Professional Development

Smart Start: Arkansas' K-4 Initiative - Early Literacy Learning in Arkansas

Grade LevelsElla elephant

  • K- 1
  • Special Education K-12

Approved Areas of Professional Development

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

Description

ELLA is a two-year professional development opportunity offered by the Arkansas Department of Education and the Arkansas Education Service Cooperatives. It is designed to assist K-1 teachers and K-12 special education teachers in the implementation of a comprehensive literacy program by increasing their knowledge and skills in the area of research-based, developmentally appropriate instructional practices. It focuses on teaching students along the continuum of literacy learning systems development, using appropriate assessments to inform systematic and explicit instruction, and the routines and procedures for classroom management. This professional development opportunity is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and research findings provided by the National Reading Panel Report.

Training Schedule

Year I
Content
Four-day initial summer institute Framework for a core literacy program, literacy assessment system, and intervention
The Emergent Learner: familiar reading, oral language, shared reading, phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics, alphabetic principle, small group reading, reading aloud, vocabulary instruction, interactive writing, and the context for instruction
Two sessions in the fall semester The Early Learner: familiar reading, oral language, shared reading, phonemic awareness, phonics, guided reading, vocabulary instruction, reading aloud, assisted writing instruction
Two sessions in the spring semester The Late Early Learner: familiar reading, oral language, shared reading, phonemic awareness, phonics, guided reading, reading aloud, writing instruction
Year 2
Content
Three-day summer institute The Transitional Learner: familiar reading, oral language, shared reading, phonemic awareness, phonics, guided reading, reading aloud, writer's workshop
One session in the fall semester Site-based observation training in a classroom
One session in the spring semester Site-based observation training in a classroom

Research

  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, DHHS (2001). Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Available at: http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/publications/researchread.htm
  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching Children to Read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Available at: http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/publications/publications.htm

Professional Texts

  • Apprenticeship in Literacy by Dorn et al (978-1571100887)
  • Bringing Words to Life by Beck et al (978-1572307537)
  • The Fluent Reader by Rasinski (978-0439332088)
  • Guided Reading Good First Teaching for All Children by Fountas and Pinnell (978-0435088637)
  • I've DIBEL'd, Now What? Designing Interventions with DIBELS Data by Hall (978-1593184971)
  • Leveled Books K-8, Matching Texts to Readers for Effective Teaching by Fountas and Pinnell (978-0325008189)
  • Nonfiction Reading Power: Teaching Students How to Think While They Read All Kinds of Information by Gear (978-1551382296)
  • Phonemic Awareness in Young Children by Adams et al (978-1557663214)
  • Read it Again! by Parkes (978-1571103048
  • Reading Power: Teaching Students to Think While They Read by Gear (978-1551382036)
  • Reading Writing Connections in the K-2 Classroom: Find the Clarity and Then Blur the Lines by Mermelstein (978-0205412778)
  • Shaping Literate Minds by Dorn and Soffos (978-1571103383)
  • Words Their Way:Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, 4/E by Bear and Templeton (978-0132239684)

Contact information:

For additional information, contact the literacy specialists at your local education service cooperative.