Jamestown Education in the News
Education News sat down with Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., Senior
Consultant for Jamestown Reading Navigator for a
feature interview published on November 9, 2008. The interview
topics ranged from the creation of the program to the outstanding
efficacy results seen thus far. The following is the transcript
of the interview.
Dr. Fisher is an expert in literacy development, early intervention,
language development and the Gradual Release Model. He
is currently a Professor of Language and Literacy Development
at San Diego State University, and is Co-Director of the Center
for the Advancement of Reading for the California State University
System. Dr. Fisher is the author of numerous publications on
adolescent literacy and writing and has received a number of
awards for his achievements in education, including the Christa
McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Teacher Education and
the NCTE Farmer Award for Excellence
in Writing. We’re
meeting with Dr. Fisher today to discuss Jamestown
Reading Navigator, an online reading intervention program for
adolescents.
Tell us about Jamestown Reading Navigator-
who developed the program?
Jamestown Reading Navigator was developed by a team
of expert educational consultants in conjunction with the editorial
team at Jamestown Education, which is part of Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
Jamestown
Reading Navigator is the first reading
intervention program designed exclusively for the adolescent
learner. It’s based on the latest research in adolescent
literacy. Jamestown Education has been developing programs
for adolescent readers for over 35 years, and has an excellent
reputation for developing motivating, effective programs. When
the editors at Jamestown described the type of program they
were developing and asked me to be on the team, I was excited
to be part of such a groundbreaking project.
The other consultants on the team are some of the foremost
leaders in the educational industry and are on the cutting-edge
of adolescent reading research. The team includes
- Edward Fry, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Education at Rutgers
University and the inventor of the Fry Readability Scale.
- Mark Shinn, Ph.D., Professor of School Psychology at National-Louis
University and an expert in Curriculum-Based Measurement
(CBM) and in Response to Intervention (RTI).
- Kimberly Lawless, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Educational
Technology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the
lead investigator and project director for Project TRUST.
- William Brozo, Ph.D., Professor of Literacy in the Graduate
School of Education at George Mason University and a member
of PISA/PIRLS task force.
For what kinds of readers was it developed?
Jamestown
Reading Navigator was developed for middle
and high school students who are reading two or more years
below their grade level in school, with the goal of bringing
them up to grade level as quickly as possible.
How does it use technology?
Technology is the main component of the program. Students
receive direct, explicit instruction, modeling, and practice
in an online environment. The technology component is
truly revolutionary because it allows each student to work
at his or her own pace at the appropriate instructional level. In
order to closely monitor student progress, teachers have access
to a very detailed online reporting system. They can
quickly identify the students that need more instruction on
a particular skill and then work with those students individually
or in small groups.
I understand the program helps “Tier 2” readers. Can
you explain the term and how the program helps these types
of students?
The term “Tier 2 Readers” comes from the Response to Intervention
(RTI) Model that many schools and districts across the country
are in the process of implementing. RTI provides a three
tiered model of prevention across the entire student population. Students
are monitored in order to quickly identify those who are struggling
and provide scientifically-based, high-quality instruction
and progress monitoring to quickly bring them back up to grade
level.
The model divides students into three tiers or groups. Tier
1 students are those who typically respond well to a strong
core curriculum. Tier 2 students have not responded well
to a core curriculum and require intervention to get back on
track. Tier 3 students have not responded to either the
core or strategic intervention and require even more intensive
intervention. Jamestown Reading Navigator can
be used in either Tier 2 or Tier 3 to provide that intervention.
I understand that there is a formative evaluation
component. Tell us more about that.
Formative assessment takes place in Jamestown
Reading Navigator in a number of ways. When
students begin the program, they take a placement test
that places them at the appropriate instructional level.
Before each lesson, students take a pretest covering the
reading skill and the vocabulary that will be addressed
in the upcoming lesson. If students pass the pretest, they
are able to proceed to the next lesson. Students also participate
in formative assessment at strategic points throughout each
lesson. These assessments help determine which students
require targeted intervention and which students are ready
to move on to the next lesson.
I understand the program includes “interesting literacy
choices”. Tell us more about that.
When students are struggling with their reading skills, they
are typically not motivated or excited to read. In order
to increase these students’ reading skills it’s crucial that
we engage them and increase their motivation to read by providing
selections on topics that interest them. The program
includes nonfiction selections on hybrid cars, music production,
skateboarding, teen heroes, and many other engaging topics.
We’ve received very positive feedback from teachers and students
regarding the interesting selections and have found that many
students even work on the program at home without being prompted
by the teacher!
How is this program “On-line”? And what does that
mean?
The main component of
Jamestown
Reading Navigator is
a Web-based program that is accessed over the internet. The
program can be accessed from any computer with an internet
connection.
When you say your program is “high interest”, what
do you mean by that?
We made every effort to find reading selections that would
interest the adolescent reader. When we were conducting
our research prior to developing the program, educators told
us again and again that their adolescent learners needed age-appropriate
material that would engage them. Nothing demotivates
an adolescent reader more than being forced to read elementary
stories about kittens and butterflies. Our program features
selections on topics that adolescent students are interested
in – cell phones, sports, space exploration, bionic limbs etc…
We’ve adapted the selections to lower reading levels so struggling
readers could understand them, but feel respected at the same
time.
We used to refer to “high interest, low vocabulary”
programs as being ideal for readers who are a few years behind
where they should be in reading. What about the vocabulary
level of this Jamestown program?
The program covers readability levels 1.0-9.9, which is important
because we can accommodate a wide range of students. We took
an interesting approach to the vocabulary level of this program. The
selections themselves are “high-interest, low readability”
in that they are topics students will find interesting, but
the selections have been adapted to lower readability levels. However,
we wanted to create a program that would have immediate carry
over to students’ content-area classrooms. That’s why
the vocabulary words are words the students will see on a daily
basis in their other courses.
How much has it been researched and by who?
Prior to developing the program, we did extensive research. We
examined all the latest reading research in adolescent literacy
and built the program around the best reading practices in
the most recent findings. We also piloted the program
during its development in order to get feedback from teachers
and students, which allowed us to insight into key adjustments
that would make the program easy to use and even more effective.
A research company in New York, Interactive Educational Systems
Design, Inc., wrote a white paper that examines the research-supported
best practices related to instruction of struggling adolescent
readers and describes how those practices are supported by Jamestown
Reading Navigator. The paper “How Jamestown
Reading Navigator Supports Research-Based Instruction
for Struggling Adolescent Readers,” describes the match between Jamestown
Reading Navigator and the best available instructional
thinking in a variety of specific areas such as decoding, fluency,
vocabulary, and comprehension.
Efficacy research continues to be conducted with excellent
results. For example, the National Dropout Prevention
Center (NDPC) at Clemson University is in the process of conducting
a study on the program. The NDPC just released a report
showing that treatment subjects using Jamestown
Reading Navigatorshowed statistically significant
improvement in their reading skills. The students made a half
a year of reading progress in only seven weeks of intensive
instruction. These are extremely positive findings.
How would a reading specialist go about getting a
sample lesson or chapter?
We have a brochure that includes a demonstration CD-ROM so
educators can try sample lessons. We also have an evaluation
kit that includes samples of the print components that support
the online program. To request a brochure or evaluation
kit, call
1-888-232-6671 or e-mail
readingnavigator@mcgraw-hill.com.
Do you have a web site where principals and others
can learn more about the program?
Absolutely! Visit www.readingnavigator.com or
call 1-888-232-6671 to find out more.
Which districts have adopted the program?
The program has been adopted by districts across the United
States. Recently, Miami-Dade, the fourth largest school
district in the country, adopted the program for their struggling
high school readers. Approximately 25,000 students will
use the program over the next five years in the Miami-Dade
County district.
