Dive Brief:

• A literacy initiative partnering education doctoral students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with rural elementary teachers is showing results after three years.
• In Targeted Reading Intervention, the education students act as literary coaches for teachers, watching them instruct a student for 20 to 30 minutes at a time and offering feedback and constructive criticism.
• Over The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences awarded a $3.5 million grant to the program for a randomized control trial, and since one coach working part-time can work with as many as 15 teachers, the program's savings are showing, as well.

Dive Insight:

This is a smart move by North Carolina, as it benefits both teachers, who improve their skills, and students, who benefit from better instruction. It isn't hard to imagine this program spreading to other states if it continues to show results.