The Education Alliance at Brown University : Portfolio Detail

Project Summary

Collaboratory for Adolescent Literacy Leaders

The Collaboratory for Adolescent Literacy Leaders (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 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.

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 – share insights about how they integrate literacy strategies into their own lessons. In addition, the entire faculties from each of the secondary schools have access to a series of web-based meetings with literacy experts. These extended opportunities provide information about the implementation of research-based literacy strategies across the curriculum and throughout an entire school and district.

Web site: /Call