Literacy Intervention in Secondary Schools: Exploring Educators’ Beliefs and Practices about Supporting Adolescents’ Literacy Learning

Abstract

There is a need to better understand the complex landscape of adolescent literacy intervention as a shared responsibility across all educational stakeholders. To address this need, we examined the self-reported literacy beliefs and practices about secondary readers and literacy intervention among a group of educators (including administrators, teachers, and specialists) who participated in a year-long professional learning series focused on providing adolescents with rich and responsive literacy learning opportunities. We found that educators’ beliefs and practices shifted as they developed shared understandings of asset-based mindsets and ways of supporting students’ situated literacy learning and comprehension within disciplinary contexts. We offer suggestions for how to create shared learning opportunities for educators across roles and discuss implications for future research.