Honoring Local Context: Designing Collaborative K–12 School Literacy Plans

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Leadership for Language and Literacy

Abstract

A literacy plan can drive instruction and impact student learning, but too often they are created only to sit on a shelf. This paper investigates a statewide collaboration with K-12 teachers to design literacy plans that are inquiry-based and responsive to local contexts. Our approach to literacy plan design supports teachers through sustained professional development around co-constructed goals and initiates an iterative process of inquiry, revision, and growth. The research described in this paper focuses on a mixed methods study of educators’ understanding and use of these co-created literacy plans. Initial needs/assets surveys, follow-up reflective journals, and interviews provide evidence that teachers need to be supported as leaders in their schools and to build on their own literacy understandings.

Authors

• Shea Kerkhoff, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Katie Kline, University of Central Missouri

• Amy Alison Lannin, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Katherine O'Daniels, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Julie Sheerman, Marceline High School

• Nancy R. Singer, University of Missouri - St. Louis