Alliance receives grant to support high school adolescent literacy

The Trustees of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations have approved a grant to help fund the Collaboratory for Adolescent Literacy Leaders (CALL) program at The Education Alliance at Brown University. The CALL is a two–year professional development program for high school teachers of core academic subjects–math, science, social studies/history, and English/language arts. The program will prepare teams of content-area teachers to integrate literacy instruction into the subjects they teach and improve the achievement of their students. It also builds school leadership capacity by developing content literacy expertise and leadership in the core content area."

The Education Alliance will partner with high schools from urban, rural, and suburban settings in the Northeast, designated as in need of improvement in reading and language arts. Over the course of three years, the program will enroll over 150 high school teachers of science, math, social studies/history, and English/language arts, along with a literacy coach and an administrator from each of the schools, organized into Literacy Leadership Teams.

In addition, the entire faculty from each of the secondary schools will have access to a series of web-based meetings with literacy experts. These meetings will provide information about the implementation of research-based literacy strategies across the curriculum and throughout the entire school and district.

Developing Literacy Leadership Teams

The CALL consists of online and face–to–face (1) training by experts in how to integrate literacy instruction into high school courses, (2) collaboration among same–subject teachers and teachers across academic departments, (3) support for the development of a Literacy Leadership Team at each school site that is comprised of content–area teachers from different academic departments, the school literacy coordinator, and an administrator, and (4) training in leadership and coaching practices for the Literacy Leadership Team that supports extending literacy training to the whole faculty.

The technologies employed during the CALL provide participants with an opportunity for ongoing discussions with experts, and with same–subject teachers at other sites, as well as with full–time teacher practitioners who serve remotely as content–specific coaches. These practitioners – veterans of literacy training – will share insights about how they integrate literacy strategies into their own lessons.

Promoting student achievement

After participating in the CALL, the instruction that teachers provide will promote the academic success of all students, but especially those who come to high school without the necessary reading and writing skills to effectively learn subject matter.

The ultimate goal of the CALL is to build capacity for improved school–wide instruction and, as a result, improved student achievement in a sustainable and replicable model. To provide evidence of impact and guide future refinements, The Education Alliance will conduct ongoing assessment and evaluation. The project team will disseminate lessons learned to a broad audience through presentations and electronic media, describing the processes that successfully support school improvement efforts.

About the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations are a national philanthropic organization that currently provides grants in the following program areas: private higher education, religion, secondary education, health care, and public television. Additional information about the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations can be found at Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

Program contact

For more information about the CALL program, please contact Program Specialist, Stephanie Feger. She can be reached by email at Stephanie_Fegerbrown.edu