Administrators and Administrator Preparation Programs - TRL

Primary Considerations for District and Building Administrators and Administrator Preparation Programs

Effective school leaders can have a significant impact on student success. In order to make this happen, they are responsible for a wide range of decisions, one of the most important of which is ensuring that evidence-aligned reading instruction is present in their schools. Knowing how to prepare the system for implementation and support of their educators is essential for aspiring, new, and seasoned administrators alike.

As educators gain professional knowledge about reading instruction, it is common to hear them say, “once we know better, we do better”. In order for them to “do better”, educators need administrators who are committed to providing them with the resources and support needed to succeed. Administrators’ decisions regarding staffing, professional development, and instructional materials directly impact educators’ abilities to implement and sustain evidence-aligned instruction. Such decisions will be most impactful if made by administrators who have a solid understanding of the science of reading. It is critical that administrators prioritize  their own professional knowledge of what it takes to produce successful reading outcomes for students. Administrators who do this become highly capable decision makers.

Not sure where to begin?

The resources below point you in the right direction.

In this presentation, Literacy Leaders:
A Key Lever for Literacy Equity, Dr. Maria Murray and Dr. Stephanie Finn describe why and how school leaders can transform systems.

In this video from The Reading League’s Defining Guide Call to Action Series, Sharon Dunn provides an overview of the essential components of instruction that school leaders need to consider when aligning their schools and systems to the science of reading.

In this article from The Reading League Journal, Five Action Steps for School and District Leaders Implementing the Science of Reading, Dena Mortensen provides direct and easy-to-follow advice for school leaders.

Transforming to Alignment With the Science of Reading: Important Considerations

Sustainable transformation to evidence-aligned instruction is not likely by simply purchasing a science-aligned curriculum. For improved, sustainable outcomes, action plans that include a long-term commitment to staff support and material alignment are required.

When beginning an effort to transform instructional practices, action plans must address change on a systems level, one step at a time. Even the best action plans will face challenges such as pushback, turnover, and course corrections. Transformation to evidence-aligned instruction is not easy. Transformation takes years. Implementing action plans using a comprehensive approach featuring each of the categories below will go a long way to make a transformation sustainable.

Preservice Staff: Hiring

Inservice Staff: Invest in Building Educator and Administrator Professional Knowledge

The Complexity of Reading Requires More Than a “Patch”

Evaluating and Selecting a Core Curriculum

Coaching

Developing School-Based Teams and Systems for Decision Making

Assessment

Implementation

Additional Resources

Preservice Staff: Hiring

Teacher shortages as well as alternative certification programs present very real challenges in many areas of the United States.  Newly hired educators may not have years of schooling from a traditional Educator Preparation Program (EPP).  However, in instances where certified educators from a college or university are available, it is important to be aware of the instructional approaches that their EPPs provide. Establishing communication with local colleges and universities is helpful in order to gather the following information:

• Is the faculty able to articulate differences between a Structured Literacy approach and a Typical Literacy approach (e.g., whole language, balanced literacy)? If so, which approach do their courses align with?
• Are the local colleges or universities accredited through the International Dyslexia Association for alignment to the IDA Knowledge and Practice Standards?
• Does the college or university have a recent National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) rating? Do they use texts that are rated exemplary by NCTQ textbook reviews?
• Does your state require that candidates pass a licensure exam of their knowledge of how to teach reading, although these vary in quality? The National Council on Teacher Quality’s State Teacher Policy Database reveals what each state requires and whether teachers from alternative programs have to take licensure exams. If a state doesn’t have a licensing exam, asking questions during the interview process regarding knowledge of evidence-aligned reading instruction may be necessary.

Inservice Staff: Invest in Building Educator and Administrator Professional Knowledge

As an administrator, it is challenging to select from the myriad of professional development options. Prioritize investing in building educator professional knowledge on scientific reading research about how reading develops, why some students have difficulty, how to prevent and remediate reading difficulties, and how to best implement evidence-based practices.

Knowledgeable educators and leaders should be critical consumers of all aspects of instruction and assessment. Knowledge should be built across grade levels, tiers of instruction, and content areas. Training works best when it is inclusive of all educators including paraprofessionals, specialists, and special-area instructors, so everyone is “speaking the same language”.

Professional knowledge must be prioritized long term to sustain the initial investment and become the “norm” so that new hires, retirements, grade-level changes, and other school-based staff changes will not prevent the work from continuing. This kind of knowledge takes a long time to build, and maintenance is an ongoing process. Visit The Reading League’s School-Based Partnership for more information.

If already committed to professional knowledge building, it is helpful to engage in more targeted training from organizations or expert consultants. Use a knowledge questionnaire to determine if newly hired teachers and in-service teachers have gaps in their understanding of how reading develops or how practices align with the reading science. These questionnaires are opportunities for professional growth and should not be framed as quizzes, tests, or other formats that might cause teachers to feel anxious or embarrassed. Many professional development providers have their own knowledge checks and walk-through tools for this purpose. The Florida Center for Reading Research’s Walk-Through tool is a freely available option.

Book studies are a great way of building knowledge among a team. The Reading League Shop offers several resources to understand more about the complexity of literacy instruction and offer instructional solutions for all aspects of literacy.

The Complexity of Reading Requires More Than a “Patch”

An effort to improve reading instruction by adding a phonics program to address only word recognition will not be successful. It is essential to attend to the full scope of areas that make up the complex skills of reading and issues related to reading such as spelling, writing, and more.

The Science of Reading Defining Guide explains this in detail. Hollis Scarborough’s reading rope, illustrated on page 19 of the Defining Guide, is a metaphor for this complexity. Although the strands of the reading rope are separate, this does not mean that each skill should be taught and practiced in isolation. Instead, look for opportunities to connect instruction to ensure word recognition, language comprehension, language development, reading comprehension, and writing are all attended to.