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Collaborating to improve literacy outcomes.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

In an attempt to improve student performance on high stakes standardized testing, teacher educators from the University of Tennessee and teachers from one urban elementary school have collaborated in the development of a community- and school-based vocabulary initiative. Using research related to vocabulary and reading as a basis for our planning, we organized teams responsible for developing and implementing a series of vocabulary activities. This article contains links to vocabulary research and descriptive information about these efforts.

Introduction

Reform in urban schools is a key topic in the popular media and professional literature (e.g., Aubry, 1999; Delpit, & Dowdy, 2002; Haberman, 2000; Johnson, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 2001). Both genres contain everything from dramatic success stories, to calls for radical reform, impassioned recounting of the injustices and inequities found in public education, and recommended solutions to public school failures. Some writers describe changes needed in teacher preparation, while others center on school-based reform through curricular change, increased accountability, parent involvement, and so forth. Some attribute successes or failures to the quality of teaching, while others address the need for particular instructional techniques, cultural relevance in instruction, or consistent high behavioral expectations for all children. Collaboration is one important element throughout these recommendations. It can refer to a variety of potential relationships, including those between the school and community, teachers and parents, teacher educators and the schools, and administrators and teachers.

We offer a look at one such collaborative effort that involves teacher educators, classroom teachers, school-based administrators, community leaders, local businesses, and parents. In this project, we attempt to integrate the potentially conflicting goals of increasing student performance on standardized tests, teacher input and decision-making in reform, parental and community involvement, and links between a teacher preparation program and an elementary school. This article includes a brief description of how the project was conceived and initiated, links to research on the efficacy of vocabulary instruction, components of the initiative, and issues associated with its implementation.

Focusing on Vocabulary

The vocabulary initiative, supported by Urban Impact, a teacher education grant, grew out of discussions between teacher educators, community leaders, and the faculty and staff at one urban elementary school. The story begins when an established urban/multicultural teacher education program underwent significant personnel changes at approximately the same time that standardized test scores at the elementary school dropped below acceptable levels. Although we differed in our beliefs about the value and meaning those scores held, everyone agreed that improving test performance was a necessary goal. The school is an urban technology magnet with 650 students, of whom approximately 88% are African American. A growing number of students do not use English as their first or primary language. Eighty-nine percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch; many also live in contexts challenged by...

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