ERIC Number: EJ767774
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-0553
EISSN: N/A
Closing the Gap through Professional Development: Implications for Reading Research
Doubek, Michael Brandon; Cooper, Eric J.
Reading Research Quarterly, v42 n3 p411-415 Jul-Sep 2007
This article describes the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), a nonprofit advocacy organization that engages with school communities through professional development to build relationships with educators, students, parents, and community stakeholders. NUA consultants are former and current university professors, former superintendents and principals, and classroom teachers with an average of 18 years' experience. The organization is currently involved with partnerships in 26 school systems in 8 cities across the United States. The goal for each site is to advocate for students in a manner that reverses the effects of institutional racism and improves life trajectories, working with district partners to close the achievement gap by reversing underachievement in urban youth and supporting administrators and faculty to increase student success. The NUA conducts rigorous internal professional development and evaluation procedures to ensure consistency of the goals, values, and dispositions of its personnel. The organization also strives to balance the reciprocity among culture as a motivator, language as a mediator, and cognition as a facilitator of learning. This triad forms one structure through which the NUA provides services.
Descriptors: Urban Youth, Reading Research, Evaluation, Professional Development, Academic Achievement, Language Arts, Urban Schools, Partnerships in Education, Advocacy, Reader Text Relationship, Models, High Stakes Tests, Interdisciplinary Approach
International Reading Association. 800 Barksdale Road, P.O. Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139. Tel: 800-336-7323; Fax: 302-731-1057; e-mail: customerservice@reading.org; Web site: http://www.reading.org/publications/index.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United States
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: No Child Left Behind Act 2001
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A