Making families and communities accountable for children's literacy
The origins of Success for All lie in a challenge placed on Robert Slavin and his Johns Hopkins colleagues in 1986. The special adviser to the president of the Baltimore School Board and Baltimore Superintendent asked what would it take, regardless of cost, to assure that every child in the inner city of Baltimore would succeed in school. The resulting program was based on two principles:
- that major learning problems must be prevented by providing children with the best available classroom programs and by engaging parents to support school success; and
- that when learning difficulties do appear, corrective interventions must be immediate and intensive.
Now the aim is to assure that all students will reach third grade with basic reading skills. The program is designed for large schools with large proportions of children at high-risk of school failure.
The core of the program is the combination of changes in the entire school's approach to teaching reading, supported by intensive professional development; a family support team in each school to help parents ensure their children's school success; and deployment of specially trained certified teachers as one-on-one tutors to students who are behind their classmates in reading. The program is actively building accountability throughout the system. Children's progress in reading skills is assessed every eight weeks. Parents are actively engaged through workshops on how to develop strategies to help their children and by home visits from family support groups. Additionally, each school must hire at least one tutor and a full-time facilitator to work with teachers to help implement the reading curriculum.
The Success for All program has spread nationally. By 1993, evaluations in 15 schools in seven states found that Success for All students achieved higher reading levels throughout elementary grades, had better attendance, and were less likely to be placed in special education classes than comparison groups.
Overview: The Accountability Chain
June 1999 Journal Home Page