Vickie Jones, Director of Language Arts Services, Abington Heights School District in Pennsylvania, attributes some of the dramatic rise in Abington Heights High School students’ state test scores to an energized and “authentic” Professional Learning community that formed through Reading Apprenticeship (via RAISE: Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education).

Policy leaders in Washington, DC, hear from teachers and administrators about Reading Apprenticeship experiences in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

Reading Apprenticeship can make a huge impact when schools provide consistent content literacy support through professional collaboration. In this video, cross-subject teams of social studies, science, and English teachers who participated in RAISE (Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education) discuss how students came to classes more prepared to use Reading Apprenticeship routines because they were already practicing them in the other team members’ classrooms.

Teacher leaders and teachers who participated in Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education (RAISE) saw students move from expecting them to provide the answers, to grappling with the text themselves and each other, talking about what it meant and how they figured it out.

Teachers reflect on their students using Reading Apprenticeship routines such as “talking to the text”, and “thinking aloud” to help them unpack and understand difficult passages, building academic dispositions and skills that will serve them well in the future. The teachers in this video participated in Reading Apprenticeship professional learning via RAISE: Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education.

Students at all levels gained new confidence as they used the Reading Apprenticeship strategies, often surprising teachers and themselves. The teachers in this video participated in Reading Apprenticeship professional learning via RAISE: Reading Apprenticeship Improving Secondary Education.