English Language Arts

Professional Development

We are able to work with you and your English Language Arts and Social Studies leaders to construct a professional development program by: 

• Meeting with you and your literacy leaders to identify needs as well as areas of interest such as:
  • Common Core Standards, skills and instructional shifts
  • Smarter Balanced assessments
  • Vertical alignment in text complexity, the writing process
  • Literacy in the content areas
• Conducting professional development sessions  based on district priorities. 
• Supporting district leaders and teachers in crafting an assessment system that includes summative, interim and formative assessments. 
• Facilitating regional partnerships with districts who are pursuing similar priorities

We are eager to work with you to support your students and teachers as we work to close the opportunity gap in literacy. Please let us know if we can be of service by filling out a brief form: bit.ly/literacyplease

Literacy Leaders

Literacy Leaders professional development series invites building and systems literacy leaders in the region to model best practices, share success, strategize about common challenges, and engage in inquiry together. We focus on closing opportunity gaps in English Language Arts and Social Studies by leading with racial equity. 

Literacy Leaders is open to district, charter and school leaders whose work focuses on accelerating student literacy. We meet five times throughout the year from 9am to noon. Each convening will focus on  leading with equity in literacy, classroom literacy practices, and networking to consult on problems of practice and successes.

Links to register for upcoming meetings can be found in our PSESD ELA Newsletter. Click below to register. 

Monthly Newsletter

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The Washington State Fellows Network is a leadership program focused on equitable mindsets and practices for early learning, English language arts, math, and science educators. Puget Sound Fellows are teacher leaders, instructional coaches, administrators, and curriculum specialists across our 35 districts. PSESD seeks to ensure equitable opportunities for students and educators; to that end, we especially encourage educators of color to apply so that our Fellows cohorts represent the racial diversity of our region.

To learn more, please see the OSPI Fellows website. 

Apply to be a Fellow here!

ELA Fellows 

The Fellows are a growing network of Washington state educational leaders who expand their capacity to improve student learning through ongoing professional learning and leadership development within their local context and in partnership with school districts, educational service districts, and community agencies and state organizations.   

PSESD English Language Arts Fellows meet four times a year, and our learning focuses on: 

• Leading with racial equity 
• Learning pedagogy and content knowledge that Fellows can take back to their districts, buildings, or teams
• Developing as teacher leaders 
• Creating and enacting an Action Plan 

Some of the PSESD ELA Fellows Action Plans include: 

• Implement an interim assessment plan to close opportunity gaps in literacy
• Lead grade level teams to vertically align writing rubrics and instruction
• Facilitating a curriculum adoption process with a focus on equity and culturally responsive teaching
• Work with colleague(s) to evaluate representation and inclusion in literacy instruction, including topics of race and social justice. 
• Work with grade level teams to analyze student data from common assessments and plan revisions to curriculum and assessments

English Language Arts Fellows is a three-year commitment requiring school &/or district leader sponsorship.  We meet at PSESD for a full day four times a year.  

ELA Fellows applications open in the spring of each year.  Please visit the OSPI Fellows Network website for more information.     

Embedded with Racial Equity 

To begin our shared learning, the ELA Fellows cohort read and discussed Ibram X. Kendi Defines What It Means to Be an Antiracist, and applied his definition to our roles as educators. This introduction to our cohort will provide our lens for examining our practices and beliefs across the year together. An antiracist lens informs our learning in the content area as well; research in The Opportunity Myth calls us to focus on grade-level texts and tasks to ensure that all students have the opportunity to excel. We examine three elements of our content practices to ensure equity and access: the Habits of Mind outlined in Students Who are College and Career Ready in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking; formative assessment design with guidance such as Achieve the Core's Checklist for Evaluating Question Quality; and culturally-responsive and sustaining pedagogy such as Zaretta Hammond's Ready for Rigor framework.

Additional Resources

• UnboundEd's Equitable Reading Instruction: Immersing Students in Grade-Level Reading and Thinking provides a framework for literacy instruction that is consistent with PSESD’s approach with Fellows.

• Choosing Scaffolds for Complex Text and Scaffolds for Distance Learning. Created for leaders in the PSESD region, this outlines the same type of supports in a synchronous, asynchronous, and low/no-tech platform, a structure learned from Achieve the Core.

Facts and Figures

• 28 ELA Fellows this year

• 10 new ELA Fellows (some regions have one or none)

• 13 districts: Bellevue, Bethel, Fife, Highline, Kent, Lake Washington, Muckleshoot, Peninsula, Renton, Riverview, Seattle, Steilacoom, Tacoma