Innovations in Literacy Professional Learning: Strengthening Equity, Access, and Sustainability

Professional learning (PL) opportunities are essential for PreK–12 literacy educators, but too often these efforts fail to help teachers develop and deeply engage with their work. This forward-looking book describes keys to providing effective, sustainable literacy PL that values teachers over test scores and capitalises on social networks and communities.

The volume presents case studies of transformational initiatives tailored to culturally and linguistically diverse populations of teachers and students, varying school resources, urban or rural settings, and other factors. Issues of access and equity are emphasised throughout the book's discussions of innovative in-person, hybrid, and remote PL models.

The companion website features 11 brief videos in which chapter authors provide engaging commentary on their respective topics.

Of interest to K–12 literacy leaders, coaches, and specialists; staff developers; school principals; teacher educators and graduate students.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: Innovation, Equity, and Sustainability in Literacy Professional Learning, Dana A. Robertson & Cynthia H. Brock

I. Professional Learning as Reflexive Growth-in-Practice

1. Developing Adaptive Expertise to Support Effective Professional Learning, Deidre M. Le Fevre
2. Innovative Hybrid Professional Learning at Redmond Mountain High School, Cynthia H. Brock, Leigh A. Hall, Erin E. Silcox, & Jeff Makelky
3. Professional Learning Designed to Cultivate Continuous Learning and Innovation, Cynthia L. Greenleaf, Mira-Lisa Katz, Mary Stump, & Gayle Cribb
4. Enhancing Secondary Teachers’ Opportunities to Learn about Comprehension in Culturally Sustaining Ways, Sarah M. Lupo, Dianna R. Townsend, & Rachel Knecht
5. Situated Professional Learning through Targeted Reading Instruction: Building Teacher Capacity and Diagnostic Practice, Steven J. Amendum, Heather H. Aiken, Mary Bratsch-Hines, & Leslie M. Babinski
6. Teacher Agency and Sustainable Learning through Literacy Coaching with Teachers of Adolescents Who Are Emergent Bi- and Multilingual Students, Jennifer Sharples Reichenberg

II. Professional Learning in/through/with Social Networks and Communities

7. Equitable, Accessible, and Sustainable Professional Learning That Makes a Difference: The Case of the Aboriginal Reading Project, Pauline Harris

8. Whole-Community Early Literacy Improvement: K-3 Academic Vocabulary Instruction, Susan V. Piazza, Sarah Summy, & Robert Herrera

9. Using Digital Tools to Promote Teacher Agency and Enhance Teacher Professional Learning, Lauren Breckenridge Padesky, Dana A. Robertson, Alexis Barney, & Noelle Clark

10. Innovations in Elementary Literacy Coaching: Sustaining Coaching Practices in Virtual Spaces, Jacy Ippolito, Rita M. Bean, & Kristine Sacha

10. Innovations in Elementary Literacy Coaching: Sustaining Coaching Practices in Virtual Spaces, Jacy Ippolito, Rita M. Bean, & Kristine Sacha

11. How Micro-Courses Shape Teachers’ Perceptions, Engagement, and Learning in Professional Development, Leigh A. Hall

Epilogue

Creating Professional Learning That Works: Lessons for Going Forward. Leigh A. Hall

Index

"In my 30 years of research and involvement in PL, there have been many well-intentioned changes to PL practices—most of them linked to accountability, accreditation, and mandates. Teachers have lacked opportunities to improve their knowledge and pedagogy based on their own understanding of what they and their students need. This book is a breath of fresh air! School, district, and community leaders grappling with the complexities of literacy learning today will find numerous innovative ideas that resonate with their contexts and challenges."
- Jan B Turbill, PhD, School of Education, University of Wollongong

"This volume takes seriously the importance of planning and delivering highly contextual PL for literacy teachers. Resisting the tendency to standardise, commercialise, and scale up PL, the editors and contributors demonstrate the imperative to understand and value the uniqueness of each context and the range of people in it. The adaptive expertise of teachers shines through. The book shows that when literacy PL is personalized, the outcomes are heightened levels of innovation, teacher agency, and sustainability. School leaders, department heads, early-career teachers, and student teachers will see themselves and others in one or more of the case studies, and through that process will better recognise the multiple opportunities and pathways to improve students' learning."
- Beryl Exley, PhD, School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Queensland

"True to its title, this book conveys leading-edge ideas. It offers practical ideas for PL that ensures teachers and students alike are supported to learn and to sustain their learning. The book emphasizes that teachers must continually evaluate and grow their instructional practice through just-right, just-at-the-right-time learning experiences. It shares insights that will make such professional growth a reality. This powerful work is a major contribution to the development of teacher learning."
- Diane Lapp, EdD, Distinguished Professor of Education, San Diego State University