Teacher Reading Academies—Texas
As of April 2003, over 78,000 kindergarten through third grade teachers have participated in the Texas Teacher Reading Academies. The Texas academies are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and provide teachers with state-specific information on student demographics and reading initiative resources.
In 2001, the 77th Texas Legislature appropriated funding to support the development and dissemination of the Fourth Grade Teacher Reading Academy (4TRA) — a professional development academy.
The Fourth Grade Teacher Reading Academy content is organized around the following topics: A Focus on Writing; Fluency and Progress Monitoring; Word Identification and Vocabulary; Comprehension of Narrative and Expository Texts; and A Focus on Math.
In fall of 2003, each district and Regional Education Service Center received a CD-ROM of the 4TRA. The CD-ROM contains all of the presentation slides, speaker notes, videos, participant handouts and activities, and references. Districts may design their own implementation of the 4TRA professional development, or contact their Regional Education Service Center for assistance. In 2004, TEA sent another CD containing the 4TRA Follow-up Day to districts and Education Service Centers.
To make the Texas Teacher Reading Academies accessible to all teachers — especially new teachers and teachers who are new to a grade level — online versions of the K-2 academies are also available. Online versions for grades 3 and 4 are under development, with grade 3 to be launched in the spring of 2004.
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