Reading Apprenticeship Writing Connections (RAWC)

Research & Evidence

Reading Apprenticeship Writing Connections (RAWC)

high school student looking down at her work on desk

Blended Professional Learning at Scale:
Middle School Literacy

The Reading Apprenticeship: Writing Connections (RAWC) project was awarded a three-year Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop and test a blended online and in-person program of teacher professional development. The project built on the Strategic Literacy Initiative’s (SLI’s) existing evidenced-based, face-to-face model of discipline-specific Reading Apprenticeship and its new online models of teacher professional development.

The main goal of the project was to improve the effectiveness of middle school teachers by helping them integrate reading, writing, and subject area instruction in science, history, and English Language Arts. In particular, middle schools that fed into high schools already engaged in Reading Apprenticeship projects were encouraged to participate in order to provide students a seamless transition from middle school to high school.

RAWC By the Numbers

RAWC By the Numbers: Blended Professional Learning for Middle School Teachers

  • 3 Years: 2013-2016
  • 86,719 middle school students
  • 1,195 teachers
  • 222 middle schools
  • 4 states: California, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania
  • 3 subject areas: English Language Arts, Science, History

Praise from RAWC participants

“Our school’s 8th grade students really improved this year—75% were proficient on the MSTEP for Spring of 2016.  They were the top in Saginaw County.  I firmly believe that Reading Apprenticeship has so much to do with this!”

Julie Sadilek
8th Grade ELA Teacher
Chesaning Middle School
Chesaning, MI 

“Now, students look for information themselves instead of asking me. They spend more time engaged in reading/finding information/learning than listening to me lecture or read to them.”

Middle School Teacher

“Our students are interacting with text more than ever. This is evidenced when students get new text, they talk to it. They know the importance of writing down what they are thinking.”

Craig Smith
Assistant Principal
Chapel Hill Middle School
Indianapolis, IN