The purpose of the Literacy Collaborative is to plan professional development to enhance literacy teachers’ levels of expertise to ultimately improve student literacy outcomes.  Based on districts’ needs, the intent is to increase student’s reading/writing abilities by building on teachers’ expertise in content knowledge and instructional skills.  Member districts share common deficits in student literacy and the teachers’ knowledge and skills are known to have the greatest impact on student achievement. 

A Summer Literacy Academy provides training in those areas. For the last two summers, Wendy Sheets, Nikki Woodruff, and Denise Rowe, trainers from The Ohio State University’s Literacy Collaborative, have presented strategies from Fountas and Pinnell’s Literacy Continuum.  Teachers gained knowledge in the Literacy Framework, Interactive Read-Aloud, Guided Reading, Shared Reading, and Writing Workshop.

Teachers met in person for 5 days in the summer of 2019.  114 teachers attended sessions at either the University of Rio Grande or Jackson High School.

Virtual sessions were held for 5 days in June of 2020 with 135 teachers logging in to one of 3 available sessions each day.  

Both Summer Academies were very successful with many positive comments from the participants.

Literacy Collaborative Committee Members, position, and district names                                                                                                        Members represent 6 districts in Gallia, Jackson and Vinton Counties

Jeremy Hout, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Gallipolis City Schools

Rochelle Halley,     Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Gallia County Local Schools

Sandra Plantz, Director of Federal Programs and Gifted, Gallia County Local Schools

Beth Duffy, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Wellston City Schools

Whitney Crabtree, Elementary Vice Principal, Oak Hill Union Local Schools

Adam Michael, Elementary Principal, Oak Hill Union Local Schools

Miranda Smith, Elementary Principal, Vinton County Local Schools

Teresa Snider, Title I Coordinator, Vinton County Local Schools

Debby Crabtree, Director of Special Projects, Jackson City Schools

Dr. Denise Shockley, Superintendent, Gallia Vinton ESC

Jayne Burger, Consultant, Gallia Vinton ESC

Teachers who participate in the summer PD can choose University of Rio Grande credit or CEU’s.