Investing in Staff Knowledge

As an administrator, it is challenging to select from the myriad of professional development options. The following points can help leaders with decision-making:

• Prioritize investing in educators’ professional knowledge about how reading develops, why some students have difficulty, how to prevent and remediate reading difficulties, and how to best implement evidence-based practices.
• Plan for professional knowledge in the long term to sustain the initial investment and make it the “norm,” so that new hires, retirements, grade-level changes, and other school-based staff changes do not prevent the work from continuing. This kind of knowledge takes a long time to build, and maintenance is an ongoing process. Learn more about The Reading League’s Professional Learning Partnerships and how we support districts nationwide in transforming reading instruction.
• Use a knowledge questionnaire to determine if newly hired 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 available for free.
• Build knowledge across grade levels, instructional tiers, and content areas. Training works best when administrators learn alongside educators, including the paraprofessionals, specialists, and special-area instructors, so everyone is “speaking the same language.”
• Schedule book studies to build team knowledge. The Reading League Shop offers texts to clarify the complexities about the science of reading.