Texas Reading First Initiative

Principal Investigator

Greg Roberts

Funding Agency

Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Description of the Project

In spring 2003, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) was awarded its Reading First funding, allocated under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. To implement the Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI), TEA is partnering with the University of Texas System (UT System); the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts; the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI at UT Health Science Center-Houston); and the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES at the University of Houston).

The TRFI Partners collaborate to share knowledge and to avoid duplication of effort. UT System deploys 67 TRFI Reading Technical Assistance (RTA) Specialists across the state. The Vaughn Gross Center and CLI focus on expanding the statewide infrastructure for technical assistance and professional development by enhancing the knowledge and skills of the RTAs and the Education Service Center Reading Liaisons. TIMES implements the statewide evaluation plan.

Thea Woodruff, Ph.D. directs the Vaughn Gross Center's six-year, annually renewed TRFI grants to support the Texas Reading First Initiative by providing Statewide Professional Development and Statewide Technical Assistance.

TRFI Statewide Professional Development

The Vaughn Gross Center collaborates with CLI and TEA in implementing the TRFI professional development plan based on the needs of targeted TRFI schools. The goal is to develop the knowledge and skills of a cadre of RTAs who are directly linked to funded RF campuses and of the Education Service Center (ESC) Reading Liaisons who serve the unfunded but eligible RF campuses. These specialists can then provide the support necessary to bring about schoolwide improvement in students' reading. The Vaughn Gross Center develops and provides professional development tools to two main groups of constituents: the TRFI technical assistance providers (RTAs and ESC Reading Liaisons) who work with educators, and the faculty members from institutions of higher education with preservice teacher programs.

Center activities that target the needs of the technical assistance providers include developing professional development information and tools for administrators and campus reading coaches to use in implementing their campus 3-Tier Reading Model and conducting professional development sessions for UT System RTAs and ESC Reading specialists. In addition, two Vaughn Gross Center teams contribute expertise to unique statewide professional development efforts: the TRFI Online Professional Development Component and the TRFI Higher Education Collaborative (HEC).

The TRFI Online Professional Development Component uses technology to meet educators' continuing needs to access current information on research-based reading instruction. The team disseminates K-4 Online Teacher Reading Academies (OTRA) and the Special Education Reading Project (SERP) Elementary and Secondary Institutes through Searchlight, an online course management system. Presentation notes, handouts, videos, and resource materials are included. Searchlight also provides a tool for searching and browsing related reading resources. Teachers with Internet connections can obtain continuing education credits and updated information, including questions asked by their colleagues and answers provided by academy trainers. RTAs and ESCs can participate in the Campus Leadership Online Community (CLOC), a Web-based technical assistance site that provides access to information and the expertise of the TRFI Partners.

The TRFI Higher Education Collaborative (HEC), directed by Marty Hougen, Ph.D., Program Manager, links college and university faculty members in teacher preparation programs to the TRFI professional development efforts. The HEC goal is to enhance implementation of scientifically based reading research practices. HEC members engage in a series of focused and collaborative meetings that provide access to Center materials and to technical assistance for integrating these materials into course syllabi. Begun in 2000, TRFI funding continues the HEC.

TRFI Statewide Technical Assistance

The Vaughn Gross Center provides both statewide and campus-specific technical assistance to support the TRFI. Major technical assistance activities include assisting the TRFI Partners in conducting the annual statewide leadership conference, and assisting the RTAs in providing targeted technical assistance to school districts and charter schools in implementing their TRFI plans. In addition, the Vaughn Gross Center assists TEA in developing and reviewing LEA applications and in implementing other TRFI activities.