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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Professional Development Project:

Reading Intervention Staff at Ebenezer Elementary School

Carlos G. Carmona

Millersville University

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Table of Contents

Definition and Standards..............................................................................................................4

Assess Needs/Analysis/Self-Analysis............................................................................................6

Determine and Develop Goals....................................................................................................20

Read and Examine Research......................................................................................................22

Model and Method to Achieve the Goals...................................................................................22

Identify Material, Cost, and Resources.....................................................................................23

Timeline and Deadlines...............................................................................................................24

Implementation of Program/Plan..............................................................................................25

Review and Revise.......................................................................................................................26

Formally Assess and Evaluate....................................................................................................26

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Professional Development Project:

Reading Intervention Staff at Ebenezer Elementary School

This paper delineates the professional development plan I designed and implemented

with the reading intervention staff at Ebenezer Elementary School, which is within the Cornwall-

Lebanon School District. I worked closely with the three teachers that provide reading support

within a Response to Intervention and Instruction paradigm. These teachers conduct Tier 2 and

Tier 3 level of intervention for 1st through 5th grades. The participant teachers are Mrs. Wenrich,

Miss Baumbach, and Mrs. Paine. The first two teachers I assess to be in the mid-career stage.

Mrs. Paine is retiring at the end of the current school year. All of these teachers show

enthusiasm in their work and are always open to innovation and creativity to their job

responsibilities.

Definition and Standards

Cornwall-Lebanon School District recently revised its “Strategic Plan” and it is now

calling the “CLSD Comprehensive Plan.” The mission of the Cornwall-Lebanon School District

is “to empower students to reach their individual potential.”

The school district has “characteristics” of professional development (PD) for its

teachers. However, it does not provide a concrete roadmap for how it goes about providing the

professional development. Generally, the school district wants to provide PD that enhances the

teachers’ content knowledge, helps to improve teaching skills based on effective practice

research, assists teachers to meet the needs of all students including struggling students and

gifted students, trains teachers to use assessments to guide instruction and decision-making and

helps staff manage resources for effective student results.

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These are the Professional Educational characteristics found in the CLSD Comprehensive Plan:

Characteristics

District’s Professional Education Characteristics

Enhances the educator’s content knowledge in the area

of the educator’s certification or assignment.

Increases the educator’s teaching skills based on

effective practice research, with attention given to

interventions for struggling students.

Increases the educator's teaching skills based on

effective practice research, with attention given to

interventions for gifted students.

Provides educators with a variety of classroom-based

assessment skills and the skills needed to analyze and

use data in instructional decision making.

Empowers educators to work effectively with parents

and community partners.

Provides the knowledge and skills to think and plan

strategically, ensuring that assessments, curriculum,

instruction, staff professional education, teaching

materials and interventions for struggling students are

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aligned to each other, as well as to Pennsylvania’s

academic standards.

Provides the knowledge and skills to think and plan

strategically, ensuring that assessments, curriculum,

instruction, staff professional education, teaching

materials and interventions for gifted students are

aligned to each other, as well as to Pennsylvania's

academic standards.

Provides leaders with the ability to access and use

appropriate data to inform decision making.

Empowers leaders to create a culture of teaching and

learning, with an emphasis on learning.

Instructs the leader in managing resources for effective

results.

(from the CLSD Comprehensive Plan)

In line with the district’s overall mission of empowering students, I believe that

professional development is about helping teachers to nurture and harness their gifts and talents

so that students get the best teachers possible. The PD’s ultimate goal is to raise the achievement

levels of all students. To that end, PD should be supported and strengthened by activities such as

courses, workshops, collaborative networks, and conferences. As a future principle, I believe

that I must provide, encourage, and expect teacher involvement in the aforementioned activities.

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The following are specific areas that the idea of PD includes: alignment to state and local

academic standards and goals, training by professional experts, involvement of all school staff

including Para-professional in a culture of life-long learning, yearly activities for staff, and on-

going assessment of data to determine and guide subsequent PD. My definition of professional

development fits within the parameters of the district’s vision and “characteristics” of helping

students reach their full individual potential. Ironically, as we help staff reach their full potential,

we are modeling what we want to engender in students: a commitment to always want to learn.

Assess Needs/Analysis/Self-Analysis

I sent out a questionnaire via Survey Monkey and the teachers completed and submitted it

online. Since the intervention teachers’ role is to support the district’s Response to Intervention

and Instruction (RtII) efforts, I sent them an online survey that focused on identifying training

needs within RtII. I adapted the survey from The RISS (Response to Intervention Support

System) project, which is part of the Maine Department of Education IDEA professional

development grant. RISS supports Response to Intervention (RtI) system design and

implementation of two projects in Maine. RISS provided in their report “District Planning

Questions” to help the district look at Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, Data Management,

and Professional Development. Within the Professional Development I took questions from

three different areas “Understanding RtI,” “Assessment,” and “Collaboration and Problem

Solving” to include in the teacher questionnaire.

I sent the teachers the link to Survey Monkey and they completed the survey. The

teachers were mostly required to provide, using a Likert Scale, their level of agreement to

statements. The last item required the teachers to rank order and prioritize areas for this

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professional development mini project. The following are the results from the three reading

intervention teachers:

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 8


The results from the survey indicated that the teachers believe they have enough

understanding about the RtII process as well as the assessments for determining student

academic progress. The teachers placed “Collaboration and Problem-Solving” as the number

one area to prioritize for their professional development. This area involves working with others

in thinking about, planning for, implementing and evaluating interventions for dealing with

academic problems. By focusing on a professional development project related to this area the

teachers would be tackling the district’s goal of equipping teachers to providing interventions for

struggling students—since the reading specialists work with struggling readers.

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Determine and Develop Goals

I met with the three teachers to discuss the survey results and to determine and develop

goals for the professional development. The teachers agreed that they yearn for opportunities to

grow in their profession. For the retiring teacher, she wants to continue to find ways to help her

current students and help create a good incoming environment to her replacement. As

intervention teachers they have felt neglected by the district’s generic in-service training

sessions. They were excited about doing this professional development project as a way to be

proactive with tailoring a program specifically for their needs.

Collaboration and Problem Solving was their priority as noted in the survey. They want

to be able to be a part of a collaborative group of other reading specialists in the local counties

and be able to discuss and venture into different reading strategies and programs that are trending

in the field. During the discussion they identified “Close Reading” as an area that many in the

reading field are utilizing and exploring in their work with students—especially because of

Common Core standards. They are interested in reading comprehension resources for the

intermediate grades because the Study Island data demonstrates that a large percentage of our

students are not likely to meet “proficient” on the upcoming Pennsylvania System of School

Assessment (PSSA). Study Island is an online learning resource, used by CLSD, to help students

with standards mastery. On our latest Study Island benchmark 46% our third grader were either

“proficient” or “advanced;” 51% of fourth graders were either “proficient” or “advanced;” and

62% of fifth graders were either “proficient” or “advanced.” A large portion of the student who

performed at the “below basic” and “basic” range are students that are in Tier2/3 groups taught

by the reading intervention teachers. Furthermore, as noted previously, the reading intervention

teachers want to connect with other reading specialist in the surrounding counties. The teachers

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expressed a desire to identify resources and organizations that they can connect to in the future

network-building opportunities as well as for their skills development. Finally, the reading

specialists said they wanted to have this professional development project help them to solidify

ideas for how they will continue to grow as teachers in the next school year. We left the

discussion meeting with the following goals for this professional development project:

Short Term Goals:

1. Learn about Close Reading. This will help them have an additional effective practice

research approach to reading comprehension, which benefits their work with struggling

readers.

2. Identify local organizations and online resources that they can use to be better reading

intervention teachers. By connecting with other professionals, the teachers meet the

district’s PD characteristics of instructing leaders to manage resources for effective

results.

Long Term Goal:

1. Develop a preliminary professional development activities plan for next school year. By

developing a list of PD activities, the teachers meet the district’s PD characteristics of

empowering leaders to create a culture of teaching and learning, with an emphasis on

learning.

Read and Examine Research

The three teachers chose to learn about Close Reading. With the advent of the Common

Core State Standards an emphasis is being made for teachers to instruct student in Close Reading

(Snow and O’Connor, 2014). Close Reading is a reading comprehension approach that requires

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students to get the meaning from the text by examining how language is used in the passage. It

is different from the approach, which has readers make personal connections with the text

(Boyles, 2012). The emphasis is on text-dependent questions. Possible questions for the readers

to ask center around: imaginary used (similes, metaphors, personification, figurative language,

symbols), word choice, tone and voice, and sentence structure. Snow and O’Connor (2012) view

Close Reading as one of many practices that are useful in the teaching of comprehension and text

interpretation. They mentioned that with English Language Learners, Close Reading is a

valuable resource because of its focus on and deconstruction of sentences drawn from the text

they are reading in any of their content areas. Still, Snow and O’Connor (2012) believe that

Close Reading should be used only if it recognizes that evidence from other sources other than

the text under consideration can legitimately be used in discussing a text. This reading strategy

can help struggling readers at Ebenezer Elementary especially since this approach seems to be

compatible with the Common Core Standards and, hence, help with a particular strand of student

achievement.

Model and Method to Achieve the Goals

The teachers decided they wanted to have discussion groups as a model to achieve the

short and long term goals. They welcomed the opportunity to get together as colleagues and

gleam from each other’s wealth of experience. This, in part, addressed their desire to have

collaboration within the scope of their work at Ebenezer. They also believe that the discussion

groups are a practical forum to brainstorm and incorporate any essential Close Reading concepts

within their Tier 2 and Tier 3 reading groups. Furthermore, they want to share with each other

local and online resources. Finally, they also want to have a “game plan” for continuing their

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professional development together. They indicated that they would have these discussion groups

during their planning period time, which is usually around 50 minutes.

Define and Develop the specific activities that undergird the Model and Method selected

For the short term goal of learning more about Close Reading it was agreed that I would

provide the teachers with an article on the topic. They would have a week to read the article on

their own and we would reconvene during a planning period to have a discussion on the article.

At the conclusion on the Close Reading discussion, they would spend a week looking for local

organizations/people and online resources to use for future PD. At the conclusion of the week,

we would reconvene to share the salient resources that could be potential avenues to get further

professional development. Lastly, on the final planning period get-together, the teachers would

identify some key trainings and workshops to possibly attend next year. In total, we would meet

for three discussion sessions.

Identify Materials, Cost, and Resources

I provided the Close Reading article. I used my Millersville University

library/periodicals account to attain an article to provide to staff. I selected the Boyles (2012)

article because it was informative, relatively short, and it did not have typical scholarly jargon.

Because I am a graduate student, the article was free. Furthermore, I made free copies through

my access to the school’s copier machine. I was able to make copies and place them in the

staff’s mailboxes.

For the identification of local organizations and online resources, the teachers and I

perused the Internet as well as mailings received from educational sources. The teachers are

given district-issued laptops. The Internet access is of no cost via the Cornwall-Lebanon School

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District. I also contacted Anita Hill who is a fellow school psychologist of the Lancaster-

Lebanon Intermediate Unit (IU-13) to inquire about their resources for reading specialists. My

job was to report to the three teachers, if there are any trainings, or workshops that the IU-13 can

provide to them.

Timeline and Deadlines

Logistics. As noted previously, the teachers agreed to meet for three discussion sessions

to work towards the three (3) goals. The discussion sessions would occur for three consecutive

weeks but there was an extra week in case the elementary milieu would not allow us to get

together on a week. Each session would be approximately 50 minutes and focus on one of the

identified goals. For example Discussion Session 1 was on Close Reading; Discussion Session 2

was on the identification of resources, and; Discussion Session 3 was on creating a list of

activities to pursue as part of a PD plan for the next school year. We agreed that the last

Discussion Session would occur no later than the week of April 13, 2015 so that I would have

enough time to complete the professional development paper for the graduate class. We decided

to meet in the Community Conference room (located at Ebenezer Elementary) because it is

generally available for group work and it also has a projector to show the online resources. After

each session each person reviewed his or her upcoming week’s schedule and we determined the

next meeting date. Since the planning period was after lunch, no food or snacks were needed.

Budget and Resources. All items are free and no expenses were incurred as part of this

professional development project. The article was attained via my Millersville University

graduate school account to the Keystone Library Network, which provides free access to articles.

I have a copier account at Ebenezer Elementary that allows me to make copies. I was able to

make copies of the Close Reading article because its content was work-related. The teachers

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have a district-issued computer with internet access from which they are able to look for local

organizations and online resources.

Support and Maintenance. Our school principal was informed of the nature of the

professional development plan and provided approval for the use of the teacher’s time to further

develop their skills. The school district provided the necessary meeting room and tools needed

for the program as well as the negotiated Union contract for a daily planning period. I am the

point person and facilitator of the discussion sessions.

Once we decide of next week’s schedule session I send out the official Outlook Calendar

appointment meeting that serves as a commitment and reminder for the teachers to attend. I

write up all the key discussion points and serve as the secretary of the dialogue.

Implementation of Program/Plan

The three teachers and I met for two consecutive weeks and then met two weeks later for

the final discussion session. The teachers were Mrs. Wenrich, Miss Baumbach and Mrs. Paine.

I served as the facilitator of the session discussions. Each person is responsible to read, research,

and present to the group their insights from the Close Reading article, their identified local and

online training resources, and articulate to the PD activities to potentially pursue for the next

school year.

Review and Revise

The teachers and I met and discussed the topics as delineated in the PD project goals.

The first session focused on Close Reading and how they believe it could be used in their

practice with struggling readers. During the second session, the teachers thought that identifying

online resources for training would not be a viable option. They preferred to idea of

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collaboration with local professionals and resources. In short, they wanted to only identify

training involving face-to-face interaction. As a consequence, the teachers honed in on local and

regional organizations. For the last discussion session the teachers shared the activities they

want to pursue for next year. Mrs. Paine, the retiring teacher, mentioned the activities that she

would have pursued if she were still teaching.

Formally Assess and Evaluate

The following is questionnaire I sent out to the three teachers at the conclusion of the

professional development program. I developed the items to target the three sessions and the

teachers’ perception of how they might have been impacted, if at all, by the collegial discussions

on each goal of the PD mini project:

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The data from the completed Survey Monkey questionnaires demonstrate that the

teachers think they are better off because of the discussion sessions in all the three goals set forth

at the beginning of the professional development program. They have articulated tangible and

practical incorporation of the Close Reading strategy into their teaching practice. One teacher

wants to use authentic literature, another teacher wants to use a previously unused curriculum for

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its short passages conducive to text analysis, and another teacher wants to “coach” students to

ask some of the Close Reading questions used to interact with the text. All of the teachers feel

they have more awareness of local/online resources than before the professional development

program.

Interestingly, for next year’s professional development program they want to prioritize

attending a Reading Conference as well as have topical reading strategy discussions at Ebenezer

Elementary. They have identified the local foundation as a resource to which they can apply for

conference registration financial support (namely, the Falcon Foundation) to attend reading

conference organized by Keystone State Reading Association. They are also interested in having

an IU-13 representative come to the district to conduct trainings. This appears viable because I

were able to identify and get a commitment from the IU-13 to perform training with our staff

with the limited amount of daily planning time provided by the school district. Laura Lent who

serves as the Staff Development & Training Team Supervisor for IU-13 wrote, “We often

customize the length of time and content to each individual school or even to the teacher level

with consultation. Training and consultation can be broken into half-day segments or even

hourly segments before or after school. I would like to see our opportunities to support

Cornwall-Lebanon SD grow. Thank you so much for forwarding the information about TaC

team supports. I am happy to work with any of the administration and staff of C-L to provide

services within the parameters of your resources, all via IDEA funding” (L. Lent, personal

communication, April 21, 2015). I forwarded this email to a key administrator within the

district. I hope that they would take advantage of an opportunity to use this free resource to

equip teachers around the district. The impression the district gives out to the reading

intervention teachers is that reading intervention time can never be cancelled. However, I

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believe that occasionally cancelling a day or half day of reading groups, so that teachers can

receive training, will work out for student in the long term. The teachers will be better prepared

with innovative approaches and tools to help their students achieve.

I feel that the PD mini project has helped the teachers add another reading comprehension

strategy to their proverbial tool belt. This in turn, supports the school district efforts with helping

to enhance the teachers’ content knowledge in the area of their certification and assignment as

reading specialists. Additionally, I believe that this PD mini project helped to give them

directions for their own PD plan. During the initial discussions about this project they noted that

during most beginning-of-year district in-service trainings they feel neglected as reading

specialists. Most of the district training is for classroom teachers, and special areas teachers.

They feel like a forgotten group. This PD project served as a catalyst and reminded them that

they can be proactive and there are organizations and local contacts that can bring the training to

them. They are not alone. They will soon connect with other professionals in the field who want

to help them get better in their teaching craft and their students will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

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References

Boyles, N. (2012). Closing in on Close Reading. Educational Leadership, 70(4), 36-41.

RtI Needs Assessment and Planning Process. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from

https://usm.maine.edu/sites/default/files/smart/RISS School Needs Assessment and Planning.pdf

Snow, C., & O'Connor, C. (2014). Close Reading and Far-Reaching Classroom Discussion:

Fostering a Vital Connection. The California Reader, 47(4), 27-34.

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