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IDRA has highly qualified, experienced staff who can assist you in ways that no other organization can. We offer professional development packages that will engage your teachers in long-term, in-depth training coupled with innovative ways of providing follow-up technical assistance. We ground ourselves in the latest scientifically-based research and align all our efforts with state and local standards. We use cutting-edge technologies and have special expertise in working with bilingual populations.

We are committed to the IDRA valuing philosophy, respecting the knowledge and skills of the teachers we work with, and modeling continually how educators can identify assets and build on the strengths of the students and parents in their schools. Further details on our capabilities follow.

Sample Professional Development Packages

Early Literacy Development for Spanish Speakers
Designed for regular and bilingual classroom teachers, grades PK-3
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Making the Transition to English
Designed for regular and bilingual classroom teachers, grades 2-5
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Sheltered Instruction for Secondary Students
Designed for regular content area and ESL teachers, grades 6-12
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Mastering the Language of Mathematics
Designed for math teachers, grades 6-12
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Parent Involvement and Leadership Development
Designed for Spanish-speaking parents of school-age children
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Evaluation Research Services
Designed for schools and school districts implementing Title III programs
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• Are fluent and literate in English and Spanish.
• Have many years of bilingual and ESL classroom and administrative experience.
• Have graduate degrees - master's and doctorates - from respected universities in fields such as reading, math, bilingual education, and educational administration.
• Are skilled trainers, accustomed to designing and implementing top-notch workshops.

• Reading research that addresses the five components of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension.
• Second language acquisition research that addresses effective ESL techniques, cooperative learning structures, and the role of native language in instruction.
• Professional development and effective schooling research that address the wider contexts of any educational reform such as the characteristics of genuine systemic reform and of sustained, in-depth professional development that meets teacher needs.

• Hands-on workshops that thoroughly present theory, give teachers practical "what to do Monday" ideas, and engage them in reflection on their teaching practices and beliefs.
• Flexible scheduling to minimize teacher pull-out, fitting workshops to your calendar and daily schedules.
• On-site classroom demonstrations so that teachers can see how instructional strategies can be applied to the real world settings of their own classrooms (and another good way to train without pull-out).
• Observations of teachers' classrooms, upon request, to evaluate the current program or to provide feedback on the implementation of new approaches.
• Ongoing support through communication via phone, fax, e-mail, and listservs.
• Access to our state-of-the-art training center.

• Video conferencing capabilities such that school and IDRA staff can meet virtually for five minutes or five hours, neither having to leave their schools or offices.
• Just-in-time technology approaches such as Internet- and CD-ROM-based modules that can be done at the teachers' convenience.
• Integration of technology tools into training such as finding graphics and informational resources via the Internet for lesson planning and using PowerPoint and desktop publishing programs to create student products so that teachers can see some ways to integrate technology into their own teaching.

• Providing (and modeling) sample innovative lesson plans that specify the standards addressed in the lesson and that include evaluation tools such as rubrics and tests.
• Facilitating curriculum development efforts in which teachers apply new instructional strategies they have learned to local and state standards, using locally adopted materials such as textbooks.
• Having teachers frequently identify the primary standards addressed in the demonstration lessons and compare them to local campus needs as seen in annual state-mandated assessments.

• Schoolwide assessment of your bilingual/ESL program using the highly-popular Good Schools and Classrooms for Children Learning English rubric (2002), based on our national study of exemplary bilingual elementary and secondary schools funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
• Assistance with program evaluation all the way from helping you design the evaluation you will send in to your state education agency to analyzing, interpreting, and reporting your data in formats acceptable to the U.S. Department of Education.
• Bilingual parent training sessions based on the parent leadership model we have used successfully with several groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking parents.
• Access to the new IDRA publication, Hacia Adelante - Pathways to College - A Guide for Latino Families, a workbook designed to help Latino parents get their children into college.
• Transition reading and writing activities for Spanish readers for when they move to English reading based on a contrastive analysis of the phonological, syntactical, and semantic features of both languages in their written and oral forms.
• K-12 vocabulary development exercises that build on cognates, address idioms and other difficult terms, and make English language learners lifelong word gatherers.
• Outstanding lesson plans based on engaging, authentic multicultural children's literature and other culturally and linguistically appropriate materials.
• Consultation services on selecting assessment instruments and instructional materials and programs for English language learners.