Leading for Literacy - by Ruth Schoenbach & Cynthia Greenleaf & Lynn Murphy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Leading for Literacy provides tools and real-life examples to expand the benefits of a literacy approach that sparks students' engaged reading and thinking across disciplines, from middle school through community college. A companion to the landmark Reading for Understanding, this book guides teachers, leaders, and administrators through the nuts, bolts, benefits, and stumbling blocks of creating Reading Apprenticeship communities that extend a culture of literacy beyond individual classrooms.

This book explains how to generate authentic buy-in from teachers and administrators, use the Reading Apprenticeship Framework to turn reform overload into reform coherence, and create literacy teams, professional learning communities, and Reading Apprenticeship communities of practice that sustain an institutional focus on a student-centered, strengths-based culture of literacy.

Key insights from Reading Apprenticeship practitioners across the country address how to get started, build momentum, assess progress, and build partnerships and networks across schools, districts, campuses, and regions.

Persistently low levels of adolescent literacy continue to short-change students, contribute to discredited high school diplomas, and cause millions of students to drop out of high school and community college. Forty percent or more of community college students require remedial reading courses as college freshman. The researchers at WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative developed the Reading Apprenticeship Framework to provide educators with a proven path to improving literacy for all students, and this book provides clear guidance on bringing the framework to life.

• How to integrate Reading Apprenticeship with existing reform efforts
• How to use formative assessment to promote teacher and student growth
• How to coach and empower teachers
• How to cultivate literacy leadership
• How to provide long-term support for a strong content-literacy program

Nationwide classroom testing has shown Reading Apprenticeship to promote not only literacy and content knowledge, but also motivation and positive academic identity--leading to better student outcomes that reach beyond the classroom walls. Leading for Literacy lays out compelling ways to spread the benefits of Reading Apprenticeship, with practical guidance and real-world insight.

From the Back Cover

LEADING for LITERACY

"Leading for Literacy: A Reading Apprenticeship Approach offers educators the kind of solid advice, grounded in clear examples from many different kinds of campuses and districts, that will be helpful for any leaders concerned in supporting teachers to help students meet the more rigorous college and career-ready standards. . . . The kind of system-wide work described here has made an important difference in my district, and will--I believe--be a good guide for others as well."
--Michael Matsuda, Superintendent, Anaheim Union High School District

"As a district superintendent in Dearborn, Michigan, I saw several of our secondary schools transformed through years-long work with the Reading Apprenticeship approach across multiple subject area classes. Not only did we see changes in student comprehension at these schools, but also in teachers' ways of teaching and working collaboratively with each other. . . . Leading for Literacy: A Reading Apprenticeship Approach offers education leaders many varied pathways and insights about what to do and what pitfalls to avoid."
--Brian Whiston, Michigan State Superintendent

"As a former teacher, instructional coach, and now curriculum director who has seen the benefits of Reading Apprenticeship for my own students and for teachers in schools and districts, I am eager to use Leading for Literacy as a resource for working with professional learning communities, developing teacher leadership, and supporting administrators' understanding of what it really takes to help all our students achieve the kind of deeper literacy learning needed for the challenging texts and tasks we expect them to handle."
--Melissa Devlin, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Literacy, Antietam School District

Leading for Literacy provides tools and examples for improving student reading across secondary schools and colleges. As a companion to the landmark Reading for Understanding, which offers guidance for classroom level implementation, this book guides teacher leaders, coaches and administrators through the nuts and bolts of implementing the Reading Apprenticeship Framework at a broader scale within their own local contexts.

Key insights from Reading Apprenticeship practitioners across the country address how to:

• Generate authentic buy-in from teachers and administrators
• Create communities of practice that sustain an institutional focus on a student-centered, strengths-based culture of literacy
• Use formative assessment to promote teacher and student growth
• Turn reform overload into reform coherence

Nationwide classroom testing has shown Reading Apprenticeship to promote not only literacy and content knowledge, but also motivation and positive academic identity--leading to better student outcomes that reach beyond the classroom walls. Leading for Literacy lays out a path to improved student engagement and achievement, with practical guidance and real-world insight.

About the Author

Ruth Schoenbach and Cynthia Greenleaf, Ph.D., are co-directors of WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI), a teacher professional development and research organization based in Oakland, California. They are developers of the Reading Apprenticeship Framework.

Lynn Murphy is the Director of Materials Development for WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative.