Mission
Reading Apprenticeship is committed to improving learning outcomes for middle school, high school, and college students by assisting them to become powerful, strategic, and independent readers.
They work toward this mission by designing and facilitating professional learning focused on helping all students achieve higher levels of academic literacy. They continuously improve their work through research and development and they make their work accessible through grant-funded activities.
They carry out our mission in the context of convening and providing support for a national network of middle school, high school, and college educators working to embed the Reading Apprenticeship instructional framework in their varied local contexts.
Core Values
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We are committed to equity. We want all students to have the support and opportunity to access a rigorous and engaging curriculum. To ensure this literacy equity, it is important that students work with teachers who understand the critical role of literacy in content-area learning.
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We believe there are powerful ways to build on adolescents’ and adults’ knowledge and experience to help them become more successful readers of academic texts. We know that when teachers make particular changes in their content-area instruction, literacy, learning, and engagement improve.
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We believe in the power of collaborative inquiry to equip teachers and students with the intellectual tools they need to develop a critical, reflective stance toward their own teaching and learning, the identification of problems, and the development of solutions.
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We are committed to teacher professionalism. We believe that teachers continue to grow when they can build on their current knowledge and expertise in a professional community that provides frequent opportunities for reflection and support.
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We are committed to an ongoing program of research that serves the dual purposes of informing our professional development practice and enabling us to contribute to the national dialogue on what works to advance literacy learning.
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We are committed to a strong organizational culture: one that is responsive to learning from our colleagues in the practitioner, research, and policy communities; that values individuals’ initiative and contributions to collaborative work; and, that supports staff in balancing work with other aspects of our lives.
