Primary Grant Focus
Forming a collaborative partnership, Southwest Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency (SWRESA) and Costal Plains Regional Educational Service Agency (CPRESA) are expanding their existing projects supporting elementary and secondary teachers (grades 4 – 12) in implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). By increasing Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) professional learning opportunities for teachers in 27 school districts throughout rural southwest and south central regions of Georgia, this partnership focuses on increasing content-area teachers’ best practices as they integrate literacy standards and provide literacy-based instruction. The partnership is using a blended learning model for delivering and sustaining professional learning for teachers in remote areas of the region.
Strategies for Supporting Common Core Success
To provide teachers the ongoing support needed to understand and best implement CCSS instructional shifts in content area classrooms, SWRESA/CPRESA is changing to a blended professional learning model and increasing support for technological capacity of its teachers.
- SWRESA/CPRESA LDC specialists provide onsite, face-to-face and online professional learning opportunities focused on three critical areas: CCSS-aligned literacy instruction strategies for shifting instructional practice, Georgia’s Formative Instructional Practices (FIP), and correlation between these practices and the state’s Teacher Keys Evaluation System (TKES) indicators. Professional learning targets both the needs of teachers of English language arts and teachers for whom literacy has not historically been integral in their instruction, such as science, social studies, and career and technology. LDC professional training modules are housed on the Georgia Department of Education’s open-access website (georgiastandards.org).
- Teachers with LDC experience comprise the first teacher cohort and are supported to develop and share new LDC instructional modules, as well as mentor teachers new to LDC.
- The online component deepens teacher learning on the same three critical areas emphasized in face-to-face learning, while offering teachers across schools and districts opportunities to engage in peer collaboration. Through the online site, Teacher Practice Network (teacherpracticenetwork.com), teachers attend professional learning sessions, access instructional resources, and engage in small professional learning communities for problem solving and sharing. For teachers less familiar with online learning, a technology specialist provides support for navigating the online offerings and integrating technology into instruction.
General Information
- Southwest Georgia Regional Educational Service Agency (SWRESA) & Coastal Plains Regional Educational Service Agency (CPRESA)
570 Martin Luther King, Jr. Road, Camilla, GA 31730 -
Debbie Clarke, LDC Specialist
dclarke@swresa.org - Jan Powell, LDC Specialist
jpowell@cpresa.org - Brooke Paige, Instructional Technologist
bpaige@swresa.org - Phone: (229) 207-0600
- www.teacherpracticenetwork.com
http://www.ciclt.net/sn/clt/swresa/default.aspx?ClientCode=swresa
http://www.ciclt.net/sn/clt/cpresa/default.aspx?ClientCode=cpresa - Term of Grant: July 2014 – December 2015
Grantee Initiative: Teacher Practice Networks: Integrating CCSS with Increased Opportunities of Collaboration and Support
Region: Georgia
Subject Area: Literacy
Education Levels: 4-12
