01): Staff divided into small groups and covered seven literacy strategies, incorporating reading assignments, role-modeling, practice, discussion, and use of strategies in the classroom.
- Year Two (2001-02): Staff selected one of the seven literacy strategies from year one; focused on the strategy; had reading assignments; and discussed the use of the strategy in classroom lessons, following a protocol design.
- Year Three (2002-03): The year included a mélange of speakers, videos, and readings and the addition of three days of required in-service training at the beginning of school year. The training included a literacy focus for new and second-year teachers and a follow-up with the new teachers.
- Year Four (2003-04): Discipline-specific literacy readings and discussion circles.
- Year Five (2004-05): Four large-group inservice sessions highlighting certain literacy strategies.
- Year Six (2005-06): Staff rotated by content area among five different literacy sessions emphasizing prereading, QAR, Reciprocal Teaching, Summarizing and Graphic Organizers demonstrating and practicing content area specific texts.
- Year Seven (2006-07): Staff will rotate by content area among eight different math literacy sessions to reinforce
inclusion of math skills across the curriculum. - The use of literacy strategies in all content areas is a component of annual teacher objectives and evaluations.
- Training in the Strategic Literacy Initiative is ongoing for selected teachers.
Other
- Classroom posters highlighting individual literacy strategies
- Magazines for student use added to the attendance office waiting area
- Display in staff room highlighting a literacy strategies of the month
- Release time for certificated staff to implement literacy goals
- Grade nine teaching teams, each composed of an English teacher, mathematics teacher, science teacher, and academic literacy teacher, all of whome teach the same students
- Self-paced test practice in various content areas
Evidence of Success (as of 2006)
- API score registered a gain of 27 points from 2001 to 2002 (API = 622)
- API targets were achieved for all subgroups from 2001 to 2002
- API targets registered a gain of 24 points from 2002 to 2003 (API = 639)
- API targets registered a gain of 11 points from 2003 to 2004 (API = 658)
- API for 2004-05 is 653
- DRP scores increased
- Observation of 2001 CAHSEE testing showed that students continued to used literacy strategies for the essay portion
- Anecdotal evidence is present
For More Information Contact:
Antioch High School
Antioch Unified School District
Jeff Reich, Principal
925-756-5650
jeffreich@antioch.k12.ca.us
Barbara Sullivan
925-756-5789
barbarasullivan@antioch.k12.ca.us
Shawn Gilbert
925-756-5789
shawngilbert@antioch.k12.ca.us
