SMART PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR SCHOOL COMMUNITIES.
At OWL we believe that every student has the right to graduate fully literate and able to engage in college or career and as a civic participant.
Therefore, we strive to equip school leaders and teachers to help reach that goal.
As a school leader, are you looking for expertly developed, evidence-based professional learning for your staff but find scheduling high quality training consultants a challenge?
OWL Educational Learning Suites
are your solution.
Watch this short video to learn more!
It’s as easy as A, B, C :
asynchronous, blended, collaborative
OWL’s asynchronous, virtual learning experience serves to provide school leaders with the flexibility they need for providing staff a well -designed, high quality professional development experience in a cost-effective and site adaptable manner. They are designed so you can choose to watch mini video segments separately or combine them so as to be conducive to your site schedule .
Each Educational Learning Suite consists of of a blend of video instruction, collaborative discussion opportunities and practice and reflection opportunities; with hands on tools for undergirding independent practice by teachers in their classrooms. Each Suite also has a walkthrough tool that can be used by the building principal or literacy coach to provide focused feedback on teacher implementation of the strategies.
Owl Educational Learning Suites are designed to be a collaborative team-based experience. They can be used during whole staff meetings or smaller grade or content-based team times. Content is delivered in short video segments ranging from 10-20 minutes that teams view and then use the collaborative discussion tools to deepen their thinking and help them prepare to apply the content.
Build your own course.
Choose one or multiple Educational Learning Suites that meet your school needs and budget.
OWL Educational Learning Suites for school staff professional development are designed to guide educators in deepening their knowledge and skills in a coherent set of content focused evidence-based literacy strategies to support the best practices of teachers and leaders in schools today.
Each Educational Learning Suite has its own specific content focus that is built out in a multi-module format. Choose Educational Learning Suites to build a course that is tailored to your school and district professional learning needs.
What are educational learning suites enrollment options?
Pricing for our Educational Learning Suites is based on the number of teachers that you enroll. Contact OWL to discuss you school needs and enrollment options.
Administrative extras like coaching calls or on-site calibration walks to support leaders are also available.
Questions?
CHOOSE ONE OF OUR OWL EDUCATIONAL LEARNING SUITES BELOW
OR CONTACT US TO TAILOR DESIGN AN EDUCATIONAL LEARNING SUITE THAT
SUPPORTS YOUR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING GOALS
Educational Learning Suites:
Improving Secondary Students Literacy Skills
As students’ progress through middle school and high school the need for them to read, understand and discuss increasingly complex texts is both vitally important and highly challenging for many students. Giving students the skills to independently access content area knowledge through reading is integral to student success. Students’ ability to read and comprehend well can be directly supported by all content area teachers through direct instruction in vocabulary and comprehension strategies.
Each of the Educational Learning Suites below is built into a series of modules that will guide participants through a multi-session learning experience designed to build teachers’ knowledge and skills in providing difference making, high quality evidence-based instruction to their students. The collaborative and professional learning community aspects of the courses are designed to increase whole school engagement and improved professional practice leading to advancing the literacy skills of all students.
Implementing Explicit Comprehension Strategy Instruction
Research shows that middle and high school students benefit from explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies such as summarizing, questioning, predicting, and monitoring understanding. The What Works Clearinghouse recommends modeling these strategies and providing guided practice so that students can internalize them for independent use. When teachers scaffold strategy use, students develop stronger metacognitive skills and greater reading independence.
Choosing and Using Complex, Knowledge-Building Texts
Adolescents need sustained engagement with complex texts to build the background knowledge and critical thinking skills required for college and career readiness. Studies highlight that exposure to challenging, content-rich texts—paired with scaffolds like chunking, questioning, and vocabulary support—improves comprehension and retention. Regular interaction with complex material supports both literacy development and subject-area learning.
Increasing Text-Based Discussion and Collaborative Reasoning
Research demonstrates that text-based discussions, such as Socratic seminars or collaborative reasoning, deepen comprehension by encouraging students to defend ideas with evidence. Engaging in structured dialogue helps students analyze multiple perspectives, refine their thinking, and improve comprehension of complex ideas. This approach also fosters oral language development and critical reasoning skills.
Understanding and Using Disciplinary Literacy Approaches
Disciplinary literacy research emphasizes that literacy practices differ across subjects—reading like a historian, scientist, or mathematician involves distinct strategies. Middle and high school students gain deeper comprehension when taught to apply discipline-specific approaches, such as sourcing and corroboration in history or interpreting graphs in science. These approaches strengthen content learning while developing transferable literacy skills.
Instruction to Increase Vocabulary and Academic Language Use
Explicit vocabulary instruction is a critical factor in improving reading comprehension for adolescents. Research shows that teaching both high-utility academic words and domain-specific vocabulary enhances students’ ability to access grade-level texts. Effective approaches include teaching word-learning strategies, morphology, and providing repeated exposure to new words in varied contexts.
Using Writing to Support Reading
Studies confirm that writing about reading improves comprehension by requiring students to organize ideas, make connections, and use evidence from texts. Writing tasks such as summaries, analyses, and argumentative responses deepen engagement and understanding. The reciprocal relationship between reading and writing strengthens both skills and supports long-term literacy development.
Administrative Extras:
Principal On-Site Calibration Walks
Owl supports administrators in mastering best-practice techniques for coaching teachers and evaluating their progress in implementing the evidence-based practices of the Educational Learning Suite. Schools can schedule on-site calibration walks to strengthen the use of the walkthrough tool, followed by guided discussions on delivering growth-focused feedback. Walkthrough data is then leveraged to strategically plan teacher supports and program adjustments, ensuring meaningful improvements in instructional practice and measurable gains in student learning.
Coaching Calls
Live coaching and mentoring is available to school administrators to help advance critical knowledge and skills required for staff growth and student achievement in a variety of ways including developing your teacher talent, improving family and community engagement, selecting appropriate literacy curriculum, interventions and assessments, and providing site specific support for OWL Educational Learning Suites.