Essential Vocabulary 2007 - 2008

School Improvement Action Plan

Goal: All students will demonstrate improvement in fluency and comprehension of text in all content areas.

Intervention: Build background knowledge through the identification and instruction in essential academic vocabulary

Purpose:  Build background knowledge as a way to motivate and increase student comprehension and retention of content-related reading.

Rationale:

·         High correlation between vocabulary knowledge and verbal intelligence

·         High correlation between students’ SES and amount of background knowledge and vocabulary

·         .97 effect size for direct vocabulary instruction that targets academic terms that students will encounter in reading material

Research:

·         Building Background Knowledge for Academic Success, Robert J. Marzano

·         Building Academic Vocabulary, Marzano and Pickering

Action Plan #1: Identify essential vocabulary by course; vertically align vocabulary.

Who? Who is to be involved?      All faculty.

Who is responsible for implementation?      Department Chairs.

Timeframe? When will each action be conducted?      Deadline – First September faculty meeting.

Resources? What tools/strategies need to be collected, developed or organized to complete the task?      Web Page with complete list of vocabulary by course/department .

Results? What data or documents will indicate closure or success for this action?          (1) Each classroom has a word wall with essential vocabulary listed and the Effective Vocabulary Poster posted.      (2) Students will have a section in each subject notebook with essential vocabulary lists.      (3) Students will use vocabulary terms in oral and written communication.

Action Plan #2: Teachers share strategies, successes and barriers within department.

Who? Who is to be involved?       All faculty.

Who is responsible for implementation?      Department Chairs.

Timeframe? When will each action be conducted?      Deadline – October Department Chairs meeting.

Resources? What tools/strategies need to be collected, developed or organized to complete the task?      Web Pages with complete summary of each vocabulary strategy and a corresponding template.

Results? What data or documents will indicate closure or success for this action?      Department Chairs brief principal.