Partnerships for Improving Literacy in Urban Schools

Abstract

How many times have researchers and professional developers approached you or your school with “the answer” to improving literacy achievement? How did it work out? If changes occurred during the engagement with these outside partners, what remained after the project ended? Did such efforts lead to lasting change and improvement in student performance? If your experiences are typical and align with our own past experiences, your answers to these questions are probably, “Many times,” “OK while it lasted,” “Not much,” and “Not really.” The Advanced Reading Development Demonstration Project sought to change these answers by redefining school district–university partnerships and thereby making capacity building at the school and district level the explicit goal of these partnerships. Capacity building was seen as the linchpin for sustainable and ongoing performance improvements.