Implementing the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan with Colleen Gjataj

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

literacy pathways, unfunded mandates, high-quality instruction, professional learning, Illinois literacy plan, teacher shortage, resource allocation, equitable practices, student outcomes, research-based practices, substitute teachers, open-source materials, virtual learning, educator preparation, achievement gaps

SPEAKERS

Colleen Gjataj, Joi Patterson, Amy Vujaklija

Colleen Gjataj: 00:00

Amy, it really calls for us to sort of focus on the alignment between all of these different pieces. Right? You want to ensure that you're looking at your current initiatives, your materials, your practices, your database, decision making.

Amy Vujaklija: 00:17

Welcome to our podcast, teaching and leading with Dr Amy and Dr Joi I am Dr Amy Vujaklija, Director of educator preparation,

Joi Patterson: 00:28

and I am Dr Joi Patterson, Chief Diversity Officer. Our podcast addresses issues through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, along with solutions for us to grow as educators. So

Amy Vujaklija: 00:44

join us on our journey to become better teachers and leaders. So let's get into it. Hello. Dr Joi,

Joi Patterson: 00:55

well, hello. Dr Amy, how are you?

Amy Vujaklija: 00:59

I am fantastic. We are going to be getting into a topic today that is on the forefront of districts and legislation, and really will pave the way for better preparation for our students in literacy.

Joi Patterson: 01:20

Now you say that, Dr Amy, but I'm actually concerned that maybe it will, maybe it won't. Who does this new pathway actually benefit? So we're talking about literacy. We both can agree that there's too many students. There's too many third graders for fourth graders that cannot read. But will this be the solution to help those students read, or is this something that has the illusion?

Amy Vujaklija: 01:58

Ooh, you know, you bring up a really good point, and there's something else to tag in there, and that is unfunded mandates.

02:09

Absolutely,

Amy Vujaklija: 02:10

absolutely so if this is an Administrative Code or legislation, and we have school districts needing to get on board revamp their curriculum, or in some cases, it might just be minor adjustments or not to continue doing what they're doing well, but some districts may need to really revamp, re envision a whole literacy curriculum and educator preparation. Providers like we are need to turn the mirror, you know, and really examine our own programs. Yep, and I

Joi Patterson: 02:46

have no doubt that many of them need to do that. My only question is, do they have the capacity? Do they have the resources to do that?

Amy Vujaklija: 02:55

Yes, so we will talk today to Colleen Gjataj who is the director of literacy pathways at Elmhurst, 205 public schools. Colleen advocates high quality literacy learning for all she has served in various roles in public education for 24 years and has spent almost two decades working with a socioeconomically and linguistically diverse population of students across four suburban Chicago College of Education School Districts taking on the roles of classroom teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach and instructional coach, and is is serving students from pre K through eighth grade. For the past five years, Colleen has worked as both a building and district administrator. She served as principal and assistant principal at two elementary schools and a pre K kindergarten center. As a building leader, she focused on revamping MTSS structures and creating ongoing, embedded and responsive professional learning opportunities for teachers, and most importantly, when we're thinking about the conversation we're having today, Colleen has taken on the role of director of literacy pathways in Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 where she oversees the coordination and implementation of programs and curriculum for Literacy and social studies from early childhood through high school as a primary part of this role she develops and provides professional learning opportunities for educators and school leaders. So welcome to our podcast. Colleen, thank you. Dr

Colleen Gjataj: 04:57

Amy, thank you. Dr Joi, so. Excited to be here today, and certainly really honored to be here and join in this really important conversation with both of you. So thank you for thank

Joi Patterson: 05:09

you for being here, and that was quite a lot. I mean you having all those accolades and everything you have achieved, because that's where we're going to start. But before we talk more about you, Dr Colleen, Amy and I, Dr Amy and I, we were talking about like, why does this exist in the first place? And we were talking about the number of students who cannot read that we expect to read. I mean, we live in the United States, there's expectations. And when you hear the numbers of students who cannot read by third grade by fourth grade is pretty shocking. And while we're hopeful that initiatives like this will help, there's also a lot of doubt, right? You know, because this, this is just another thing, is this just another unfunded mandate? And if we don't have the resources, this, that and the other, nothing will happen. So we are here to learn a little bit more from you, but we want to start by learning more about you first, beyond what Dr Amy has already told us. So beyond your introduction, please discuss your journey to becoming where you are now as the director of literacy pathways. And what does this role even involve?

06:23

Sure, well, you

Colleen Gjataj: 06:24

know, I will start by saying I think there have been so many experiences and learning that I've done it as an educator over the course of my career that have really led me into this role. When I started in education, I was a classroom teacher in the primary grades. Really primarily spent about five of those years as a first grade teacher, and it was at that point in time that not only did I become fascinated with how, you know, kids learn to read, but I also felt really ill equipped to teach kids how to read. And so I think that was really the impetus that you know, not only you know, really propelled me into into getting that masters in literacy, but ultimately to become a reading specialist. So you know, that I could continue to, you know, try to help students on this quest to become a lifelong reader. But I will say, once I moved into that role of reading specialist, I learned pretty quickly that the amount of students who are struggling, you know, as you previously alluded to, it was, it was quite overwhelming, you know, I'll be really honest, and I just think, like the importance of ensuring that all students receive that high quality instruction. You know, regardless of of you know where they are, where they live, what they come to come to school with us, the experiences, etc, that high quality instruction is needed and more importantly, it's really deserved by our by our students. So I just became really obsessed with learning as much as I could, about trying to figure out what causes those reading difficulties, how to address those issues, how can we prevent some of those issues? And, you know, potentially, through strong core instruction and really kind of focusing on what is in our locus of control when we are, you know, in the school system, alongside, also, you know, attempting to continue to partner with our caregivers, so that we had that we had that strong connection. From there, I really started to co teach honestly more in the classroom within that role, because we saw that need to continue to build up that tier one instruction, you know. And from there, I went on to become a literacy coach and an instructional coach, and I felt like that was really a position that I saw the impact that I could make from a more school wide perspective. You know, did that? Did that for quite a few years, maybe five or six years, and that sort of led me, then into the principal role, right? Because, well, certainly, there are a lot of challenges faced by school leaders. They wear a lot of hats, you know, that I quickly learned. I think just being someone who was, you know, really, always striving to provide that high quality coaching and professional learning for our teachers was something that was important to me. And so just about a year and a half ago, I then felt like I was at a point in my year where I had, you know, certainly taken on a bunch of diverse roles that sort of allowed me to have these experiences for the role that I'm in now. And so, you know, essentially as the the director of literacy pathways, as you know, as you said, Dr Amy, I do oversee both the both the development and the implementation of programming for literacy and social studies that really entails, you know, curriculum, assessment, instruction, professional learning, kind of running the gamut across our early childhood all the way up into high school.

Amy Vujaklija: 09:54

So you see a lot of the development and just in your teaching experience. Experiences those gaps and figuring out what were the best strategies? What do we do when students can't read? And I taught eighth grade, and there were times that I was at a loss. I mean, at that point, I'm supposed to be talking about comprehension and, you know, critical thinking, not decoding and figuring out how to read. And so we're up against a struggle there. What was your role in the Illinois comprehensive literacy plan? It has been developed. There were several drafts that were distributed, a lot of getting people's feedback. So where were you in the midst of all of the production? Sure,

Colleen Gjataj: 10:52

so at the time that the plan was being drafted, I was a building principal, and I was continuously day to day in the in the data, thinking about how we provide our students and our teachers with resources, and also thinking about human resources and how to ensure that all of our kids get what they need. It can certainly be really overwhelming, and at that time I did, I discovered that that Illinois was writing this comprehensive literacy plan. I was very much intrigued having, you know, the background that I have. And so my role really was to, you know, continuously go back and review the drafts as they were, you know, coming out. So I did have an opportunity to review those, the first and second drafts, and engaged in, you know, quite a bit of conversation with colleagues, you know, both at the district level and sort of beyond. And it really just, it helped me to sort of guide my own learning and what I needed to do next. And I will say, you know, it was certainly something that, you know, as I then moved into the role that I'm currently in, it was something that really made me think about all of the things that are necessary, you know, at the classroom level, at the building level, at the district level, at the state level, you know, I think the word comprehensive is really helpful, because it does take so many different layers and all of us working together to ensure that our students are successful. And

Joi Patterson: 12:15

this is just a segue to that of what does this plan look like at the district level?

Colleen Gjataj: 12:23

Yeah, you know, I think this plan really essentially asked district leaders to start looking at our current reality, right? So for me, it was, what is the state of literacy practices and outcomes in the district? You know, not just from a data standpoint, but from a practical standpoint, my district has made several shifts over the past three or four years really looking at the types of materials that we were utilizing and making some shifts to sort of better align with the research. And so when this plan came out, it really affirmed the work that we had started to engage in already, but also really gave a lot more structure and guidance for where to go next. I think also at the district level, it really calls for us to sort of focus on the alignment between all of these different pieces. Right? You're you want to ensure that you're looking at your current initiatives, your materials, your practices, your database decision making, right? All of those things are so intertwined and then layered on top of that, it's the resource allocation, right? And how do we ensure that we are giving the right resources to the students who need it most, but then also ensuring that we're preparing our teachers to be to be ready to take on on that role of ensuring that we are addressing achievement gaps. We are making sure that we have got equitable practices. We're examining the materials that are in our classes to ensure that, you know, students can see themselves. It really, really is multifaceted, for sure.

Joi Patterson: 13:56

So, so where does the charge come from? And what is that messaging to teachers? So does this coming from the superintendent? Does this come from the principals? Does this come from you? So where does this charge come from? It's

Colleen Gjataj: 14:12

definitely a team effort. Certainly it's it does start at the the district office. And so some of the steps that you know, we've taken in my district, particularly, was to sort of look at that from, you know, more of a district lens first, but then to immediately start to think about ways that we can engage, you know, our district leaders, principals, assistant principals, our instructional leaders at the building, our instructional coaches are, are really, you know, so important to ensuring that, you know, we can enact, act this plan. But then beyond that, our principals have really taken on quite a big role in thinking about, you know, how do they sort of help to bring this to their teams, to the teachers who are in the trenches? How do they help them make sense of the plan? Right?

Joi Patterson: 14:59

You. We really need a champion that's really going to see it through, and so that the messaging isn't here's the next thing. Here's one more thing we want you guys to do. Here's another change we want you to do. Like, here was the grading system last year. Here's the new grading system this year, because this work better. This is the new curriculum this year, because this work better, you know, so someone has to really champion that for it to be done with fidelity, and for teachers to really say, Okay, I'm going to buy into this, because I believe that something good will actually come out of it. And that's that's very, very difficult to do, yeah,

Colleen Gjataj: 15:37

and I will say, I think not every district is equipped or the you know, doesn't necessarily necessitate based on its size, a role such as mine, right? I think just the fact that I am the director of literacy pathways speaks volume in that I am someone who can champion this. I've also worked in much smaller districts where, you know, our teachers, our billing administrators, our district administrators, take on so many different roles, and again, wear so many different hats that oftentimes that's it's not quite as easy to do, but I will say I feel lucky to be in a role such as this one, where I, you know, can sort of be that conduit for change, but but also, really to be the sounding board and, you know, the reciprocal loop of communication around, yes, this is what the plan calls for. Here's sort of our call to action. But what does that actually look like at the school level, at the classroom level, and and even down to the student level, right? And so how do we then, you know, how does that feedback come back through the that chain and ensure that we are giving teachers and students what it is that they need to succeed.

Amy Vujaklija: 16:47

Let's talk about the classroom level and the buy in. I think that you're both very tightly connected. I know that when I was in the classroom and there were mandates coming from the district office, sometimes there was no rhyme or reason. There was no rationale provided with that mandate to really provide a sense of where we are going, why, and it really diminished our motivation. I think you could say so these two really do tie together? First of all, what do you think will be the greatest impact at the classroom level, really? How will you use that as a motivation in order to get more buy in really leading more to the intrinsically motivated, rather than, Oh, this is just something I have to do. Yeah,

Colleen Gjataj: 17:43

I think that's a great point. You know. I think when we think about the greatest opportunity for impact at the classroom level, it really does start with the why, you know, I think, like you said, so often, you know, mandates come and go, and unless we understand why something's happening, you know, the what and the how really doesn't matter as much. And so I think we can, we really can think about providing that strong framework of evidence based practices in schools when we when we really go back and think about the things that are outlined in this plan, but it also has to connect to the research behind it, and also really think about, you know, that student lens when we're when we're communicating these things, so certainly, somebody who is really passionate about ensuring that we've got equitable practices across schools, because that leads to more equitable outcomes for our kids, you know, not only in my district, but you know, in all The districts that are looking to enact this plan, you know, I always say it shouldn't matter where a child attends school. You know, particularly if you're in the same school district, right? If one child has a data profile, the way that we help to support and intervene, that child should look similar across all of our schools Now, granted, we have different resources, and we have to ensure that, you know, we're responsive to that, but I think, I think that's a way that this plan, you know, can really make a good impact, because it does set that groundwork for, you know, what are those evidence based practices that we want teachers to think about and beyond that, I think, I think Just the, you know, professional learning that's tied to that. And thinking about the one of the things that the that the plan really outlines is this core set of learning outcomes for professional learning for teachers. And I certainly think that that is something that we can really leverage when we're talking about how we want to make an impact at the classroom level. Because, you know, that's something that we're really able to guarantee students, you know, some some success in that vein, for sure,

Joi Patterson: 19:48

I'm sure, because you're in this position, yet your school is already doing the work. It may not have been this particular work. So have you. Seen any gains of now that you're implementing this new pathway, are you seeing any improvement in reading and writing and so kind of, what are next steps?

Colleen Gjataj: 20:15

You know, I'm really proud to say that the work that we've engaged in over the past couple of years, we've seen tremendous gains. I know that obviously, high stakes testing is not the end all be all, but it is what we utilize, you know, in many ways, to measure our students progress. And we've seen some significant gains over the last three years, more than we, you know, more than we had seen pre COVID, more than we had actually, achievement levels higher than we'd seen since, you know, the inception of, I are back in 2017 18, you know, at that point in time. And you know what I will say is that we started to make some of these shifts in elementary and are, are now, you know, continuing to sort of move that along the trajectory for kids. You know, just recently looked at those pieces in middle school, and have just adopted some new high quality instructional materials as well. So that has been a big next step, but I think it's been really important for us to ensure that we are communicating. You know, what that shift has looked like for our elementary students, and the level of even just the level of student writing that we're seeing, you know. So something that we've shared, you know, we've shared fourth and fifth grade writing with our sixth through eighth grade teacher so that they're able to sort of see this is the new level of text and tasks that we're asking kids to grapple with. And these are the outcomes that we're seeing, and this is how we're going to continue to elevate that, you know, as we move into middle school and then, you know, high school and beyond. So that's definitely been a focus, and a real intentional focus of sort of moving that work up the grade levels to ensure that, you know, consistent student experience.

Amy Vujaklija: 21:55

Yes, that makes sense, and it really impacts how we are preparing our teacher candidates to how to look at data, how to use research based practices or literacy. Are we doing that extremely intentionally across all programs with fidelity? So in your estimation, as you see candidates coming into student teach for their field experiences, and then as first year teachers, what do you hope the plan should look like from our perspective, from the Educator Preparation provider perspective,

Colleen Gjataj: 22:40

you know, I think, as a former principal, who you know just a year or two ago was hiring brand new teachers, you know, quite often out of college, oftentimes, we don't necessarily have that consistent set of of practices that our candidates are are grounded in, right? And so having that consistent set of research based practices that are taught to all pre service teachers would ultimately be a game changer, right? We're, we are asking our teachers to come into various different classroom settings, district settings, you know, various student populations, and they're needing to internalize a wide variety of curriculum, right? You know you could certainly in the educator preparation program, never anticipate all the different curricula that our teachers are going to be asked to utilize, right? But if they have an understanding of the research and of those best practices, I think once they get into the workforce, they're going to be much better equipped to really understand the intent behind materials, or, you know, the MTSS approaches, maybe, and thinking about how it is that we're, you know, ensuring that that we're responsive to student data along the way, but just making sure that we're leveling the playing field for our pre service teachers, so that, you know as they're stepping into various roles in various districts, that you know we, as the the leaders at the school level and the district level, can ensure that we're continuing to support them.

Joi Patterson: 24:13

Well, I have a more challenging question for you. We should have ended with Dr Amy's question. On a high note, I have a more challenging one for you, because I was listening to you talk about the resources and the professional development and of this and of that, and all the things that are required for this to be implemented with fidelity. And so we read a lot of things, and even the public, they will read things like there's a third grade pipeline to prison, and we hear things like that, and we use third grade as a marker for a lot of reasons. And so in Illinois, 30% of third graders can't read. Now you. We as educators know that that could mean a lot of different things, especially when you factor in that about 11% of our children have disabilities. May have disabilities, so there's a lot that goes into that. So the 30% sounds big, but it's not necessarily as big as it sounds, but still, there's a lot of improvement that's needed. And so when we know that we have these issues at third grade, they are predictors of success, right? They are predictors of crime, they're predictors of their predictors of a lot of different things. And so this is something that we should be very, very concerned and focused on. So my concern. So when we look at the demographics, we see that the majority of those students in that bracket are black and brown kids, especially black students, followed by Hispanic students, your low income students. And so when you put all of those together, you know that's how we add up these numbers. So we look at these schools in which they come from. So really the focus is most of them that come from low performing schools and low Resource Districts, but we just talked about all the things that were necessary for this to be successful. Because, let's be honest, Dr Colleen, with you, in place and resources that you have your district, you're going to make sure those students succeed by any means necessary, even if you got to invent a pathway, absolutely you're going to make sure they succeed, no matter what you call the pathway. But this is really designed for these students that are not reading, that are at these low income, low resource schools that have substitute teachers. And I'm not saying anything bad about substitute teaching teachers, because thank God we have them, but we have teachers in the classrooms that are not licensed and prepared, because teaching reading is no easy feat. You can go in the classroom and have a great lesson that doesn't mean that it's impacted student learning and their ability to read. How do we improve reading without improving those resources and those conditions for low income schools.

Colleen Gjataj: 27:44

Yeah, I think, I think you brought up quite a few great points, you know, when we, when we look at the statistics, and in particular, you know, and layered on to that, you sort of alluded to this. But I think we have to recognize that this plan is coming at a time when the teacher shortage is something that we need to address and consider. And so that's, you know, something else that certainly is is impacting the success of our students, who, maybe, you know, are in schools that are not quite as well resourced. And I think you know, one thing that we need to continue to rely on. You know, across the state, across the country, is thinking about, what resources do we have that that we can, you know, make consistent and equitable for our teachers and the students that they serve. Because, you know, I have a really strong belief that all teachers and students really deserve to have to have access to some of these high quality instructional materials. And certainly, while they're not the end all be all to increasing student outcomes. You know, obviously we know that research, research shows that strong teachers with strong materials really make, you know, a really strong impact. And so I think having access to those materials are key there. I will say that there are something that I think that has changed over the last few years, and particularly as research has really helped to sort of create materials. In light of that research, there are now several resources that are more open source, that that all of our teachers can access. You know, I can can think of for both, you know, word recognition and language comprehension, several you know different resources that I think are it's really important that you know, districts and teachers, regardless of what the financial profile may look like, are really utilizing those tools that as a baseline, I think, to ensuring that if we don't have, you know, An excess of funds to pay for professional learning. Not a ton of great things that came out of COVID and the pandemic. But one thing, I think, is that the access that teachers now have, not only to professional learning communities, you know, just sort of in the social, digital world, but professional learning now comes in all kinds of. Through, you know, free webinars. I'm thinking about, there's the Illinois SLD Support Project, which is something that provides free professional learning for our teachers who are working with students with specific learning disabilities. That's another thing that can be called upon and resourced. You know, particularly when funds may be lower. I also know that the Illinois State Board of Education, alongside this plan, has thought about and talked about having professional learning that will be available beginning in January across the state. And so I know they've outlined this 18 month time when that will be coming available. And so I am very I am cautiously optimistic, and yet, you know, hopeful that that will be something that sort of levels the playing field, so that all of our teachers, regardless of, you know, if they have gone through a, you know, full programming of school, or even if they are, if they are a substitute teacher, that we're taking advantage of those opportunities, for the either low cost or no cost, virtual, asynchronous learning that really can be leveraged, because I think that all of these pieces can can really be something that we think about when we're focusing on improving that tier one instruction for all students, right? Because ensuring that every student has access to that is really something that's going to be the baseline for sort of elevating those outcomes for all kids.

Amy Vujaklija: 31:28

I think what you said earlier really brings home a point, and that is the game changer of educator preparation as well. So if all candidates are living their preparation programs, licensed teachers with a foundational understanding of literacy practices that are research based, that can push the needle. It can move the needle in the positive direction, and with supports, like you were mentioning with SLD supports, which we will include in our research notes for this podcast, as well as the Literacy Plan resources that are provided by ISBE. Those can be really good tools for open resource materials, but we also have that limit of time, so not just the resources that we can provide to our teachers in the classroom, but time for them to consume them. So that is always a juggle. It's always a struggle for us to navigate those spaces is no matter what I think our teachers want to do best by our kids, by those children that are in front of them. There's just a lot. There's a lot that teachers have on their plates. So the more that we can do as an educator, preparation provider, to partner with schools and to provide those resources also, and to continue connecting with our candidates, our completers, graduates in our programs, to make sure that they have that continuing opportunity for learning is, I think, a key component for us.

Colleen Gjataj: 33:24

Absolutely,

Joi Patterson: 33:26

this has been a great conversation, you know? I think it's important, because every teacher doesn't know all the ins and out of this and how it's going to be implemented and what their responsibilities are going to be, you know, because, as you said, it's different in every district. It's going to be implemented different at every district. We hope that we play a very important part by making sure your job is not so hard by the time they get to you. So we do our job well, you'll just have to, you know, maintain. So that is our hope, that whatever is mandated at the school level, that we incorporate those practices in the preparation level.

Colleen Gjataj: 34:15

Yeah, and shout out to both of you for all the work that you know. I know that you're doing to to continue to prepare those educators. It is not an easy job. I can only imagine, as somebody who supports them, once they get out of of the teacher preparation program. You know, I can just imagine the amount of work that has gone into adjusting your programming. You know, all of the relevant research that's come out lately. And now layer down the Illinois comprehensive literacy plan,

Joi Patterson: 34:43

well, I do think it is a vast improvement from where the conversation started, and so Amy and I were part of that early conversation, so I am happy about where it landed.

Amy Vujaklija: 34:56

Thank you so much for being with us today. I've enjoyed this conversation, and Amy I look forward to for a very

Joi Patterson: 35:05

long time. Yes, I have,

Colleen Gjataj: 35:09

well, so happy to be here with both of you. Thank you so much for this opportunity, and I really, really enjoyed the conversation.

Amy Vujaklija: 35:17

Thank you for listening to teaching and leading with Dr Amy and Dr Joi. Visit our website at G, O, v,s, t.edu/teaching, and leading podcast to see the show notes from this episode.

Joi Patterson: 35:35

We appreciate Governor State University's work behind the scenes to make publishing possible. Stay tuned for more episodes with Dr Amy and Dr Joi.