Improving student reading achievement through the use of professional learning communities
Date
2020
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Supporting adolescent reading achievement is a concern for schools around the United States. Adolescent reading achievement data has remained stagnant for nearly 30 years (NAEP, 2019). Providing teachers with a strong repertoire of evidence-based practices to support reading achievement is essential. This is especially true across disciplines in content area classrooms such as science and social studies. ☐ During the 2018-2019 school year, I implemented professional learning communities (PLCs) that were focused around evidence-based reading practices at Perryville Middle School in Cecil Count, MD. Perryville Middle School is a grade 6-8 middle school and has a population of 566 students. Throughout the year, teachers met in grade-level teams to explore these strategies and discuss their implementation. Teacher participants included teachers from all content areas including English, mathematics, science and social studies. In addition, our Fine Arts and Physical Education teachers participated in some of the sessions. At the conclusion of the school year, focus groups were conducted to examine progress and plan for future implementation. ☐ Teachers appreciated the sustained focus around one key topic (evidenced-based reading practices). In addition, the time spent discussing the strategies was helpful to support implementation issues. Teachers reported that students made connections between the content areas that used the similar strategies. Teachers also reported that they appreciated the environment that we created to support their exploration and implementation of these practices. ☐ In addition to our work at the school level, I have developed a number of resources to support other schools in the district in launching PLCs focused on literacy. These resources include professional development for administrators, a white paper that synthesizes key research, and an online repository of all of the PLC materials that we created. In the future, a sustained emphasis on utilizing evidence-based reading practices should be maintained through the use of PLCs. These PLCs should be modified to support ongoing dialogue and reflection from our teachers related to the implementation of these practices in their classrooms.
Description
Keywords
Professional development, Professional learning communities, Reading comprehension, Adolescent reading achievement, Cecil County, Maryland, Perryville Middle School, Teaching strategies, Evidence-based reading practices