School-Based Leadership Teams

Is your school adopting Literacy Collaborative?

When a school considers Literacy Collaborative, the first step is to form a school-based leadership team and participate in team training (if geographically feasible). This training includes five full-day sessions with the Literacy Collaborative faculty. The goal of the team-training year is to help schools familiarize themselves with the implementation process and learn about the teaching practices so they can guide the Literacy Collaborative implementation in their school. This critical first year helps schools to understand the model and the process of implementation.

The team is made up of at least six members including the building principal and/or assistant principal, the literacy coordinator, classroom teachers and school specialists--and requires a strong commitment from all members.

The school-based leadership team has a variety of responsibilities including:

• Planning for effective implementation of the model and maintaining the quality and integrity of the program
• Making decisions about the best practices for literacy instruction in their school based on a common understanding of literacy theory and current research
• Developing efficient schedules for collecting, submitting and analyzing assessment data
• Coordinating the initial training and continued professional development for classroom teachers
• Communicating with stakeholders about the implementation of the model and students' progress
• Coordinating with Lesley University to analyze the aspects of the model that are working well and the areas needing further support

Lesley University provides support to school leadership teams by assigning a Literacy Collaborative faculty liaison to work with the school as long as it is a Literacy Collaborative member. The faculty liaison consults with teams to ensure a successful Literacy Collaborative implementation.