Model for success
Literacy How Mentors have advanced teaching and learning by helping thousands of educators understand the science of reading and use effective, evidenced-based practices, and data-driven instruction to succeed. Through our comprehensive professional development and our professional learning book series, we build teachers’ background knowledge in the core components of literacy. Through embedded coaching, we support the translation of this knowledge into targeted instruction. Literacy How is one of the few professional development organizations with this rare capability nationwide.
elements of our model
Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction
We help teachers and administrators build their background knowledge in the evidence-based content areas shown in our Reading Wheel. Then we teach them how to apply best practices for effective instruction for every student.
Literacy and Coaching
Support in Your School
Coaching is the key to transforming literacy instruction. Literacy How’s Mentors provide professional development in evidence-based instruction while coaching teachers to help them translate that knowledge to practice. By working with teachers in their classrooms, our Mentors demonstrate how to strategically implement, reflect upon, and refine their instruction.
Our Mentors impart best methods for classroom literacy instruction and work within the context of existing literacy curricula, including Guided Reading, Readers & Writers Workshop, and core reading programs.
Data-driven Instruction
Accelerating students’ success by using data to drive and differentiate instruction is central to our model. We offer training to help teachers analyze and use students’ assessment information with the goal of creating effective literacy instruction for every student.
Our Mentors participate in data team discussions to guide this process, helping teachers use assessment data to:
- group students
- plan, develop, and deliver properly paced, small group lessons
- monitor student progress
Sustainability
Our collaborative, school-wide process enables administrators and educators to become more effective literacy leaders. We ensure the sustainability of our impact by:
- Developing internal literacy experts. Extensive experience has taught us that the key to sustaining our work is to partner with an internal reading expert. We build capacity through this partnership by working closely with this ‘teacher specialist’ who learns our model and supports best practices in the classroom.
- Training teachers to use evidence-based literacy practices through professional development and coaching support.
- Training administrators to know what evidence-based literacy practices to look for when observing teachers in their walk-throughs.