As seen on edmentum

Educator professional development is an essential foundation for students’ literacy success. Through research, we have a strong understanding of the instructional strategies that consistently help learners develop their reading skills. Effective PD, which is research-based, practical, and applicable to classroom instruction, is the mechanism for ensuring that all teachers have the skillset to implement those proven strategies. By providing educators with practical strategies and ongoing support, effective professional development empowers them to create literacy-rich environments where all students, no matter their background, can thrive.

Core Areas of Emphasis for Professional Development

To both build and sustain educator effectiveness, professional development opportunities should be ongoing and continuous. Opportunities for coaching and collaboration throughout the year help teachers refine their instructional practices and enhance student outcomes. When designing or selecting PD, schools should consider including the following:

• Emphasize the teaching of foundational literacy skills, such as phonemic awareness and phonics, found in the Science of Reading.
• Build capacity to foster language development through interactive read-alouds, targeted vocabulary instruction, and differentiation to meet the needs of learners at all skill levels, including multilingual learners.
• Help teachers learn both how to select relevant titles and encourage student choice in reading.
• Develop teachers’ ability to make real-world connections that support meaningful and authentic learning.
• Focus on integrating the joy of reading—which Reading Is Fundamental defines as “motivation, engagement, and frequency”—into instruction to build lifelong readers. This is an important element of creating engaging, motivating, and effective reading experiences for students.

Technology Can Expand Access to Quality Professional Development

As long as the materials are flexible and tailored to the unique needs of educators, interactive and engaging professional learning can take place in-person or virtually. In fact, technology is an important means of expanding access to, and participation in, high-quality professional learning opportunities. This applies to educators everywhere, and especially those in remote, rural, or underserved communities.

Virtual Learning Options

There are a wide array of virtual learning opportunities, some of which may be delivered by your school, and others that educators can access through other providers. A well-rounded PD plan may include virtual workshops and webinars, on-demand and self-paced learning modules, and interactive coaching.

Online Communities

Online environments such as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) foster collaboration amongst educators by providing a safe and welcoming environment to share best practices, discuss ongoing challenges, and offer peer support, while also allowing for flexible participation across diverse schedules and locations. PLCs typically form organically, can be facilitated on social media or other platforms, and can connect educators from different schools who are interested in similar professional learning goals. They are a powerful supplement to in-school PD.

RIF’s Literacy Network is another type of online community, designed to providing resources, tools, and information to educators, as well as volunteers and families. Family engagement is a critical factor in a child's educational achievement, and this resource is a way for schools to support family engagement and build skills together. Educators and families alike can access webinar archives, quick guides with practical strategies, and other valuable resources to support literacy development.

Digital Resources

Digital resources, such as e-Books, online libraries and adaptive learning tools, enhance instruction with evidence-based strategies and ensure accessibility, even in more remote areas. Through the rapid growth of technology platforms, educators can gain flexible, high-quality support to improve literacy outcomes for all students.

Helping Teachers Overcome Implementation Challenges

Increasing teachers’ ability to embrace change and implement new instructional strategies into their trusted teaching practices begins with understanding and anticipating their challenges, and building the right supports into the professional learning plan. 

As administrators are aware, there are challenges with taking even the best-planned PD from learning into action. Increasing teachers’ ability to embrace change and implement new instructional strategies into their trusted teaching practices begins with understanding and anticipating their challenges, and building the right supports into the professional learning plan. Teachers also benefit when PD accounts for their relative career stages and is designed to address their relevant needs accordingly.

A lack of time within demanding daily schedules is one of the most common challenges teachers face. This often prevents educators from engaging with and trying new methods, or from refining existing practices. The lack of a structured coaching system or feedback loop can also contribute, as educators may lack the confidence to experiment with new approaches and/or feel unsupported in their development. A number of competing demands from administrators, ongoing pressures from families and policies, and personal life stresses are additional factors that can divert teachers’ attention and energy away from professional growth opportunities.

To counter these challenges, professional development programs should be designed to provide tailored coaching opportunities and feedback loops to the varying skill levels of educators. These strategies help them build confidence and focus on specific skills they are working to improve. Newer teachers may benefit from foundational instructional strategies, while more experienced educators can focus on innovation in instruction or opportunities to mentor and coach newer teachers. Additionally, offering a variety of learning formats, such as the ones mentioned earlier, ensures that professional development is accessible, flexible, and meets the learning preferences of all educators. By incorporating these strategies, professional development opportunities can effectively support educators at every stage of their careers, empowering them to successfully implement new instructional strategies and continue growing in their pedagogy.

Make Reading Instruction Evidence-Based, Collaborative, and Fun

An evidence-based approach to literacy instruction based on the Science of Reading, integrating phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing, is important. Once teachers have participated in effective professional learning, they can continue to strengthen their practice and support student engagement by accessing fun resources. They can also partner with families to encourage reading growth at home. Literacy Central is a free resource that gives tips to implement interactive read-alouds, deliver explicit vocabulary instruction, and engage multilingual learners through language-rich instruction.

Once educators’ skills are in place, student success will occur when reading is brought to life. Encouraging independent reading, incorporating high-interest texts, and connecting reading to real-world experiences are great ways to foster a love of reading and make sure all students are engaged in their learning so they can benefit from evidence-based instruction.