Can Professional Development for Teachers Improve the Reading skills of Mississippi students?

Submitted by Judy Hanning on Wed, 2017-06-07 18:00
A recent assessment done in the State of Mississippi has shown that children in K-3 classes were not scoring very high on their reading and writing assessments. These schools then offered additional training to help improve the scores.
However, it seems that the extra training was only beneficial for the staff members. A new assessment was made which contained teaching, phonics, vocabulary and more. The new results showed an average of only one extra question was answered correctly.
To determine if the K-3 teachers’ literacy knowledge improved after professional development and coaching, the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (REL Southeast) developed a survey that consisted of 31 knowledge and application questions about vocabulary, teaching and pedagogy, phonics, and other skills.
~ New America

Key Takeaways:

1
Mississippi K-3 reading rates are well below the national average.
2
Local educators were offered supplement training.
3
Researchers are unsure if this supplemental training even made a difference.
Read the full article here:
http://www.readingrockets.org/news/can-professional-development-teachers-improve-reading-skills-mississippi-students