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Data Drives These Coaches

Literacy project merges school goals with teachers' learning needs

By Learning Forward
Categories: Coaching, Data, Learning communities
April 2015
Go to any school board meeting and you will hear about the projects, goals, and initiatives taking place in the district’s schools. School-based staff must continue to learn and enact more effective instructional practices to ensure that students are reaching higher benchmark expectations. Research highlights the importance of individualized approaches and coaching to ongoing professional learning (Darling-Hammond, Wei, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 2009). An initiative that set out to help all students become proficient readers by 3rd grade demonstrates how coaching can support both collective and individual learning. Literacy coaches in the project balanced the goals of the initiative with professional learning that addressed the varying needs and aspirations of individual teachers. The project was a three-year partnership among six schools (both public and charter

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Authors

Anne Ittner, Lori Helman, Matthew Burns, and Jennifer McComas

Anne Ittner (acittner@umn.edu) is a PRESS research assistant at the University of Minnesota. Lori Helman (lhelman@umn.edu) is director of the Minnesota Center for Reading Research and an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. Matthew Burns (burnsmk@missouri.edu) is associate dean for research at the University of Missouri. Jennifer McComas (jmccomas@umn.edu) is professor of special education at the University of Minnesota.

Ways to Support Powerful Professional Learning

  • Actively engage with data.
  • Share practices with peers.
  • Create lesson plans to use in class.
  • Provide collaborative feedback.
  • Reflect on learning.
  • Set an action step.

References

Brandt, R.S. (1998). Powerful learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Burns, M.K., Karich, A.C., Maki, E.E., Anderson, A., Pulles, S.M., Ittner, A., McComas, J.J., & Helman, L. (in press). Identifying classwide problems in reading with screening data. Journal of Evidence-Based Practices for Schools.

Corcoran, T., McVay, S., & Riordan, K. (2003). Getting it right: The MISE approach to professional development. Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education.

Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R.C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession: A status report on teacher development in the United States and abroad. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council.

Donnelly, A., Morgan, D.N., DeFord, D.E., Files, J., Long, S., Mills, H., Stephens, D., & Styslinger, M.E. (2005). Transformative professional development: Negotiating knowledge with an inquiry stance. Language Arts, 82(5), 336.

Elish-Piper, L. & L’Allier, S.K. (2010). Exploring the relationship between literacy coaching and student reading achievement in grades K-1. Literacy Research and Instruction, 49(2), 162-174.

Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.

PRESS Research Group. (2014). Literacy Environment and Instruction Survey. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Center for Reading Research.

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Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.

Categories: Coaching, Data, Learning communities

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