About the Content-area Reading Initiative

 Who was involved?

• Three teacher leaders: Each departmental team (the first two years included world languages, English, and social studies) elected a teacher leader to guide the group during its participation in the initiative. The three teacher leaders were neither the newest nor the most seasoned teachers on their respective teams.
• 15 teacher participants: Three teams of five teachers each formed small content-area professional learning communities. Teachers taught across academic levels and programs at the school, and their teaching experience ranged from one year to decades.
• Two outside coaches: Two university-level instructional coaches, with expertise in literacy and teacher leadership, facilitated whole-group sessions, supported teacher leaders, and served as general resource providers for the group.

While these were the main characters in the initiative, department chairs and the school’s headmaster were also involved in planning and shaping the initiative, as well as helping share the work with the broader faculty.

Project Structure

Initially, all 18 teachers and department heads participated in a weeklong summer institute, primarily facilitated by the two university coaches. The institute introduced six fundamental concepts related to improving adolescents’ reading, writing, and communication skills as encouraged by the Common Core State Standards (Ippolito, Lawrence, & Zaller, 2013). It also served to prepare teacher leaders to engage colleagues in inquiry cycles around the concepts (Ippolito, 2013).

Once the school year began, teacher leaders facilitated weekly professional learning community meetings. These hour-long meetings allowed team members to share teacher and student work, investigate dilemmas of practice, and read research and practice-based articles to further their goals.

Examples of professional learning community inquiry cycles during the first year include the study of effective vocabulary instruction in world language classrooms, close reading in English classrooms, and supporting research skills in social studies classrooms. Teacher leaders not only planned and facilitated meetings, but also provided ongoing support for teachers.

Additionally, teachers participated in six professional learning days held off-campus. While the university coaches facilitated the first days away, teacher leaders served as co-planners, and gradually facilitation shifted almost entirely to teacher leaders, with the university coaches playing a supporting role.