More than 200 North Carolina 9th and 10th grade Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts educators participated in the first year of Reading Apprenticeship North Carolina, reaching over 5,000 students! Participants engaged in both in-person and online training, and district leaders and educators were exceptionally nimble as pandemic related challenges necessitated changes to the learning progression as originally conceived.
Despite the obstacles, teachers were open and enthusiastic in their learning and implementation of Reading Apprenticeship. They were further motivated by the differences they saw in their classroom culture. A Social Studies teacher reported the following: We’ve done well with our establishing a culture where being confused is acceptable and nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of more questions are driving instruction than ever before, which I feel has been the greatest success of RA this year.
Our facilitators and local partners were able to travel to and engage in an in-person day of learning in each district this winter that served to be both engaging and energizing. For many of our participants, this was their first in-person professional development session in more than two years. We saw firsthand the earnest and sincere efforts of these outstanding educators.
One of our districts, Wilkes County, arranged visits to classrooms where Reading Apprenticeship had been implemented with fidelity and skill. Participants were able to observe these wonderful teachers in action with their students and then our team led the debriefing. That kind of creativity and collaborative programming is only possible with rich partnerships with the dedicated district staff and leadership.
Reading Apprenticeship North Carolina will continue to support the learning and implementation of our Framework through Summer in-person learning for our existing cohort and an additional cohort of teachers. We will then move to supporting implementation in online modules in the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. Teacher Leaders have been identified and will be supported to sustain Reading Apprenticeship beyond each district’s two-year commitment.
This project is made possible by the EIR grant from the U.S. Department of Education and supports primarily rural districts in North Carolina. You can learn more about the project here, and more about the evidence of our impact on teacher practice and student learning here.
The last cohort of Reading Apprenticeship North Carolina will launch in Summer 2023. If you are interested in your district participating, please contact: Sam Peters, Program Coordinator, [email protected].