Professional Development Opportunities

There were many professional development opportunities for teachers within CCDD. Teachers using Word Generation and STARI for the first time were expected to attend a four-day summer institute. Word Generation teachers also received coaching and attended regular meetings with the coach and other Word Generation teachers in their building. First-year STARI teachers received one-on-one coaching, took a Wheelock College adolescent literacy course for which they received credit, and took part in regular professional learning community meetings with other STARI teachers in their area. More experienced STARI teachers continued to receive regular coaching support and were encouraged to attend regular professional learning community meetings with other STARI teachers. All STARI teachers also attended three network professional development meetings with STARI teachers from every school.

Both STARI and Word Generation professional development focused extensively on training teachers to hold effective, structured classroom discussions and debates. All coaches also spent time walking teachers through each lesson that they would be teaching, went over the assessments their students were taking as part of the study, asked for regular feedback on the curriculum, and catered their coaching toward individual teacher needs.

Video: Professional Development Benefits - STARI and Word Generation

Jennifer Winsor describes:

professional development opportunities offered to teachers as well as to administrators  •  summer institute as introduction to Word Generation or the STARI program  •  training about holding debate and discussion  •  closer looks at the assessments and the curriculum  •  STARI teachers learn about the issues of struggling readers  •  STARI network meetings throughout the school year on various topics  •  Word Generation coaches on hand to provide additional PD  •  coaching is the cornerstone of the professional development  •  teachers offer feedback on the curriculum

​

This site was originally prepared for districts and teachers who partnered with us throughout the project. While we have updated the text, many of the videos included on this site were prepared during the launch of the study. Although the project has come to a close, we are keeping the site and related videos available for those who are interested to learn more about the project.

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305F100026 to the Strategic Education Research Partnership as part of the Reading for Understanding Research Initiative. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

CCDD TEAMStrategic Education Research Partnership •  1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1310 •  Washington, DC 20036

serpinstitute.org •  info@serpinstitute.org •  (202) 223-8555

Professional Development Opportunities

There were many professional development opportunities for teachers within CCDD. Teachers using Word Generation and STARI for the first time were expected to attend a four-day summer institute. Word Generation teachers also received coaching and attended regular meetings with the coach and other Word Generation teachers in their building. First-year STARI teachers received one-on-one coaching, took a Wheelock College adolescent literacy course for which they received credit, and took part in regular professional learning community meetings with other STARI teachers in their area. More experienced STARI teachers continued to receive regular coaching support and were encouraged to attend regular professional learning community meetings with other STARI teachers. All STARI teachers also attended three network professional development meetings with STARI teachers from every school.

Both STARI and Word Generation professional development focused extensively on training teachers to hold effective, structured classroom discussions and debates. All coaches also spent time walking teachers through each lesson that they would be teaching, went over the assessments their students were taking as part of the study, asked for regular feedback on the curriculum, and catered their coaching toward individual teacher needs.

Video: Professional Development Benefits - STARI and Word Generation

Jennifer Winsor describes:

professional development opportunities offered to teachers as well as to administrators  •  summer institute as introduction to Word Generation or the STARI program  •  training about holding debate and discussion  •  closer looks at the assessments and the curriculum  •  STARI teachers learn about the issues of struggling readers  •  STARI network meetings throughout the school year on various topics  •  Word Generation coaches on hand to provide additional PD  •  coaching is the cornerstone of the professional development  •  teachers offer feedback on the curriculum

​

Catalyzing Comprehension through Discussion and Debate (CCDD)