Riverside County Teachers Lead National Reading Workshops

A team of six Riverside County educators was selected in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Education to lead a national series of workshops to help train quality teachers.

The workshops were designed to support teachers in raising student achievement under the federal Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative. The
workshops bring together some of the nation’s most effective teachers and education experts to share the latest research-based classroom practices with their colleagues.

The Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative is an outgrowth of the Teacher Assistance Corps. Dr. David Long, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, was selected last October to serve on the new national task force supporting teachers sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Teacher Assistance Corps is a team of education experts, researchers, and practitioners who will provide help to states as they meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Long is the founder of the Riverside County Achievement Teams (RCAT), which work with local districts to boost achievement from the Riverside County Office of Education. RCAT experts were then chosen to lead the national seminars on reading.

“Riverside County has been a demonstrated model that has proven effective,” said Karen Valdes, reading coordinator for RCOE. She was joined on the national team by Mike Barney, reading coordinator for RCOE, Molly McCabe, a teacher on assignment with RCOE, and Susan Smith, an RCOE reading consultant.

Other members included Chauncey Veatch, the 2002 National Teacher of the Year from Coachella Valley High School and now teacher on assignment with RCOE, and Lynn Figurate, National Teacher of the Week from the Val Verde Unified School District.

Veatch and Long were keynote speakers together in Anaheim.

The Teacher-to-Teacher Assistance workshops traveled to Denver, Portland, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Anaheim, St. Louis, and Boston.