CASTLE CLUB Reading Promotion Program for Oak Knoll Middle School

Submitted by Alicia LeRoux, EDSL 530

Schools Mission Statement: Building responsible and respectful global citizens
in a safe and positive environment.
Reading Promotion Goal: To create a book club that increases reading
comprehension data within the school. When you look at the overall reading pass
rate for OKMS, it is 88% for 2012-2013. When looking at the sub-group data, only
59% of students with disabilities passed. The goal was chosen in order to decrease
the gap and help this group of students achieve more success.
Objective of Reading Promotion Goal: To improve areas of reading
comprehension, paying close attention to lower achieving sub-groups within OKMS.
Strategies:
1. The reading program will involve creating a book club. The book club will be
called the CASTLE Club. CASTLE is an acronym:

Choose what you read

Ask, discuss, agree, or disagree

Share thoughts on the blog
Talk about what matters to you
Lunch, cookies and friends
Eat and meet in the library!
Since lower areas of reading achievement are being targeted, reading choices
will be considered that would have high interest and low ability, as well as
considering books with read-aloud capability. Students will choose the books
that are read and discussed. The librarian will provide open-ended questions
that could be used for a variety of materials: such as if you could talk to the
author or main character, what would you talk about and why?
2. The CASTLE Club will take place in the library during PEAK. PEAK stands for
Pursuing Excellence and Knowledge. It takes place three times a week for 30
minutes each time. An application will be completed so that the librarian
knows who is interested and so that parent/guardian permission is given.
3. The librarian will hold this club twice a year. The club should meet for 4
consecutive weeks. Consideration should be given to avoid times when
benchmark or SOL testing is being given. For the fall semester, mid-October
to mid-November would be a suggested timeframe and for the second
semester, February would be recommended.
Timeline for Implementation:
Six weeks before: create all promotional materials, identify target
groups (seek input from language arts teachers and the reading coach)
Five weeks before: invite students and start taking applications

4.

5.

6.

7.

Four weeks before: applications are due

Three weeks before: hold an informational meeting for those who
completed applications and vote on possible reading materials, librarian
narrows the choices down to three
Two weeks before: book club members are notified of PEAK day to
attend (try to limit it to a maximum of 12 so that discussion will be
driven by a small group and manageable; since there are 3 sessions of
PEAK, the librarian could host 3 different groups concurrently to meet
interest if needed)
One week before: Book club members visit the library and select one
of the choices.
The librarian will lead the program. The reading coach and language arts
teachers will recommend students within the focus group who would greatly
benefit from participation based on SOL scores and other data. The program
is designed for students who receive invitations, but special consideration
may be given to others on an individual basis.
Participants will include: librarian, students (maximum of 12 per PEAK day)
and the reading coach if available that day. Librarian will serve as organizer
and coach for the program. The reading coach will provide further assistance,
such as mentoring as group, if she is available that day. Students will
participate by following expectations of the program (see below).
The program will be implemented by:
a. Choosing a low-achieving reading group from previous years SOL
testing data and/or by looking at other data areas such as SRI scores.
b. Invitations will be given to the low-achieving group. Language Arts
teachers will help distribute. An information session will be held and at
that time, students will be asked to complete an application that
includes parent permission. On the application, students will be asked
to give reading preferences. The librarian will narrow it down to three.
c. The librarian will collect applications and then notify club members of
the reading selections and have them come to the library and check
them out. Students will be given a reading timeline as well as meeting
dates.
d. During PEAK, the librarian will form three groups, one for each book.
Students will be given a list of open-ended questions to discuss.
Students will be informed what the expectations are for participating:
no wrong or stupid answers, always show respect, one person speaks at
a time, new questions are welcome, read the material!, eat while you
talk. Participants who meet the expectations will be allowed to write a
commentary on the book that will be placed on the student section of
the Library Blog. The librarian will circulate to each group, interjecting
as necessary, and often times being a good listener. If the reading
coach is available that day, her help would be provided as well.
e. The last session will conclude with blog entries and a celebration with a
cake or something similar. Students will also complete an informal
survey on Survey Monkey; a note will be sent home to parents asking
them to do the same.
Communication tools needed: invitations, applications, student blog section
on the library page

8. The program will be evaluated two ways: 1) did the overall SOL score change

for the targeted group? (note: this may not be applicable if the sub group was
marginally represented) And 2) Each student who attends will have the
individual data recorded including SOL reading score and current SRI score;
when new SOL tests are taken and SRI is updated, the data will be compared
to see where progress was made or where improvements are needed. Also,
an informal survey will be given to members of the CASTLE club and their
parents to see how the program helped and/or how can it be improved. The
librarian will complete a data chart to compare/contrast scores to see if
improvement was made.