AIM Pathways for Delaware Educators

AIM Pathways^TM is:

• An interactive, digital teacher professional development platform designed to deliver research and evidence-based courses in literacy to improve teacher instructional practice resulting in improved student outcomes. 
• A scalable, affordable solution for schools seeking to improve student literacy.
• A unique tool that provides downloadable teacher resources and real-time intervention tools for use in the classroom.
• Designed for sustainability by training internal coaches and school-based literacy leaders trained to maintain the fidelity of instructional practices.
• An important program to onboard new teachers and to sustain the school’s investment in developing a cohesive, comprehensive literacy program through all grades.
• Accessible to teachers via a variety of devices (iPads and mobile phones) to use as a tool when working with children.

Certificate awarded upon successful completion of AIM Pathways courses. Pathways to Proficient Reading, and Pathways to Literacy Leadership are eligible for 3 graduate credits.

Research shows that traditional stand and deliver workshops are ineffective at changing instructional practices.  Teachers find it difficult to translate theoretical models into classroom practice. For that reason, AIM Pathways courses are designed to follow a Learn, Practice and Apply cycle.

• Learn: Participants acquire knowledge during the course in a variety of ways: video lectures, articles, readings and animated videos.
• Practice: Participants and then have the opportunity to practice that knowledge by completed specially designed activities such as card sorting exercises, quizzes and surveys that will help them begin that translation.
• Apply: Participants demonstrate their understanding of the content by applying their knowledge to real life scenarios via classroom simulations and case studies. These in-depth, multi-step classroom simulations replicate real-life scenarios, giving teachers a chance to hone their diagnostic and prescriptive instructional skills.

Pathways to Proficient Reading: It should take between 35 to 45 hours to complete the online, IDA-accredited Pathways to Proficient Reading course depending on the participant's background knowledge in the science of reading. The 17-section course includes a pre-knowledge inventory and a post-knowledge inventory to ascertain knowledge acquisition as well as 6 virtual coaching sessions to support classroom implementation. Access the course syllabus here.

Pathways to Literacy Leadership: It should take about 30 hours to complete the online Pathways to Literacy Leadership course with an additional 4 virtual community of practice sessions with an AIM facilitator also included as part of the course. Access the course syllabus here.

1-Year AIM Pathways Platform Access: All participants receive one full year of access to the AIM Pathways platform which can act as an ongoing reference tool allowing all participants to revisit content and access downloadable materials, activities and instructional tools. The courses are easily searchable on all digital devices including smart phones and can be used as a just-in-time tool during instructional classroom time.

It is well researched that a Community of Practice (CoP) is a powerful tool for extending the coaching function that helps educators actually apply the skills learned through professional training opportunities in their classrooms. When facilitated and designed well, a CoP serves as an effective coaching tool deepening evidence-based knowledge and practice through readings, real-time scenarios including case studies and discussions, problem solving, coaching and sharing experiences across membership.

The Pathways to Proficient Reading course includes 6, one-hour virtual community of practice sessions, and the Pathways to Literacy Leadership and Pathways to Structured Literacy courses include 4, one-hour virtual community of practice sessions. These sessions are facilitated by AIM Institute staff and use using online resources and an online meeting platform. Read more about AIM Pathways Virtual Community of Practice here.

With Your AIM Pathways Membership You Get: 

• Free access to our Speaker Series events featuring professionals in the field of Science of Reading. 
• Access to our Annual Research to Practice Symposium 
• Free access to all of our online teaching webinars. 

Click the image file below to read details about technical requirements for using the AIM Pathways teacher training platform.

Additional courses that we offer include: 

• Pathways to Structured Literacy 

• Pathways to Proficient Writing- Coming Soon