Establishing a Clear Vision: A Comprehensive and Systematic Approach to Integrated Reading and Writing Instruction

Systems and Structures Needed to Support Classroom Writing Instruction

Once your school level cohort/team has brainstormed the big ideas that anchor your approach to writing and writing instruction, created belief statements, examined your current state of writing versus your desired state of writing, and developed an action plan to achieve your desired state of writing, inclusive of monitoring success criteria of outcomes to monitor progress, it is important to analyze the current systems and structures in place to determine if implementation of your school level framework will support writing and writing instruction across all content areas of your school. Your school level cohort/team may want to begin with the two questions below:

What systems and structures does our school currently have in place to support writing and writing instruction?
What systems and structures will our school need to establish and implement to effectively support writing and writing instruction?

To assist with a deep dive into the aforementioned questions, the Committee developed the graphic below to support school-level cohorts/teams in their discussion and examination of the components needed to ensure effective systems and structures are in place for implementation of a writing framework.

The visual show six components districts and schools need to establish a clear vision for supporting classroom writing instruction. The document includes pictorial representations and descriptions for each component.

Here are some questions to ponder as your instructional team assesses the systems and structures currently in place and which systems and structures may require changes and/or adjustments to effectively implement, sustain, and support writing instruction:

Are professional learning communities (PLC) a priority in your district? Is there guidance with examples of master schedules that school leaders can replicate that builds in time during the day for teacher PLC and data teams (i.e., grade levels and/or content areas) to collaborate and plan around academic standards, rubrics, assessments, data collection, and analysis? Is there district-wide professional development offered around effective, high-functioning PLCs?
Does your district have an aligned approach that supports standards literacy of the Colorado Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, and Communicating?
What procedures and processes are in place for curriculum and resource adoption? Does your district's selection, implementation, and use of materials explicitly and systematically align instruction to the Colorado Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, and Communicating?
Does your district offer high-quality and targeted professional development for leaders and teachers around the teaching of writing?
Do your schools have time scheduled for uninterrupted writing and reading within their master scheduling?

A framework is only as good as the systems and structures in place; therefore, it is important that each component of the systems and structures shown above are accompanied with tools to evaluate effectiveness and monitor progress with measurable cycles to adapt, adjust, and/or apply changes that support each level of your school (e.g., classroom and school) as well as the individuals responsible for implementation (e.g., student, teacher, instructional coach, interventionist, administrator, and members of the instructional leadership team).

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Establishing a Clear Vision: A Comprehensive and Systematic Approach to Integrated Reading and Writing Instruction

Systems and Structures Needed to Support Classroom Writing Instruction