Core Learning’s Elementary Online Language and Literacy Academy for SPS Kindergarten and First Grade Teachers

About the Program

Springfield Public Schools’ Literacy Department will provide professional learning for up to 35 licensed kindergarten and first-grade educators on structured literacy approaches through Core Learning’s Elementary Online Language and Literacy Academy (OL&LA). OL&LA is a comprehensive, International Dyslexia Accredited professional learning course grounded in the understanding that spoken language is the foundation of literacy. It helps educators connect language and literacy to deliver evidence-based instruction that works for all students—including Multilingual Learners, English variety speakers, and students with dyslexia.

Participants engage in self-directed online modules and supportive in-person sessions covering the following topics:

• Welcome Overview
• Spoken Language, Reading, and Word Structure
• Effective Instruction: Language and Early Literacy
• Phonics, Decoding, and Irregular Words
• Multisyllabic Words, Spelling, and Fluency
• Vocabulary: Spoken and Written Language
• Syntax: The Structure of Language and Writing
• Comprehension: Language and Reading
• Assessing Reading

Lorilee Cabrera, the District Instructional Leadership Specialist, and Laura Mendes, the Director of Literacy in Springfield Public Schools, will lead the learning through asynchronous and in-person live sessions, customized and aligned to the district's current instruction and curricular resources.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Identify the five essential components of evidence-based reading instruction.
• Identify the best practices and explicit methods to develop phonemic awareness, phonics, irregular and multisyllabic word knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and literary and informational text knowledge.
• Understand the factors that contribute to and affect reading comprehension, including the influence of oral language development.
• Identify and use techniques to support oral and academic language development for linguistically diverse students, including Multilingual Learners, English variety speakers, and students with dyslexia.
• Explore the structure of English and other language systems, including Spanish.
• Understand the definition of dyslexia, common warning signs by grade level, and evidence-based instructional practices and accommodations to meet the educational needs of students with dyslexia.
• Learn how to use multiple measures for assessing phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension as a basis for instructional decisions.

Materials and Compensation

• Year-long access to the online course materials.
• Copies of The Teaching Reading Sourcebook and Assessing Multiple Measures.
• A stipend of $1,925.00 for completing the coursework outside of work hours.

Information for purchasing college credits will be shared in the informational session and repeated in the first in-person session of the course.

Schedule

The course runs from October 8, 2026 to May 7, 2027. Sessions will be held on the following Thursdays from 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM:

• Session 1: October 8, 2026 – In person (location TBD)
• Session 2: November 19, 2026 – Zoom
• Optional Check-In: January 21, 2027 – Zoom (Not required)
• Session 3: February 11, 2027 – In person (location TBD)
• Session 4: March 18, 2027 – Zoom
• Session 5: April 29, 2027 – In person (location TBD)

An informational session will be held on Thursday, September 17, 2026 from 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM on Zoom for those interested in applying. This session is not required.

Join the informational session.

Requirements

• Participants must be licensed kindergarten or first-grade educators.
• Agree to attend all sessions (in-person and virtually) and successfully complete all modules.

If more than 35 qualified applicants apply, preference will be given to those with professional licensure and those with more than 5 years of service.