In my new role as Literacy Consultant, I look forward to sharing important updates and resources with educators. Prior to joining the Department, I served Indianola CSD for 14 years as a secondary English language arts teacher and instructional coach. Past experiences locally and work nationally with SBAC, EdReports.org, and Student Achievement Partners, inspire me to create equitable opportunities for all students and ensure access to quality, aligned materials. Forward these communications to colleagues as we work together to provide resources and professional learning opportunities around implementation of Iowa's Academic Standards in ELA/Literacy.

The 2019-2020 Statewide Literacy Leadership Team met in September for the first day of learning and collaboration. Members reflected on managing complex change as literacy leaders and updates were provided about new literacy resources available and various uses. Cindra Porter facilitated an afternoon session, sharing relevant information around meeting the needs of English learners and connections to MTSS.

The Statewide Literacy Leadership Team serves several purposes with the vision to provide leadership for implementation of Iowa's Academic Standards in ELA/Literacy. The team meets four times a year and focuses on the following:

• facilitate communication and collaboration with the field;
• provide professional learning for the members to build capacity;
• identify and/or create resources to help the field implement standards; and,
• provide a vehicle for dissemination of identified resources.

Access the current membership list: 

https://educateiowa.gov/documents/literacy/2019/09/statewide-literacy-leadership-team-membership

What are you doing to align instructional practice and implement the Iowa Academic Standards?

Are you utilizing tools to design instruction, assess learning, or create professional development that supports all students meeting Iowa Core expectations in literacy?  

Share your work and celebrations via the Spotlight Literacy Google Form. A literacy spotlight will be chosen each month!

Let's build bridges together and improve instructional practice.