Implementing Literacy Collaborative

Literacy Collaborative is implemented in several phases to build your school's internal capacity to sustain long-term change. The Lesley University Center for Reading Recovery and Litereacy Collaborative will work with you to design a customized implementation approach to meet your school's needs. 

Most schools begin implementing the program in the primary years first and then begin work on the intermediate grades. However, some schools prefer to begin both models simultaneously. The following implementation phases apply independently to the primary and the intermediate models.

Phase One: Awareness and Planning

A school-based leadership team participates (if geographically feasible) in a series of five one-day seminars that provide a model for instruction and professional development. These seminars assist teams in defining their role as a school leadership team and working effectively as a team. The seminars also assist team members in developing a long-term plan for implementing Literacy Collaborative over the next several years. During this phase schools are encouraged to examine their specific needs while learning about Literacy Collaborative. In essence, the team-training phase provides the time for schools to measure their needs against the Literacy Collaborative model.

The team then selects a teacher to be trained as the literacy coordinator. Some schools combine phase one and phase two so that the team is training simultaneously with the literacy coordinator.

Phase Two: Leadership Development and Start-Up

There are two major components of phase two: The training of the literacy coordinator and awareness building about Literacy Collaborative throughout the school and community. During the training year, the literacy coordinator in-training attends seven or eight weeks of training at Lesley University, teaches literacy daily for 2.5 to 3 hours, attends local guided meetings, videotapes his/her own teaching, and receives on-site visits from Lesley University faculty. The literacy coordinator-in-training receives 9 graduate credits, with an option to earn 6 additional graduate credits.

 During this phase, the school-based leadership team educates teachers, parents, community members and other stakeholders about Literacy Collaborative. The team also purchases books and materials necessary for an effective launch.

The literacy coordinator together with the leadership team collects school-wide student data using specified assessment tools to determine a baseline from which to measure program progress and student growth over time. To provide continued support, the Lesley University liaison schedules two or more on-site visits.

Phase Three: Intensive Inservice Course for Classroom Teachers

During this phase, classroom teachers participate in a year-long professional development training of 40-45 hours taught by the school-based literacy coordinator. Classroom teachers who are involved in this initial training course also participate in regularly scheduled coaching and teaching analysis with the literacy coordinator.

To implement this phase, the literacy coordinator has 30-50% release time to work in classrooms demonstrating coaching and supporting colleagues who are participating in Literacy Collaborative. Release time for coaching is an ongoing requirement in subsequent years for classroom teachers involved in continuing professional development.

In year two, the literacy coordinator participates in on-going professional development through attendance at the Northeast Early Literacy Conference (primary), twice-yearly professional development sessions at Lesley University and the biannual National Literacy Coordinator Institute. In addition, the literacy coordinator continues to communicate with the Lesley University faculty liaison for support in implementing Literacy Collaborative specifically to the needs of his/her particular school. The Lesley University liaison schedules two or more full-day on-site visits.

The school-based leadership team continues to oversee the implementation of the model and assess the strengths and needs of the school. Specifically, they focus on strengthening home-school connections, evaluating staffing needs, monitoring the purchase of appropriate materials and overseeing instructional practices. Additionally, they collect student data to begin measuring program improvement as compared to the first- and second-year baseline data. The leadership team analyzes this information for improved student achievement with the support from Lesley University and the National Data Evaluation Center at The Ohio State University.

Phase Four: Professional Development and Refinement

This phase is a continuation of professional development and coaching for classroom teachers and is provided by the literacy coordinator. The school-based leadership team reassesses school needs and realigns their school goals, plans actions to achieve those goals, monitors progress and communicates school outcomes. Additionally, the leadership team continues to collect and analyze student data as part of the program's long-term evaluation.

Phase Five: Continued and On-going Implementation

The literacy coordinator continues to provide professional development and the team continues to monitor implementation. The literacy coordinator and the leadership team continue to communicate with the Lesley University faculty liaison to ensure that the model is meeting the needs of the school and maintaining its integrity over time.