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Home REL West Toolkit for Teaching K–3 Reading Comprehension Recruitment
Opportunity to Help Develop a New Evidence-Based Teacher Professional Development Toolkit to Support K-E reading Comprehension
The Toolkit for Teaching K–3 Reading Comprehension is a comprehensive set of resources for engaging K–3 educators in facilitated professional learning to increase their knowledge and skills in teaching reading comprehension.
The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) West is inviting districts in Arizona to implement a new professional development toolkit to support K–3 reading comprehension. The Toolkit, developed in partnership with Arizona educators, is a free set of professional development resources that includes handouts, classroom and expert videos, and other evidence-based materials to use in teacher professional learning communities to help teachers use evidence-based strategies to improve reading comprehension in K–3 students. By partnering with REL West in an upcoming study of the Toolkit, the district will provide critical evidence on understanding how the Toolkit affects both teacher and student outcomes.
What is REL West and what is the Toolkit?
REL West is a federally funded project housed at WestEd that helps bridge education research and practice in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. This includes developing tools to help teachers deliver evidence-based instruction in their classrooms. REL West developed the Toolkit for the study. To ensure the integrity of the study, one organization (WestEd) will develop the Toolkit and another organization (the RAND Corporation) will study its implementation and impact.
The Toolkit for Teaching K–3 Reading Comprehension is a comprehensive set of resources for engaging K–3 educators in facilitated professional learning to increase their knowledge and skills in teaching reading comprehension. This Toolkit is based on recommendations and evidence-based practices from the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade Practice Guide.
What would my district and schools have to do as part of the study?
The purpose of the study is to understand how, and to what extent, the Toolkit improves teacher practice and student reading comprehension outcomes. Partner districts, and participating schools and teachers, will be compensated for coordinating with the study team on data collection. We are looking to partner districts that can commit to all of the following:
- Allow the study team to use a lottery to select which of the district's schools get to use the Toolkit in the 2024/25 school year and which schools get to use the Toolkit in the 2025/26 school year.
Have staff members (one at each participating school) who can serve as Toolkit facilitators (e.g., site-based reading coaches, teacher leaders). - Share administrative data about student reading test scores with the study team and permit the study team to administer surveys to school leaders and teachers and teaching logs to teachers, and to interview a district leader.
Additional student test scores and other administrative data will be collected from the Arizona Department of Education.
What information is being collected from participants as part of this study and how will staff be appreciated for their efforts?
Teachers, school leaders (principals and Toolkit facilitators), and district leaders will participate in the study as described below, and REL West will show appreciation for participation in the following ways:
Participant |
What will they do? |
How long will it take? |
When? |
Appreciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Teachers* |
Complete a survey |
20 minutes |
September 2024, |
$30 gift card for completing each survey (for a total of $60 for the two surveys). |
Complete an instructional practice log |
5 minutes a day for 10 days |
September 2024, |
$75 gift card for completing 10 practice logs (for a total of $150 for the two rounds of practice logs) |
|
School Leaders (principals and Toolkit facilitators) |
Complete a survey |
20 minutes |
September 2024, |
$50 gift card for completing each survey (for a total of $100 for the two surveys) |
Facilitators |
|
|
|
Compensated at an hourly rate for their work with the Toolkit for up to $2,400 for the 2024/25 school year |
District Leaders |
Get interviewed |
50 minutes |
May 2025 |
|
*In addition, WestEd will issue a certificate for Continuing Education Units to teachers using the Toolkit in the 2024/25 school year in the Toolkit study for their professional learning time spent engaging with the Toolkit materials.
Schools selected to begin using the Toolkit during the 2024/25 school year will receive support from the Toolkit developers. Schools selected by the study team to wait to begin using the Toolkit in the 2025/26 school year will receive $2,500 in May 2025, to be used at their discretion.
Frequently Asked Questions:
The study team is identifying districts in Arizona that are committed to increasing early reading skills. Districts will be identified and selected based on their ability to commit to the timeline identified above as well as their ability to commit staff participation at the district, principal, teacher, and facilitator level.
As you know, there is often a gap between knowing an education practice works for students and being able to use that practice in the complex, demanding world of schools. This Toolkit is designed to make it easier for teachers to use evidence-based practices to support student reading comprehension, and the study is designed to determine how well the Toolkit works to change instruction and learning. We will use study findings to help other districts and schools, both across Arizona and in other states, use these resources effectively.
The study results will be summarized across all study participants (hundreds of teachers and dozens of schools), and REL West will write a study report that will be published through the Institute of Education Sciences. Summaries of results can be made available to participating districts. However, we adhere to strict codes of confidentiality and will NEVER release individual responses in any way that could identify participants.
STUDY CONTACT
Becki Herman, Study Co-Director
bherman@rand.org
Kata Mihaly, Study Director
kmihaly@rand.org
If you have general questions about the study, you can contact Dr. Becki Herman. Dr. Herman is available by email bherman@rand.org or by phone (703-517-6923). If you have questions about your rights as a participant, contact RAND's Human Subjects Protection Committee at: hspcinfo@rand.org or toll free at (866) 697-5620.