Novel Case Study: Literacy Program Audit at Intrepid College Prep
During SY22-23, Novel conducted a high school literacy program audit for Intrepid College Prep in Nashville, Tennessee. Read about our engagement below, and hear from Director of Academics Kate Zupko about the impact the experience has made at Intrepid College Prep.
Intrepid College Prep scaled its high school literacy program and curriculum over the course of the Covid-19 Pandemic and also amid transition in network leadership. Despite these challenges, Intrepid was able to codify a strong literacy playbook that specified basic principles for instruction and also invest in talented reading and composition teachers who are the heart of its program. However, Intrepid recognized that it still lacked a cohesive vision for HS literacy, as well as strong and aligned ELA curricula to help them achieve that vision.
Over the course of SY23-24, Intrepid asked Novel to audit its high school literacy program with the following aims:
To refine a vision for high school ELA programmatic outcomes, or north stars, that guide the backwards design of Intrepid’s literacy program (its infrastructure, systems, and tools);
To audit Intrepid’s existing HS ELA and Composition curricula through the lens of Intrepid’s program outcomes and indicators;
To provide a phased strategic recommendation plan with next steps to sustain a strong, backwards designed literacy program at Intrepid College Prep.
During the exploratory phase and our first site visit– during which we conducted classroom observations, interviews with students, teachers, and leaders; and collaborative data analysis workshops with leaders–we confirmed that Intrepid’s literacy teachers see their charge as empowering students to tackle challenging texts, discuss, and write. Intrepid’s teachers also value sharing a solid base curriculum with meaningful learning objectives and routines that support rigor and consistency. However, Novel also learned that while leaders, teachers, and students are universally passionate about literacy practices and engaging in hard work, most of these stakeholders felt unclear or uncertain about the core goals of specific courses and what exactly each course was building towards--in other words, the overarching purpose of the program as a whole.
Therefore, to launch our work together, we engaged network and school leaders from across the organization in a North Star Workshop to coalesce around honing a vision for programmatic outcomes that guide the backwards design of their program–its infrastructure, systems, and tools. Based on data from the site visit and leader input in the workshop, we revised the high school’s Program Outcomes, and these became the lenses through which we conducted the curriculum audit. During this design session, we also workshopped a new course progression that would ensure cohesion and backwards alignment from their “North Stars.”
In the weeks following, Novel conducted a 70 hour curriculum audit of Intrepid’s 4 existing core ELA courses and their 4 core Composition courses. For each course, our team applied the rigorous lenses afforded by the program outcomes and indicators we developed together, as well as alignment to course standards and AP assessments. Novel then delivered a detailed audit report card identifying where Intrepid’s current courses are meeting the bar of your program outcomes, and where they are currently falling short of your vision for high school literacy.
The findings of Novel’s audit report helped to inform a phased, strategic recommendation plan for Intrepid College Prep’s literacy program. In that strategic plan, we will proposed a prioritized approach to tackling the most urgent needs for curricular alignment or revision, while also preserving the areas with a stronger base curriculum currently in place.
We are excited to continue supporting Intrepid with this important reflection and adoption work, and to build upon the incredible talents, investment, and foundations they have already established in their high school.
