Challenging Inequities Through Professional Development Focused on Engaging All Students in Advanced Literacies

• In Event: 29.049 - Disciplinary Literacy Instruction

Abstract

Current literacy reforms emphasize instruction that engages students in argumentation with complex academic texts. The emphasis on advanced literacies represents a major shift from current practices. This mixed methods study draws on observations of secondary classrooms designed to examine extant literacy practices. The study explores differences in opportunities to learn offered by teachers who participated in PD focused on support for close disciplinary reading and teachers who did not. Findings underscore both the need and the potential for PD to transform literacy learning opportunities in ways that can potentially empower all students. Furthermore, findings suggest that focusing PD efforts on support for close reading can serve as a lever to shift the kinds of literacy learning opportunities provided to students.

Authors

• Cindy Litman, WestEd

• Stacy A. Marple, WestEd

• Cynthia L. Greenleaf, WestEd