New Castle Elementary Schools Finds High-level Professional Development With Courses

New Castle Elementary Schools have finished the Early Literacy: Guiding Principles course and have found it to be highly effective and valuable as a tool for them to continue to improve literacy in their schools.  “I wish everyone in schools could take these courses,” said Dr. Shelly Bucci, Reading First Literacy Coach for New Castle. 

The teachers themselves immediately took full advantage of this professional development opportunity and although some of the teachers in the study groups are physically located in different buildings, they have managed to develop a vibrant, online professional learning community. They are talking to each other, reflecting on their practice and sharing their successes with their coach and facilitator, Dr. Bucci.  “People will come to me and say that they did a section last night and how much they got out of it, and they are incorporating the content into other areas, like math or other subjects. I see it through the journal logs and what they are saying about their students,” she said.

Dr. Bucci explained that by taking the course, the teachers are learning the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model, and as well as new practices and realizing a reason and a purpose for what they are learning.  The content of the courses are affirming their current practice and showing them innovative new techniques.

Other teachers in this district are now considering taking these courses due to the quality and level of the course content, according to Dr. Bucci.  Traditional in-service days and one-day seminars have not been effective, and there is no comparison between traditional professional development and the quality and content of the Learning Sciences International courses.  Learners gain so much more through these courses than they ever could through traditional methods of professional development.