ABSTRACT
Two good eggs do not a cake make. The key ingredient (or one of the key ingredients) to improving reading instruction, particularly in a large urban school district, is campus-level support for teachers. However, much like cake making, creating an exemplary reading program depends on the availability of a number of other ingredients, the quality and quantity of those ingredients, the method of their assembly, and their interaction. Professional mentors or coaches are one of the non-negotiable ingredients. Much of their success, however, depends on how well the coaches are focused, supported, and coordinated with other elements. In Dallas, we learned much about coaching by trial and error. Three of the essential ingredients-teacher training, classroom assistance, and support for the coaches-are addressed in this chapter chronologically in a year-by-year description of our trials and errors and the adjustments we made during the first 3 years of implementation of a massive training effort known as the Dallas Reading Plan.
