Building a Community in Which Everyone Teaches, Learns, and Reads: A Case Study

Abstract

Abstract The authors evaluated the effectiveness of a professional development effort that was part of a 2-year Reading Excellence Act grant in a high-poverty, rural elementary school in the southeastern United States. The authors analyzed data sources, including observations, semistructured interviews, focus-group interviews, school climate inventories, teacher questionnaires, and teacher narratives and found the following conditions of teacher reflection and change: (a) a voice in determining professional development needs, (b) structures in place (e.g., materials, time, and space for collaborative planning) to support teaching, (c) support personnel available, and (d) access to useful information about student learning. Keywords: literacyprofessional developmentreflectionteacher voiceteacher change