PAF’s professional development focuses on multisensory techniques for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting in the primary grades. Topics include research-based instructional practices on developing accurate decoding and fluent reading through direct explicit instruction, building vocabulary and comprehension, lesson planning, and assessments.

Courses are taught and support is given by Master Teachers with years of experience teaching PAF in public and independent schools. 

For K-5 teachers.

The goal of PAF’s professional development is to ensure effective instruction by teachers and successful reading outcomes for students. To this end, comprehensive teacher training and ongoing support can be tailored to the needs of individual schools and districts and can be delivered onsite or through synchronous platforms.

The PAF Professional Development for Districts and Schools consists of two parts:

Course (12 hours) will cover:

• An overview of research-based multisensory techniques for teaching reading, spelling, and handwriting
• Components of a PAF lesson at various levels in the sequence
• Planning a PAF lesson
• Instructional practices for developing accuracy, fluency, and comprehension
• Meeting the needs of diverse students, including multilingual learners, students at risk for learning difficulties, and accelerated learners
• Administering and analyzing PAF’s curriculum-based assessments

Ongoing Support (8 hours) will include:

• Coaching teachers based on shared videos of lessons
• Feedback sessions
• Lesson planning
• Placement of students into instructional groups
• Differentiating instruction
• Pacing of instruction
• Instructional language
• Assessments
• Question and answer sessions

Completion of this 20-hour PAF Professional Development for Districts and Schools course is essential to the success of the program in your school or district. Thereafter, additional hours of ongoing support are available and strongly encouraged. Refer to the PAF Ongoing Support Sessions in the chart below for more information.

Additional professional development is also offered in specific aspects of the PAF curriculum, giving teachers the opportunity to dive deeper into the fundamentals of multisensory instruction. These topics include reading comprehension, syllabication, spelling, and assessments. Refer to the PAF Follow Up Training Sessions in the chart below for more information.