Literacy Collaborative®: A Successful Professional Development Framework for Warren City Schools, The

Ohio Reading Teacher, Fall 2003-Spring 2004 by Rees, Regina

Building and maintaining a successful literacy program is a daunting task, especially in a district that has had a history of being in academic emergency. But thanks to the efforts of the teachers, administration, and curriculum directors in the Warren City Schools, all of the elementary buildings in the district are either in continuous improvement or effective on the most recent state report card. The Fourth Grade Proficiency scores are showing an upward trend each year.

Kim Marshalek and Anna Marie Campana, district literacy coordinators, are especially proud of these accomplishments. Kim staunchly believes that "It's all about professional development." District elementary curriculum director, Janne Hurrelbrink-Bias agrees, and adds that in addition to the extensive professional development opportunities, "One of the key factors in the literacy program is resources." For the last several years Kim and Anna Marie have carefully charted and implemented a course for Warren City that has led to success. Why focus on professional development? Anna Marie emphasizes, "We are working with adults because teachers are the key in the classroom. Teachers will have the greatest impact on children's learning." A closer look at Warren City's model will show how this has been accomplished.

Professional Development

Through the Literacy Collaborative, Kim and Anna Marie, along with the literacy coordinators in each building, have developed a highly successful staff development model for the elementary schools. The Literacy Collaborative provides a framework for professional development that helps teachers become experts in the teaching of literacy. It also provides the framework for an integrated approach to teaching literacy. The Literacy Collaborative was begun in 1896 in Columbus by a group of Reading Recovery teachers and staff from Ohio State University who were looking at more effective techniques for teaching literacy. The program grew into a system that trained building literacy coordinators who would then coach other teachers.

Participation in the Literacy Collaborative requires a long-term, commitment, but helps a school system by providing a framework that builds literacy through reading and writing. It also provides training for literacy coordinators and requires that Reading Recovery be made available as a safety net for first-grade students. Kim and Anna Marie are firmly committed to the Literacy Collaborative, and along with the literacy coordinators in each building have developed a highly successful staff development model for the elementary buildings.

They have implemented several areas of development for teachers. Several teachers in the district have let their classrooms serve as observation classrooms, so teachers from within the district and even outside the district can visit to get ideas and observe effective literacy instruction. Teachers are organized into small groups and visit the observation classrooms. They can view firsthand literature events unfolding and listen to how the classroom teacher is engaging the students in the reading and writing process. The visits conelude with a debriefing session where teachers discuss what they observed and how they could incorporate the ideas into their own classrooms. Teacher study groups have also been established. These professional "book clubs" consist of the building literacy coordinator and a small group of teachers. They read a particular professional book and meet to review and reflect upon what they read. They also visit each other's classrooms, then discuss and evaluate their instructional strategies.

Staff development does not stop with the teachers. Kim and Anna Marie have established a Principals' Academy for elementary and middle school principals, where building principals visit observation classrooms in other buildings. They also follow the visitations with debriefing sessions so they can compare notes and bring ideas back to their buildings. "Flexibility is the name of the game," says Kim. "When everyone is on the same page, there are many opportunities for staff development. We want to give all teachers the opportunity to observe their peers and adapt what they observe in their own class."

Kim and Anna Marie realize that assessment is an integral part of standards-based reading instruction. They understand that it is important to maintain the classroom atmosphere while administering individual assessments. Teachers must be able to administer these individual assessments without interrupting classroom routine. The literacy team at Warren City has prepared for this daunting task by developing innovative ways to enable students to engage in meaningful independent activities during individual assessments.

The Far East Regional Professional Development Center was so pleased with what has been happening in Warren City that they asked Kim and Anna Marie to develop a training video to provide instruction and inspiration for other teachers. They thought it was important to produce this video, so teachers could see successful strategies in action. They found that with individual assessment teachers needed the answer to the question, "What should the rest of my class be doing while I am administering individual assessments?" The video focuses on how the efforts of three teachers have created classroom settings that invite students to participate in authentic literacy activities without interrupting individual assessments and small group instruction. "We saw teachers doing a wonderful job and we wanted to capitalize on that," Kim adds. The video captures the inviting environment created by these teachers, and shows students engaged in a variety of reading and writing activities.