2022 Literacy Symposium: Implementation Strand

This session will include a panel of teacher preparation educators who will discuss how they include the Science of Reading and Structured literacy in their programs.

A team from Easterly Parkway Elementary in State College, PA will share its journey to student literacy success through Enhancing Core Reading Instruction (ECRI). The team will share the past, present, and future of our transition to systematic and explicit instruction. A discussion and review of data including how our diverse community of learners are benefiting from the newly formed MTSS processes.

In this session, IU consultants will explain the idea of using coaching models including face-to-face, “flipped”, and a hybrid approach to coaching a roll-out and scale-up of ECRI routines and other evidence-based practices. Participants will walk through the benefits, challenges, and problem-solving strategies of coaching district leaders and teachers along their ECRI journey by using a PLC format.

Coaching has become a popular model in schools to provide professional development and support to improve the instructional skills of teachers, and the academic skills and behavioral outcomes of students. This session for coaches AND administrators begins with the basics: The research-based rationale for coaching (WHY provide coaching?), WHO makes a good coach, and WHAT are the key tasks that help make coaching successful. The essential difference between coaching and supervision is discussed. Various models of coaching are presented along with an overview of the research-based model of Student-Focused Coaching (SFC; Hasbrouck & Michel, 2022; Hasbrouck & Denton, 2005 & Hasbrouck & Denton, 2009).

Teacher preparation must align with the SOR. But even with knowledge of the SOR, school leaders and teachers need ongoing coaching and support to master the complexities of implementation – in nearly every aspect of school and classroom design. In addition, student teachers prepared in the SOR, need field experience in schools that have quality SOR instruction in place.. Learn about a collaboration between Read by 4th partners, Saint Joseph’s University, two Mastery Charter Schools, and AIM Institute. Saint Joseph’s prepares preservice teachers in the SOR, and the K-2 Mastery teachers and leaders have taken SOR-aligned courses from AIM Institute. With the knowledge in place, school and classroom design are then guided, over time, by the Dynamic Early Literacy Framework (DELF). The DELF rubric supports schools in assessing areas of growth related to seven drivers: Leadership, Assessment, Curricula, Instructional Practices, Supervision, Coaching & PD, and Family Engagement.

What is meant by the phrase “the science of reading”? This interactive session will explore The Science of Reading: A Defining Guide, through presentation and discussion of:

• The definition of the science of reading and why it matters

• What is and what is not included in the definition of scientifically-based research

• The theoretical foundations of reading development, reading processes and reading instruction

• Instructional practices that do and do not align with reading science

• A framework for implementation that transfers research into better student outcomes

Other treating professions, including medicine and mental health, are faced with the same dilemma: how do we translate an incomplete and imperfect science into practice? Recognizing and understanding the limitations of an always evolving science can prepare us for the inevitable times that science doesn't quite answer every question, and even those times the science seems to change. Enjoy this lively, Math-Free, discussion of how science works to guide practice, how we can learn from other professions that face many similar challenges, and how to think about all this with an open mind and a level head so you can be a more effective consumer of science.