Literacy Turnaround at WJMS
CTL's Adolescent Literacy Model Sparks Dramatic Turnaround At West Jessamine Middle School
West Jessamine Middle School had struggled for five years, repeatedly failing to achieve adequate yearly progress in reading for all students. Facing corrective action from the Kentucky Department of Education, WJMS became one of 21 schools that would implement CTL's school-wide Adolescent Literacy Model as part of the federally funded Kentucky Striving Readers Project.
CTL educational programs specialists provided intensive professional development that included both on-site and distance coaching for administrators, the school literacy coach, and the entire faculty, providing a common language, strategies and expectations. Instruction in all content areas was infused with new energy and purpose. Highlights included a school-wide emphasis on "power verbs," and opportunities for the school's literacy coach to model teaching strategies in classrooms and during mini-professional development sessions in monthly faculty meetings.
Implementation of the Adolescent Literacy Model moved WJMS completely out of tier status to meeting their accountability goals. Student test scores increased along with administrator and faculty morale, transforming teaching and learning for all students and setting a course for continuous improvement.