At the core of this initiative is ongoing, site-based professional development that will enable teachers to make and sustain immediate changes in their instruction. These changes must be consistent from classroom to classroom and grade to grade, so that there is little variability in instructional practice. Teachers also must have opportunities to visit other successful classrooms, both within and outside of their individual school. A Professional Developer works with teachers in their classrooms one to two days a week to improve the quality of literacy instruction. One or two literacy strategies are selected for study and implementation during the year.
Schools increase their budgets for quality, on-site professional development.
Time is built into the day for teachers to observe one another and engage in school-based professional development in literacy. Improving student performance is a community-wide effort which directly involves teachers, administrators, parents, and the broader community. Achievement First schools focus their partnerships on improving literacy and reinforcing classroom literacy strategies. Every pre-K to 2 nd grade classroom develops a home lending library. Parents and families are trained in read-aloud skills and other literacy strategies that they can use with their children at home.