Education, Innovation, and Research (EIR),
U.S. Department of Education
2020-2025
Through this grant, WestEd’s Reading Apprenticeship® team provided professional learning and leadership development across North Carolina and Pennsylvania. More than 600 educators in 68 schools across 27 districts took part. The professional learning focused on disciplinary literacy in 9th and 10th grade English language arts, social studies, and science, alongside student self-regulation, collaboration, and persistence.
SRI International, the project’s research partner, published its final evaluation in September 2026. Comparing participating schools with matched schools in other North Carolina districts, SRI found that students earned significantly higher science course grades after both one and two years of implementation, consistent with earlier research on Reading Apprenticeship and science outcomes.
Resources
Independent Evaluation
- Final Report: findings on implementation, student outcomes, sustainability, and cost.
- Early Findings: a 2025 white paper with an early look at student course grades.
Formative Assessment Tools
Effective Practices to Support the Whole Child, published by WestEd and Environmental Charter Schools in December 2022, collects what 19 teachers designed to support student metacognition, curiosity, and self-direction, with worksheets for building your own. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Whole Child portfolio supported the work as part of the cost-match for this grant. Read the report.
Assets and Needs Review
This open educational resource for district literacy planning includes questionnaires for system and school leaders, conversation protocols for teachers and students, and a summary template. Developed under this grant and licensed CC BY 4.0, so districts may adapt it. Download the PDF.
Disciplinary Texts and Tools
A working collection gathered during the project and organized by discipline and tool type: teacher tools and student notetakers, texts for English language arts, social studies, and science, classroom close-ups, and teacher leader resources. Browse the resources.
