The article describes a longitudinal professional development project in rural Florida (USA) schools that supports the efforts of inservice teachers to make pedagogical transitions from total reliance on prepackaged commercial programmes to making informed decisions about curriculum and pedagogy autonomously. It demonstrates that in order to initiate and sustain qualitative changes in teaching practices, conscious efforts must be made to address a multitude of barriers at the administrative, professional and personal levels. It suggests that professional development efforts in education must recognise the complex, multifaceted and lifelong nature of becoming and being an effective literacy teacher.