Book Description

"At Moreland Hills Elementary School something remarkable is taking place," writes district literacy specialist Maren Koepf. "Across the past ten years, teachers and administrators have worked together to produce a learning network supporting our students, our staff, and our parents. . . Much like the once-apprehensive peasants in the tale of Stone Soup, folks have gradually emerged from their isolated 'huts' of offices and classrooms to generate mutual resources, solutions, and innovations. Through joint endeavors, we created a Comprehensive Literacy System." In Synchronizing Success, Maren takes you on a tour of one school's winning strategy for developing an efficient and effective network of literacy support from kindergarten through fifth-grade. Beginning with a practical framework for continuous improvement, Maren presents three guiding principles that underlie the comprehensive system: continuity across practice, instructional language, assessment, etc.; ongoing professional development; and collaborative leadership. She illustrates how applying these guiding principles extends a school's capacity for unity and innovation. The book shows how school leaders can create a comprehensive literacy system, throughout schools and across districts, by aligning change components with a vision for literacy education, and offers tried-and-true processes for developing:job-embedded professional development;common literacy assessments; consistent instructional frameworks;prioritized curricular focus;timely and targeted intervention. Enriched with tools, tips, and planning guides for incrementally managing positive change, Synchronizing Success provides literacy specialists, principals, and staff developers the resources and action steps necessary for designing an integrated literacy system tailor-fit to their school setting.