Teacher Professional Development for The Superkids Reading Program

One of the best things and smartest things we did, along with the adoption of the Super Kids program, is to make sure we included extended professional development from the Super Kids providers themselves. Professional development that's provided through Super Kids for our teachers is outstanding. The model that they've used with coaching meets every teacher's needs right where they're at. You've got high-performing teachers who need a little less coaching, and you have some newer teachers who might need some more coaching. And with the Super Kids coaches coming on-site frequently, that has really helped us to continue our momentum of using the program with fidelity and being successful and seeing great results from our students. Even when we first started and I got started on it, I thought, okay, I'm doing okay, I'm doing okay, I like this. Then when the coach came and confirmed, number one, that I was on the right track, but also gave me some tips, I was off and running the rest of the year. And she could tell you that herself. I really did love that. Teachers want to do it the right way, and have someone in their classroom that they're comfortable with, that they have a relationship with, that they think is their friend, is immensely powerful. It really has become cultural in our kindergarten through second grade classes that they look to the program to guide them, and they know that the rigor is high, that the students are learning at very high levels. So they feel very strongly, and they're very committed to the program. And I feel like that's part of the success of the program, too, is the teacher commitment to that program. That they want it to be successful, and they've seen the results of it based on our standardized achievement results. So they want to continue to use the program and see those same results year after year. The professional development has been top notch. We couldn't ask for more attention for our teachers, and what their specific needs are to help them provide the best instruction for their students.