Interactive, Collaborative Professional Development in Early Literacy Instruction: Supporting the Balancing Act

Abstract

Project RIME, Reading Instructional Methods of Efficacy, is an interactive, collaborative professional development project designed to support early elementary and special education teachers as they integrate more explicit instruction for children at risk for reading failure into their curricula. Two components of the model are described: the interactive course and the yearlong school collaboration. This article focuses on 11 teachers from two schools and compares them to teachers from two other schools. Several evaluations, including measures of teachers' attitudes and knowledge, are described. Results indicate that although teachers became more positive and knowledgeable toward using explicit instruction, their orientation toward implicit, whole-language approaches remained stable. In contrast, teachers' attitudes and knowledge in the comparison schools were unchanged. Results from student performance are also summarized. The perceptions of 3 teachers were explored further using qualitative data analysi...