REL Southwest is partnering with educators across New Mexico to improve English learner student literacy. The Southwest English Learner Literacy (SWELL) partnership will study the Write to Succeed professional learning program to help teachers improve their literacy instruction. Teachers within a school will participate in Write to Succeed as a school-based team as they learn about evidence-based literacy practices and are supported to integrate those practices within existing instructional units.
REL Southwest will integrate two supports that were developed and initially piloted in New Mexico as part of a prior partnership. Specifically, the focus on effective literacy practices will be enhanced by integrating support for effective teacher peer collaboration, and the delivery approach will be enhanced to support teachers with practicing culturally and linguistically responsive instruction through role-play before implementing the routines in the classroom with students.
Partner organization: New Mexico Public Education Department
Current projects
REL Southwest is providing training and coaching to build the capacity of instructional coaches and grades 4–8 teachers in using evidence-based literacy practices within their existing instructional units. The project consists of two phases. In the adaptation phase, REL Southwest will review and refine the Write to Succeed program materials to support their successful implementation in the varied education contexts in New Mexico. Next, in the implementation phase, REL Southwest will hold training institutes in the fall and spring for participating instructional coaches and provide ongoing support to these coaches as they train and support teachers to implement the evidence-based literacy practices.
REL Southwest is partnering with New Mexico school districts to conduct applied research to optimize and test the efficacy of the Write to Succeed professional learning program. This research-based program provides scaffolded writing instruction designed to support all students, including the language needs of English learner students. First, REL Southwest is conducting an optimization study to examine whether the Write to Succeed program is feasible, useful, and supports progress toward desired outcomes. Next, REL Southwest will conduct an initial efficacy study using a multisite cluster randomized trial design to assess the impact of participating in the Write to Succeed program compared with business-as-usual professional learning.
Completed projects
No completed projects at this time.