Professional Development

Comprehensive Literacy for Adolescent Student Success

Grade Levels

  • 5-12
  • Special Education 5-12

Approved Areas of Professional Development

  • Assessment
  • Building a collaborative learning community
  • Cognitive research
  • Content (K-12)
  • Instructional strategies
  • Principles of learning/developmental stages
  • Standards/frameworks/curriculum alignment

Description

Comprehensive Literacy for Adolescent Student Success (CLASS) is a two-year professional development opportunity offered by the Arkansas Department of Education and the education service cooperatives. It is designed to assist English language arts teachers for grades 5-12 in implementing a comprehensive, research-based approach to literacy instruction. This professional development opportunity is aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and emphasizes instructional strategies to integrate the four strands: reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language.

Training Schedule
Year 1 Content 
Three-day summer institute Context for learning, effective assessment, text complexity
Two sessions in the fall semester Reading literature, writing narratives
One session in the spring semester Site-based observation training in a classroom
Year 2 Content 
Three-day summer institute Reading informational text (argument), writing arguments, presenting a research project
Two sessions in the fall semester Reading informational text (literary nonfiction), writing informative/explanatory texts
One session in the spring semester Site-based observation training in a classroom


Research

  • Biancarosa,C. & Snow, C. E. (2006). Reading next — A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
  • Graham, S. & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools — A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
  • Graham, S., & Hebert, M. A. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
  • Kamil, M. L., Boreman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., & Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A Practice Guide (NCEE #2008-4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc.

For more information please contact:

Literacy specialists at your local education service cooperative.