SOE Joins Statewide Collaborative to Improve Literacy

Led by Associate Professor Michael Solis, the UC Riverside School of Education (SOE) will collaborate with Lead to Literacy 2.0 as the higher education partner in order to strengthen California’s secondary literacy systems. The work emphasizes leadership development, the design of coaching systems, and the application of evidence-based strategies to build the capacity of county office of education (COE) leaders, coaches, and administrators.

Dr. Solis will also deliver sessions at the Lead to Literacy Summer Institute during the first three years of the project. These sessions will provide COE leaders and coaches with focused training on adolescent literacy leadership and the application of Institute of Education Sciences (IES) practice guides. The goal is to ensure that the summer institute offers participants practical and research-informed approaches for improving literacy outcomes across schools.

"The Lead to Literacy project has the opportunity to impact the lives of adolescents across the state of California by providing professional development, instructional coaching, and support for implementation of the multi-tiered systems of support framework," said Dr. Solis. "I am honored to be a partner on this project and have the opportunity to contribute to this incredible team."

In addition to institute sessions, Dr. Solis will participate in two site visits per year within Riverside County. These visits will include school and district walkthroughs, during which he will contribute a research-based perspective to the observation process. Following these visits, he will support team debriefs that connect classroom-level observations to broader instructional practices and systems-level improvements.

Dr. Solis will also lead quarterly virtual trainings for COE leaders and coaches over the four-year project. Each training will be carefully planned in collaboration with the Lead COE team through a pre-meeting, followed by dedicated preparation and a one-hour training session. These trainings will address the application of IES practice guides in key areas such as reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, and fluency.

Complementing these activities, Dr. Solis will facilitate two annual leadership workshops, each lasting four hours. These workshops will focus on practical strategies for planning, scheduling, and providing system-level supports to strengthen secondary literacy. He will also provide technical assistance for up to two days per year, helping COEs align their literacy plans with district wide initiatives such as the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Additionally, he will provide quarterly consultation sessions to guide COE leaders and administrators in sustaining their work.

The scope of work is structured across four years. Through this comprehensive scope of work, the SOE will bring sustained expertise and leadership to the development of California’s secondary literacy systems, ensuring that evidence-based practices are effectively integrated into both classroom instruction and broader educational systems.