Comprehensive District Services
Reading Apprenticeship offers a comprehensive district-wide approach to improving academic literacy and addressing college readiness goals. Middle and high school districts that have engaged in focused, system-wide implementation of Reading Apprenticeship have reported improved test scores and academic achievement and increased student and teacher motivation.
For district-wide impact and capacity building, Reading Apprenticeship can be implemented over a one- to three-year period. During that time we provide a combination of institute-style summer professional development, school-year professional development, leadership development, and on-site coaching. We work with district leadership teams to develop implementation plans and pay close attention to “mapping on to existing reforms” so that teachers, administrators, and students can see the connections between the Reading Apprenticeship approach and other improvement efforts.
On-site services can include:
- Cross-disciplinary professional development and follow-up coaching for middle school and/or high school faculty and site administrators
- Professional development and follow-up coaching for teachers implementing the year-long 9th grade Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy Course
- Leadership development to build internal district capacity for sustaining Reading Apprenticeship implementation
- Periodic consultation and coaching at leadership, school, and classroom levels to support implementation fidelity for effective outcomes
- Discipline-specific professional development for science, math, history, English language arts, and career and technical education
Why Do Districts Choose Reading Apprenticeship?
- Flexible: Scheduling is easy with our multimodal professional development and coaching model.
- Compatible: Our framework works with existing curricula, and is designed to be incorporated into curricula across all content areas in classes with diverse student populations.
- Results: Multiple randomized controlled trials have shown statistically significant increases in reading comprehension, motivation, and in students’ use of reading comprehension strategies for tackling challenging texts. For example, early findings from a U.S. Department of Education-funded large-scale experimental study resulted in a 33% improvement in reading comprehension scores over and above what the students would have achieved if they had not taken a Reading Apprenticeship course.
To learn more about our comprehensive district services, please contact Jana Bouc jbouc@wested.org at 510-302-4245.