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Literacy 360 Cohort

Comprehensive Professional Development Program to Produce and Maintain Advanced Literacy Development in High Priority School Communities  

 

Executive Summary:

The Literacy 360 Cohort is designed to promote high-intensity instruction in literacy, including reading and writing, to ensure advanced literacy skills for all students attending priority Catholic schools In the San Francisco Archdiocese. Priority Catholic schools in this context refer to Catholic K-8 schools that serve student populations with limited home access to robust print materials in English and/or where predominant language exposure in the home and community is in a language other than standard English. The Literacy 360 program innovates the approach to the daily schedule and ELA instruction in order to respond to the heightened need for Intensive and focused literacy development. All teachers and administrators working in a Literacy 360 cohort school must fully participate in all professional development and training.

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Program Overview:

150 hours of teacher development over 3 years

K-5 staff cohort model, requiring school commitment

Multiple schools in each cohort to build community

Key professional experiences for participating include:

Instructional and Pedagogical Formation, Colleague Collaboration,

and Colleague Observation

Requirements for Instructional Staff and Administration: 

In order to participate as a member of the Literacy 360 Cohort, schools must first apply and be accepted into the three-year program. Once accepted, the school leadership signs a Memorandum of Understanding that underscores the important philosophical and instructional shifts that are integrated into the program, and all instructional employee agreements are adjusted to reflect the specific requirements of the Literacy 360 Cohort. The Literacy 360 Cohort is an intensive, 3-year professional learning program. At the completion of the program, schools will earn the Blue Badge. 

 

Major Shifts in the Literacy 360 Cohort, Year 1 [K-5]:

  1. School calendar adjustment, 4 full and 5 half release days (resulting in 176 school days)

  2. School instructional employee calendar adjustment (50 hours of cohort-specific PD, including August and June, in addition to DCS PD)

  3. School day schedule adjustments, including:

    1. 60 minutes daily of supervised silent reading (teacher-led in grades K-1)

    2. 60 minutes daily of supervised academic writing/speaking

    3. 120 minutes weekly of lexile-grouped reading instruction

    4. 60 minutes weekly of supervised ELA adaptive curriculum

  4. Quarterly administration of lexile-based assessment, product TBD

 

Expected Outcomes:

Annual growth and performance goals will be set for each participating school. Goals will respond to the current landscape with the expressed purpose of driving significant student progress on an aggressive timeline. Ultimately, it is the expectation of the St. Clare Initiative for Leading and Learning that all schools will exceed the 65th percentile in reading by the end of the 3-year cohort progression with not more than 10% of the total student population achieving in the bottom 33% of the nation. 

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