The Literacy Approach

In grades K-8, the Brockton School District had been following the Collins Approach to Writing, a cross-disciplinary program. To provide continuity from kindergarten through 12th grade, the high school aligned its literacy approach with the Collins program. To prepare students to take the high-stakes MCAS tests in 10th grade, the high school's approach was necessarily more intensive, focusing all ninth- and 10th-grade classes on preparing students for the test. The literacy approach was continued through grades 11 and 12 to prepare students for college entrance exams and the world of work.

Through months of hard work, the Restructuring Committee developed a definition of literacy that would serve the school's initiative and a series of literacy charts to include reading, writing, speaking, and reasoning. The literacy charts would guide implementation of the initiative and detail what students would be expected to demonstrate in every discipline, creating a uniform approach across all grades and classes. According to Associate Principal Sue Szachowicz, "This literacy initiative is the heart and soul of the significant improvement we've seen in student performance at Brockton."

As with all Brockton classes, the interdisciplinary Plant Growth and Animal Care class integrates reading, writing, listening and reading to reflect Brockton's literacy goals.

To succeed, the open-response writing initiative required quality instructional materials, training expertise, tenacity in monitoring implementation, support from administration, and the commitment of the entire faculty. Every student would now experience open-ended response writing in all disciplines. Teachers' expectations of students--and students' expectations of themselves--would change as teachers became more familiar with students' strengths and weaknesses in open-ended writing.

MCAS preparation courses and programs were developed. Sophomores were identified as "at risk" if they had previously failed the grade 8 MCAS, or if their English or math teacher recommended them. Those students were scheduled into an additional MCAS English or math class (or both if necessary) during the regular school day. The student-teacher ratio was maintained at 10 to one. Teachers used diagnostic testing of individual students to target their areas of weakness. Students in the graduating class of 2003 who failed the MCAS were also scheduled into these classes. The school expanded and enhanced the after-school and Saturday MCAS programs by incorporating a computer-assisted instruction program into these classes.

To identify students' deficiencies as early as possible, all freshmen were tested with the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency (the high school counterpart to the Iowa Test of Basic Skills) in English and math. Individual students' strengths and weaknesses were assessed and presented to them by their teachers, and individual performance plans were developed for each student. With these interventions, the literacy approach supports continued personalization.