PLC partnered with Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE), Learning Support Section to deliver three professional development sessions supporting the implementation of the Enhance Core Reading Instruction model (ECRI) developed by the Center on Teaching & Learning (CTL), University of Oregon. The June 25–27, 2018 sessions, held at the Hawaii District Office, provided participants with resources and guidance to build capacity to train others to use ECRI instructional routines to enhance the delivery of core reading instruction in a multi-tiered system of Tier 1 and Tier 2 support. The August 30–31, 2018 sessions, held at Lanai High & Elementary School, focused on providing resources and guidance on classroom-level ECRI implementation. In addition to these large-scale professional development sessions, MIKA sites receive job-embedded professional development support from project funded school-based coaches who conduct classroom observations and monthly professional learning community meetings.
ECRI has been rigorously studied in nearly 50 elementary schools with hundreds of classrooms, and thousands of students. Research has demonstrated ECRI’s statistically significant and substantive impacts on the reading achievement of at-risk readers in first grade across diverse groups. During School Year 2016–2017, the HIDOE Learning Support Section pilot-tested ECRI in selected elementary schools in the Baldwin-Kekaulike-Maui Complex Area, which included one MIKA site. In School Year 2017–2018, PLC leveraged MIKA funding to scale ECRI implementation in 21 elementary schools across seven complex areas. Additionally, MIKA provided enhanced supports to 12 of the 21 schools serving higher percentages of Native Hawaiian students than the average across all public schools in the state of Hawaii.