about the program

The Teacher Professional Development (TPD) Program, which includes the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) and Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) projects, addresses all aspects of teacher development, from preservice through teacher leadership in grades 5–14.

In New York City, thousands of teachers and administrators have engaged in QTEL professional development. QTEL also works in the Austin, Texas, school district and with a partnership of eight districts in southern California, among others.

SLI, through its Reading Apprenticeship® framework, focuses on improving content area literacy in middle school, high school, and community college classrooms. The Reading Apprenticeship framework combines affective, cognitive, metacognitive, and knowledge-based aspects of literacy and content area learning.

In 2010, SLI was awarded a five-year Investing in Innovation (i3) grant to support large-scale dissemination of Reading Apprenticeship disciplinary literacy professional development. This project, known as RAISE, will reach more than 2,500 high school content teachers and over 400,000 students in five states (California, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Utah).

In addition, SLI is a significant partner in the Institute of Education Sciences' READi (Reading, Evidence, and Argumentation in Disciplinary Instruction) research initiative. This five-year initiative is developing instructional strategies, technology, curricula, teacher professional development, and assessment to increase the reading comprehension of students in grades 6-12.