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SFA

Success for All is a comprehensive restructuring program for elementary schools, based on the following principles:

• Emphasis on prevention, early and intensive intervention, and tutoring for students with academic difficulties.
• Incorporation of state-of-the-art curriculum and instructional methods.
• Emphasis on the integration of phonics and meaning-focused instruction, cooperative learning, and curriculum-based assessments.
• Writing/language arts instruction emphasizing writer’s workshops.
• Pre-school/kindergarten instruction with story telling and language development.
• Adaptations for Spanish and English as a second language.
• A family support program engaging parents, community members, and integrated services.
• Extensive professional development throughout the elementary grades.

CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

The Success for All curriculum is based on current research on the ways
children learn to read and write.At the heart of the program is 90 minutes
of uninterrupted daily reading instruction. Beginning in first grade, children
are grouped across classes and grades by reading level, giving most teachers
the opportunity to work intensively with students at one reading level. Assessments are administered every eight weeks to ensure adequate progress is being made and
to determine if tutoring or family support services are needed. Cooperative learning, embedded throughout the program, focuses on individual accountability, common goals, and recognition of group success.

The Early Learning Program (pre kindergarten and kindergarten) emphasizes oral language development using thematic units, children’s literature, oral and written expression, and learning centers. Pre-reading activities promote the development of concepts about print, alphabet familiarity, and phonemic awareness. Peabody Language Development Kits provide additional experience in language.The program is adaptable to full or half-day schedules.

Reading Roots is the beginning reading program used in Success for All. It emphasizes a balance between phonics and meaning, using both children’s literature and a series of interesting, enjoyable stories in which phonetically regular student text is enriched by teacher-read text. Students engage in partner reading and writing activities. Fast-paced, motivating lessons use puppets, sounds, chants, whole-class responses, and metacognitive
skills training to build comprehension, fluency, and confidence in reading. Lee Conmigo provides the same program for students learning to read in Spanish.

Components of Success for All
Reading Wings, for students reading at the second through sixth grade levels, is built around a school’s existing novels, anthologies, or basal's. It emphasizes cooperative learning activities in which students work in teams to improve strategic reading and comprehension skills and investigate literature. Alas para Leer provides the same strategies for Spanish readers. Writing is emphasized throughout the program as a method for creative expression and responding to literature. Students plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish compositions with feedback from teachers and peers.

ONE-TO-ONE TUTORING
One-to-one tutoring is the most effective educational intervention known. In Success for All schools, children experiencing difficulties learning to read – especially first-graders – receive daily one-to-one tutoring designed to reinforce classroom instruction from certified teachers or well-qualified instructional assistants. The tutor diagnoses student needs and tailors instruction to meet those needs.

Ten years of research on Success for All show that the program significantly improves student reading performance in schools large and small, urban and rural. The research has been conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Memphis, and other researchers in 12 school districts throughout the U.S.
Among the findings:

• By the end of the first grade, students in Success for All schools have average reading scores almost three months ahead of those in matching control schools;
• By the end of the fifth grade, students read more than one year ahead of control peers;
• Success for All reduces the need for special education placements by more than 50%, and virtually eliminates retention;
• Middle school students who come from Success for All school continue to read more than one year ahead of those in matching schools;
• The Spanish versions of Success for All now used in bilingual classes, Lee Conmigo and Alas para Leer, show strong positive effects on student achievement;
• Achievement effects are especially strong for students who score in the lowest quartile;
• Based on its outstanding results, the American Institute for Research identified Success for All as one of the two most effective comprehensive programs for elementary schools.

There is no magic in Success for All. Research shows that the quality and completeness of implementation are strongly related to students’ achievement gains.The program provides a powerful tool for educators to increase the success of all children, but the school staff must work to make this potential a reality.

The program was launched in 1987 at a Baltimore elementary school, and gradually expanded.Word of Success for All’s results spread among
educators, and in 1999–2000 it is used in more than 1,500 schools in 48 states, serving over 800,000 students from Alaska to Florida.

Reading and Writing Programs
During reading periods, students are regrouped across age lines for 90 minutes so that each reading class contains students reading at one level. This eliminates the need to have reading groups within the class and increases the amount of time for direct instruction. Also, use of tutors as reading teachers during reading time reduces the size of most reading classes. The reading program in grades K-1 emphasizes the development of language skills and launches students into reading using phonetically regular storybooks supported by careful instruction that focuses on phonemic awareness, auditory discrimination, and sound blending as well as meaning, context, and self-monitoring strategies. Students become fluent as they read and reread to one another in pairs.

At the second through fifth grade levels, students use school- or district-selected reading materials, basal's, and/or trade books in a carefully structured set of interactive opportunities to read, discuss, and write. This program emphasizes cooperative learning activities built around partner reading; identification of characters, settings, and problem solutions in narratives; story summarization; writing; and direct instruction in reading comprehension skills. At all levels, students read books of their choice for twenty minutes each evening as homework. Classroom libraries of books are developed for this purpose. For schools with Spanish bilingual programs, Success for All provides a Spanish reading curriculum, Exito ParaTodos, in grades 1-5.

Writing is emphasized throughout the grades. Writing instruction uses a writer's workshop format in which students plan, draft, revise, edit, and publish compositions with feedback at each stage from teachers and peers.

Eight-Week Assessments
Students in grades 1-5 are assessed every eight weeks to determine whether they are making adequate progress in reading. This information is used to assign students to tutoring, to suggest alternative teaching strategies in the regular classroom, and to make changes in reading group placement, family support interventions, or other means of meeting students' needs. The school facilitator coordinates this process with the active involvement of teachers in grade-level teams.

Tutors
In grades 1-3, specially trained certified teachers and skilled paraprofessionals work one-on-one with any students who are failing to keep up with their classmates in reading. First grade students have priority for tutoring.

Kinder Corner (Kindergarten)
Kinder Corner (and the Spanish version, Descubre Conmigo) is a full-day comprehensive kindergarten program that includes a detailed curriculum and many of the materials necessary to implement a stimulating curriculum for five-year-olds, including complete literacy and math programs. Kinder Corner fosters children's language, cognitive, mathematical, emotional, interpersonal, creative, and physical development. Children learn basic science and social studies concepts through 16 two-week thematic units. Easy-to-follow theme guides reduce planning time and teachers have their own sets of materials. Stepping Stones is the reading component in Kinder Corner. It is a systematic phonics program that includes mnemonic picture cards that support letters, sounds, and blending instruction. The second half of the year includes four-day lessons based on the full-color Kinder Roots Shared Stories! Kinder Corner has optional, engaging, Reading Reels DVD's/videos that enhance and support phonics and vocabulary development with animations, skits, and puppet segments designed specifically for this curriculum. They also include segments from Between the Lions, the award-winning PBS program.

Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning is the vehicle that drives the Success for All curriculum. Students work together in partnerships and teams, helping one another to become strategic readers and writers. Emphasis is placed on individual accountability, common goals, and recognition of group success.

Family Support Team
The family support team works with parents in ensuring the success of their children. The team focuses on promoting parent involvement, developing plans to meet the needs of individual students having difficulty, implementing attendance plans, and integrating community and school resources. The team is composed of the principal or assistant principal, facilitator, social worker, and other personnel.

Facilitator
A full-time facilitator works with teachers in each Success for All school to help them implement the reading program. In addition, the facilitator coordinates eight-week assessments, assists the Family Support Team, facilitates staff support teams, plans and implements staff development, and helps all teachers make certain that every child is making adequate progress.

Staff Support Teams
Teachers in the Success for All program support one another through the training and implementation process in coaching partnerships, grade level teams, and other staff team configurations. These teams become a catalyst for the dissemination of new material, goal setting, and problem solving, and they provide a supportive forum for discussion around new instructional strategies.

Professional Development
Professional development for Success for All requires three days for all teachers before the program begins. Success for All consultants return to the school for three two-day visits during the school year to work with principals, facilitators, and teachers to build a strong implementation. Success for All facilitators are available for telephone consultation during the year. Building facilitators follow up on initial training with classroom visits, coaching, and team meetings.