Improving secondary literacy supports through collaborative inquiry and action
Subject
Abstract
Proficient literacy skills have been correlated with not only academic achievement, but also with career outcomes and quality of life expectations. There is concern about the literacy skills of adolescents and young adults leaving high school. Response to Intervention (RtI) is one way school districts are choosing to address the literacy needs of their students, and although there is ample literature pertaining to the use of RtI as a system to support literacy at the elementary level, there is a need to examine the application of RtI at the secondary level. Collaborative Action Research (CAR) was utilized to explore the research question: How can we improve our literacy supports at the secondary level through the use of a whole-school Response to Intervention model? I, the researcher, and four participants from the participating school met for three collaborative action cycles to discuss chosen literacy support implementations within the context of a newly adopted schoolwide RtI system. Data was collected from pre- and postresearch questionnaires and the transcripts of the three collaborative action cycle meetings. The three emerging themes of time, resources, and collaboration were then analyzed using the Zone of Mediation framework to assess the forces at play in the equity-focused RtI system. Participants found collaborating beneficial and cited increased confidence and knowledge in providing literacy supports within an RtI system. Participants also noted their practice was positively impacted with instruction being more intentional, explicit, and accessible. Suggestions for the participating school and recommendations for further research are offered based on the analysis of the interpreted data and experienced collaboration.