Information for Teachers

College and Career Readiness English Language Arts (230195)

Two target indicators define the work required to realize Unbridled Learning: College/Career Readiness for All.

Increase the percentage of students who are college and career ready from 34% to 67% by 2015Increase the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate from 76% to 90% by 2015

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ACT 11th Grade (2009)

English Math Reading

Total # students 19,798 14,689 16,487

% of students 46% 34% 38%

Total number of students tested: 43,511

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

- Henry A. Kissinger

After completing the transitional course and meeting the college placement criteria, students will be able to: enroll in college credit-bearing courses. increase the likelihood for successful

completion in subsequent college courses.

Research indicates that the demands on readers have either held steady or increased over roughly the last fifty years (Common Core Standards)

College textbooks (as measured by Lexile scores) have increased in difficulty since 1962 (Common Core Standards)

Work-place reading (measured in Lexiles) significantly exceeds grade 12 complexity (Common Core Standards)

Students in college are expected to read complex texts with substantially greater independence than are students in K-12 programs (Pritchard, Wilson & Yamnitz, 2007)

College students are held more accountable for what they read on their own than most high school students (Pritchard, Wilson & Yamnitz, 2007)

K-12 reading texts have decreased in reading difficulty in the last half century (Chall, Conard & Harris, 1977)

There is as much as a 350 Lexile gap between the difficulty of end-of-high school and college texts- a gap equivalent to 1.5 standard deviations (Williamson, 2006)

Students in K-12 are given very little exposure to expository texts, which is necessary for them to develop important reading strategies (Common Core Standards)

Expository text makes up the vast majority of the required reading in college and the workplace (Common Core Standards)

30% of high school seniors who enrolled in college and took a remedial course went on to receive a degree or certificate compared to 69% of high school seniors who did not take a remedial course (NCES)

14% of adults read prose text at “below basic” level; 13% could read prose texts at the “proficient level” (National Assessment of Adult Literacy)

Units including in Reading Course

1. Introductory Unit: Reading in Literary Non-Fiction

2. Reading in Science3. Reading in Humanities4. Reading in History

Why content area reading?

• ACT Reading passages represent texts students may encounter in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and literature courses

• Each content area requires students to employ a different set of literacy skills

Each Unit is complete with:• Essential Questions• Suggested Texts (available online)• Sample Texts• Vocabulary• Activities for reading strategies (before

reading, during reading and after reading)• Reading Strategy guides and explanations• Unit planning guides

Unit Focus: Literary Non-Fiction

Essential Question(s): How do we define who we are?

TextsModeling: The Falling Man- Tom Junod Esquire (modeling) [1010L]Guided practice: Horsemen of the Esophagus- Jason Fagone The Atlantic (independent, guided) [1270L]Independent practice: "Street Haunting: A London Adventure” Virginia Woolf [1260L]

Additional texts:• America Now- Robert Atwan (Modeling, guided and independent practice) [Lexile level varies based on the reading selected]How Farmer Amy Hepworth Became a Cult Hero to Foodies- Susan Burton New York Magazine (Modeling, guided and independent practice) [1060L}E.B. White’s Drafts of “Once More to the Lake” E.B. White (Modeling, guided and independent practice) [1060L]The Editor of the Breakfast Table- Charles J. Shields New York Times (Modeling, guided and independent practice) [880L]

Vocabulary: BillowingAnnihilationMusterRelegatedTangentialLamentMastication

ScurrilousWatershedMincingQuixoticSatietySwathedDowagersVolubility

Sample Unit Structure, cont. “The Falling Man”

Activity One:

Making Predictions KCAS

Creating Connections (B)

Title questions (5 generated by students KWL style) share with teacher or group. Keep for later to determine accuracy of prediction and to revisit the incorrect predictions.

Process:1.When you first encounter a piece, write down the first 5 questions you have about the title; for example a) Why is the man falling? b) is it important that it is a man falling and not a woman? c) Will he survive the fall? d) Is it important that he survive? e) Will there be another fall?2.Students can share their top 2 or 3 questions and the class can create a questions board or the activity can be done in isolation.3.Students should keep the questions in a two column journal for an activity at the end of the article.

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Units include:

1. Introductory Unit: Literary Non-Fiction2. Science3. Humanities4. History5. Appendix:

A. “Just in Time” Lesson PlansB. Planning Templates

Unit Focus: Literary Non-Fiction

Skill Focus: Analysis; Thesis Statement

Essential Question(s): 1. What does America value and how do we know it?2. What is the difference between our actions and our words?3. How does an author craft an argument?

Background Texts:• Fagone, Jason. “Horseman of the Esophagus.” The Atlantic. [1270L] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/05/horsemen-of-the-esophagus/4808/•  Halpern, Jake. “The Freegan Establishment.” The New York Times. June 4, 2010. [950L]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Squatters-t.html?_r=1• VIDEO—YouTube video “Meet the Freegans” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-NUdbsL2n4

Student Texts:• Lauren B. “Our Society vs. The Hunger Games” [1100L] http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/248522/Our-Society-vs-the-Hunger-Games/   Supplemental Texts:• Park, Madison. “Speed Eaters Gain Weight, Clog Arteries but Have Few Regrets.” CNN.com. July 3, 2009. [1220L] http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/03/competitive.eating.stomach/index.html• Suddath, Claire. “A Brief History of Competitive Eating.” Time. July 3, 2008. [1430L] http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1820052,00.html

Activity One:

Making Predictions KCAS

Writing to Learn (WTL)

Before reading Journal Topics:•What do you personally value? How do you know this thing is important to you?•Discuss a time when you were involved in a contest of some type.•Did you win or lose? How did that make you feel? (Horseman)•Some sports or hobby interests are known to be very dangerous to the people who participate in them. List some examples. Do you feel that individuals should be allowed to participate in them regardless of the danger? Should there be some form of regulation or control to help keep people safe? (Horseman)•Is it always wrong for people to take things that do not belong to them? Why or why not? Can you think of a situation when it might be excusable, even if it’s not technically the right thing to do? (Freegans) After reading “Horseman of the Esophagus,” teachers may use this journal topic to help students identify the main idea of the author’s argument.

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Just In Time Lessons

Just in Time lessons are intended to give teachers resources and lesson plans for teaching the core grammar, writing and mechanics skills that are assessed on the ACT, the COMPASS and the forthcoming KYOTE assessment for English.

Title TopicPg #

Subject-Verb Agreement Subject-Verb Agreement 48

Write from the Start Strengthening Introductions 54

It’s a Wrap Writing Effective Conclusions 58

After hearing from many classroom teachers and administrators, the work team who developed the English transitional curriculum framework was very intentional about creating a product that mirrored the units in the Reading framework.

This was intentional so that the two courses could be paired to create one comprehensive course.

adapt the course to the meet the specific needs and conditions in each high school

design instructional plans based upon researched, best practice models

The Council on Postsecondary Education uses the following three assessments to determine placement of students in college mathematics/developmental classes

ACTKYOTE COMPASS

Benefits for students placed in a college credit bearing class

Cost Time

• Recent data from Eastern KY University that each developmental class costs students approximately $789.

• If a student has to take both English and Reading, that’s a cost to them of $1578.

• Most financial aid will not cover developmental classes and students often have to take the courses more than one time in order to pass.

After completing the transitional course and meeting the college placement criteria, students will be able to: enroll in college credit-bearing courses. increase the likelihood for successful

completion in subsequent college courses.

Full course (could be integrated into an existing course, or offered as a stand-alone course)

Intervention (student is in the course long enough to complete necessary units and pass summative assessment) Before or after school During school (intervention time/ daytime ESS) Self-paced course (with some guidance from a

teacher)

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“open source”• free of charge • can be offered by high school (or

middle school)

You do not need formal permission to use the transitional course curriculum.

Please contact: April Pieperapril.pieper@education.ky.gov

Excellence in education is when we do everything that we can to make sure they become everything that they can.

– Carol Tomlinson