NCREL sponsored a Summer Institute in August, 1994, to help school teams implement Strategic Teaching of Reading. One of the exercises the teams worked on was identifying possible obstacles they will face in the implementation process and brainstorming ways to address them in the most positive and productive way. The following form lists the issues the groups identified and was designed to help them develop a plan of action for overcoming the obstacles.
The following issues challenge the successful implementation of the Strategic Teaching and Reading Project. Brainstorm multiple, realistic courses of action that can meet the challenges. Select issues with your team that you can relate to and list several ways in which to turn the challenge into an opportunity. Submit a completed worksheet from your Team, so we may collate all the opportunities in order to create a "trouble-shooting chart" for STRP.
| Challenges | Opportunities to Meet the Challenges |
| Support Issues | |
| Changes in Administration | |
| Encouragement (formal or informal) built into the system | |
| Administrative Support | |
| Parents understand the new reading/teaching project | |
| Professional commitment to the implementation of the strategies | |
| Challenges | Opportunities to Meet the Challenges |
|
Tension among factions: Administrators vs. Teachers or vice versa |
|
| Teachers/Administrators willing to change instructional practices | |
| Teachers/Administrators knowledgeable of recent research on reading and learning | |
| Implementation Issues | |
| Teacher comprehend how to integrate the strategies (not Prior knowledge on Mon., Word meaning on Fri., etc. | |
| Continuity in grade level implementation | |
| Challenges | Opportunities to Meet the Challenges |
| Evidence of culturally responsive education | |
| Before/ During/ and After/ approach to the strategies | |
| Integration into the multitude of "projects/ initiatives" already existing in the school | |
| STRP continues among all grade levels: Elementary, Jr. and Senior High | |
| Professional Development Issues | |
| Shared leadership among the team ( a variety of people initiating the STRP meetings, leading professional development activities, etc.) | |
| Challenges | Opportunities to Meet the Challenges |
| Levels of collegiaility and trust | |
| Release time for the faculty to meet, plan and share ideas | |
| Staff supports the 5 phases of professional development: building knowledge base, observing models, reflecting on practice, changing your practice, and gaining expertise | |
| Professional climate conducive to instructional conversations | |
| Comfortable with one day in-service as opposed to ongoing staff development |