Literacy Learning and Teacher Education in the Primary Grades

Teacher educators in Georgia are concerned about preparing teachers who can help children attain high levels of proficiency in literacy. As a result, representative teacher educators from public and private institutions that prepare teachers came together in the summer of 2006 to look at our state data. We used the data as a springboard to develop our consensus values and beliefs to support pre-service and in-service teachers in educating students in grades Pre-kindergarten through 3rd grade. In the following sections we will describe those critical conversations, our beliefs concerning a core body of knowledge that all reading teachers should know, and how we are working to improve reading instruction to impact student reading achievement in Georgia.