Reading Apprenticeship has been awarded a $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve subject-area teaching and learning at the secondary level in Arizona, Michigan, and Texas. The two-year grant (2021-23) from the department’s Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program, enables WestEd to deepen Reading Apprenticeship teacher professional learning in three locations that were part of a 2018-2021 SEED grant project.
“This new grant will enable us to identify and support best practices for working with district, regional, and state leaders and teachers to sustain inquiry-based professional learning at the secondary level,” says Literacy Director Dr. Linda Friedrich.
Because the grant includes a qualitative evaluation that builds on a student impact study already underway, it also gives Reading Apprenticeship leaders a unique opportunity to learn more about how our teaching and learning strategies supported teachers and students during the COVID years in which adaptation was needed to accommodate online and hybrid settings.
The grant will support WestEd’s Reading Apprenticeship staff to work both directly with teachers, and through established local partners, with the aim of building local capacity and sustainability for enduring professional learning in districts serving diverse and low-wealth student populations. The project will engage teachers, students, and leaders via the following partnerships:
- Wayne County RESA leaders who serve 33 districts in the Detroit, Michigan area.
- Mission CISD, a school-district in south Texas serving about 16,000 students in the City of Mission and the neighboring communities of Alton, Palmhurst, and McAllen.
- The Arizona State Department of Education – Secondary Literacy.
If you would like to learn more about the project, contact Associate Director Mary Stump at [email protected].
