Become a Literacy Collaborative School

"Literacy Collaborative uniting our school community with the common bond of the love of literacy has made Franklin Avenue School a successful place in which to work and learn."--Carly Bannish, the intermediate literacy coordinator at Franklin Avenue Elementary School in Westfield, Mass., a Literacy Collaborative school

Implementing a Literacy Collaborative program can transform and sustain literacy achievement in your school or district. The program does this by supporting the professional development and growth of your faculty.

Application Process

Here's how you apply for school-based leadership team training, literacy coordinator training, and university or district-level training.

School-Based Leadership Team Training

Select six people from your school to form a literacy team to train (additional members may be added on a pro-rated basis). The application asks for background information about your school, and you will need to obtain signatures from your principal and the district superintendent. Teams are accepted for training after the application is reviewed and deemed complete. Finally, you will receive an official acceptance letter listing the dates and times of your training.

Literacy Coordinator Training

The application process for the training of a literacy coordinator has two parts: The site application (as described above) and the literacy coordinator application. To apply for literacy coordinator training, you will supply the requested information about your background and experience as well as participate in an interview process (along with your building principal) conducted by members of the Lesley University Literacy Collaborative faculty.

As literacy coordinator candidate, you must meet the following requirements:

• A Master's degree (in rare cases this requirement may be waived if equivalent experiences are documented and judged satisfactory by the Literacy Collaborative training faculty)
• Three years teaching experience at the grade level pertinent to the training
• Significant course work in reading/language arts
• Demonstrated leadership experience

District-Level Trainer

It takes two years to become a district-level trainer of literacy coordinators. In the first year, you will complete the school-based literacy coordinator training. Upon successful completion, you will fill out the district-level trainer application, providing your credentials and experience, information about the district and the district's plan for implementing Literacy Collaborative. This application requires a signature from the district superintendent.

As a candidate for district-level trainer,you must meet the following requirements:

• A Master's degree
• Extensive experience in teaching elementary reading in the grade levels pertinent to the training
• Research skills
• Significant staff development experience
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills
• Reading Recovery training (primary only)
• A district that is willing to commit, for a minimum of five years, the time and financial resources necessary for district-level training of literacy coordinators

We are now accepting applications for the 2009-2010 school year. To request an application, please email litcol@lesley.edu.