Every morning, as the public address announcements fade at Delaware Academy in Syracuse, the students dig in on reading. Their goal: Success for All - which is also the name of the program that has taken hold at the inner-city elementary school.

For the whole school, the Success for All reading program is a structured period from 9:15 to 10:45. Some students move to a different classroom for the SFA period, grouped with others of the same reading level across grade lines. (After the SFA period, it's back to their regular classroom, organized traditionally by grade levels.)

Practice 1 (See Theory 1 below)

Toward the end of the first year of the SFA program at Delaware, New York Teacher sat in on the SFA period in Patti Brody's classroom of first-, second- and third-graders (mostly second-graders). It is the fourth day of a five-day lesson on Cinderella stories from different cultures. Fourteen children are there, with three absent. The children are paired in teams of two as regular partners every day in SFA.

"Look at the folk tales and fairy tales we've seen from other countries," says Brody. "Cinderella from England is the one we're familiar with."

Practice 2 (See Theory 2 below)

She has all students say "familiar" in unison.

Brody directs attention to a Cinderella story from the Zuni tribal culture in the southwestern U.S. She had read it to the class a couple days ago.

Brody asks about turkeys in the Zuni story. Partners consult. When they have an answer, each pair of partners raises a joined pair of hands in the air.

"The turkey was the god," answers Nelson.

"Was it a 'happily ever after' (story)?" Brody asks.

"No," the students say.

After review of the Zuni tale, Brody begins to read The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo, a new story for the class. She begins with the title page and dedication, teaching them how those pages are important to the whole of a book.

The word "nimble" is in the story. Brody asks the partner groups its meaning. The guesses are "hippo," "O my God," and "alligator." Then Brody tells them the meaning.

"I always read through these books beforehand," she reminds the class.

As the story progresses, Niajail raises his hand to predict: "The monkey is going to be the godfather."

Brody smiles. "Niajail, I want you to write a Cinderella story."

Practice 3 (See Theory 3 below)

A thought lights up Brody's face. "Hey, that's a good idea. We could all write Cinderella stories."

At the end of the story, Brody asks, "How is this story different?"

Porsha says, "He (the pharaoh) never saw her (the Cinderella character). There was no ball."

Brody re-reads a passage: "Several girls gawked open-mouthed." She looks up at the class, and says, "Show me what they look like."

All the kids do so, with enthusiasm and laughter.

Brody turns to a poster-board chart on the wall, listing questions about Cinderella stories. She has the pairs of partners help with answering the questions about the Egyptian story, such as: Fairy godmother in the story? Mean stepmother? Prince? Glass slippers? Home by midnight?

Practice 4 (See Theory 4 below)

After the chart is filled out, Brody talks about Egypt. She has the class spell "Egyptian" out loud.

"I need to look carefully because I don't spell 'Egyptian' every day," the teacher says.

She reads to the class an afterword by the author that states what parts of the story may be true, according to Egyptian history.

The Egyptian Cinderella lesson is over. Brody encourages the children to stand up and stretch.

Show time

Then the teacher calls on Jose for his turn to introduce the "show-time" part of the lesson. He puts funny glasses on and waves streamers on a stick. Then Brody takes over "show time," wielding a pointer and leading the class at a fast pace through vocabulary words on poster-board on the wall. The words are from a previous day's Cinderella story. The children chant the words in unison.

They sound muddy on "zipped." Brody stops them. "Did I hear the ending?" The class repeats "zipped."

They resume word-by-word chanting until she stops on "tiny." Some are pronouncing it "teeny."

Then they move on to a vowel-sounds drill, working on words with "oo." She asks the class to pronounce "oo" as if they are sad, then scared, then happy. Listen to the difference, she urges.

Practice 5 (See Theory 5 below)

She has John come to the front of the class and lead them through vocabulary. The class salutes his effort with a "micro-wave" - hands up, only the pinkie wiggling.

Brody turns to a Chinese Cinderella story she had read to the class on an earlier day. She has the whole class read out loud the first few pages. She reinforces them when they read with expression.

Practice 6 (See Theory 6 below)

Then she breaks them into hetero-geneous groups of four with four desks pushed together. Each in the group takes a turn reading a page of the Chinese Cinderella story. Brody and teaching assistant Mary Beth Glover walk from group to group, adding a comment here, correcting a misimpression there.

The groups of four collaborate to fill out a "story map" worksheet that summarizes the story: "What are the main ideas? What happened? How did it end?"

As the groups work on their story map, Brody brings students up one at a time to her desk to read aloud a "word mastery list," and record how the student does on that exercise.

Then the whole class turns to "stretch and spell." Brody gives them word parts, such as "ight" in fight, bright and delight. At the mention of the latter, one boy calls out, "I know how to spell that!"

Brody gives a sentence, "I do not fight," and has Nelson write it on the chalkboard.

Practice 7 (See Theory 7 below)

Brody has Lillian read a page from a book, then encourages a group cheer from the class for her. Lillian gets a reading celebration certificate.

- Howland and Butler

Theory

Editor's Note: The following "theory" numbers correspond to numbers listed as "Practice 1," "Practice 2," etc., in the article above.

Theory 1

SFA is designed to maximize participation. If one child gives a wrong answer, the teacher urges her to talk it over with her partner, to find the right answer together.

"If your partner does a good job, tell them," encourages Brody. The SFA philosophy is: The power is in the discussion.

"The kids help each other and don't need to always ask the teacher," explains Carol Johnston, who teaches a class of older SFA students at Delaware, including fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders.

Brody and Johnston are members of the Syracuse Teachers Association, whose president is Kate McKenna.

Theory 2

SFA emphasizes verbalization, choral response and drill. "Repetition is what it's all about," says Brody. "The repetition doesn't bother them, except when they're at the wrong level."

Children from different grades are assigned to SFA classes based on how they test in SFA curriculum-based assessments given every eight weeks.

The tests are one-on-one -Êone student to one teacher. After the assessments, some students are re-assigned. Progress through skill levels is charted.

"Children need structure to know exactly what's expected," says Johnston. "It ensures consistency from one group to another. Without the structure, we wouldn't be able to move students so easily from one group to another."

Theory 3

SFA provides a structure that starts with a fast-paced drill environment. At the beginning, many teachers feel confused by the pace and drilling. As time goes by, they find ways to fold their own teaching experience and creativity into the structure.

"I like to add things in," says Brody. "There are places (in the curriculum) where I can do my own thing."

The teaching manual for SFA is prescriptive. As the teacher gets familiar with the script, the intent becomes clear. "I feel as if I'm not guessing at what these kids need," says Brody. "I feel prepared."

Johnston says, "The best thing about the program is that it simply is good teaching. The structure guides a weak or new teacher to become better. If you're willing to put in the work, then a weak reading teacher becomes a better reading teacher. This would be good for colleges to put into their methods courses."

Theory 4

SFA encourages adults to model the behaviors of active readers.

Theory 5

SFA encourages physical play adapted to reading exercises.

Readers learn that reading does not have to be solitary and does not have to be quiet.

Theory 6

SFA emphasizes cooperative learning.

It encourages teachers to form groups in which a better student may be able to help a weaker reader. As partners become more skilled, discussions are expected to grow richer and more challenging.

Theory 7

SFA promotes incentives and self-esteem builders in the form of awards and chants from the class.

The Success For All Foundation is at 200 Towsontown Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21204-5200, (800) 548-4998. Its Web site is www.successforall.net.

From East Hampton to Niagara Falls, Success for All takes hold in New York

The Success for All blueprint for school reform, based on intensive reading instruction, started in 1987 at one Baltimore school. Now it is the most broadly applied reform model in the country for urban schools.

SFA is operating in more than 1,500 schools in 400 districts in 46 states in 1999-2000, according to the SFA Foundation. The number of schools has doubled in two years nationally.

In New York, the roster includes 49 schools. It started in urban schools in Niagara Falls, Rochester, Albany and Yonkers, among others, and expanding this year to places like Camden, East Hampton, Friendship and Otego.

Dozens of troubled elementary schools in New York City, part of a district directly administered by Chancellor Rudy Crew, started SFA this fall. "Most people believe this is a program that can work - and I've come out of a school where it did work," said Leroy Barr, a representative of the United Federation of Teachers for the chancellor's district. The UFT is the affiliate of New York State United Teachers in New York City schools.

NYSUT is planning to gather SFA school staff from around the state for a conference next spring. Watch New York Teacher for further details. Mindful of research underlining reading progress shown by SFA students, NYSUT and its national affiliate - the American Federation of Teachers - have encouraged the spread of the program. AFT has designated SFA as one of six "programs that work."

SFA includes a core reading curriculum, research-based teaching strategies and a structure for cooperative-learning groups. Along with the curriculum changes are SFA models for professional development, conflict-resolution techniques and family support teams.

SFA is not implemented unless at least 80 percent of staff in a school have voted for it. Called by founder Robert A. Slavin "the most important idea in SFA," the 80 percent threshold ensures the program is not imposed on an unwilling staff. Slavin, who holds a doctorate in psychology, is an educational researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

Most schools finance the three-year SFA program through federal Title I funds earmarked for high-poverty schools.

The SFA Foundation provides initial training and follow-up visits. On site is a facilitator, often chosen from the school's teaching staff, who helps with implementation and redirects priorities as needed.