Summary and Thoughts / Connections for Chapter 10:
This chapter summarizes the text for an administrator, who would likely not have time to read it cover to cover. Based on our previous conversation, I really liked this paragraph:
"Unfortunately, few teachers who are given the demanding job of reading coach receive sufficient support or training to perform this role adequately. Teachers who have been tapped to be coaches are often very talented, knowledgeable, and experienced professionals who are expected to learn how to coach their colleagues while they are performing this new and unfamiliar role. However, as Poglinco and Bach (2004) state so clearly: 'Being an effective classroom teacher is no guarantee that one will also be an effective coach.' This situation is complicated by the fact that very few administrators have received any preparation themselves to support or guide the reading coaches with whom they work."
I also think outlining the tasks of a reading coach are important for any administrator to see (including mine):
- Observing teachers' reading lessons and providing feedback for instructional improvement
- Helping teachers with the organization and management of their literacy programs
- Developing intervention plans for struggling readers
- Meeting with parents who have concerns about their children's reading skills
- Helping to identify and address schoolwide concerns related to reading
- Facilitating collaboration among teaching teams
- Presenting workshops to introduce teachers to effective new strategies
- Providing follow-up support for professional development
- Reviewing curriculum materials
- Making suggestions for adopting or supplementing instructional resources
- Organizing and facilitating teacher study groups to explore relevant topics of interest
- Advising administrators on how reading research applies to program policy decisions
**The catch: A coach must be given sufficient training, time, and sustained support to pull this off. This foundation is built by working collaboratively (the principal) with the coach to define the role of reading coach, schedule the coach for success, and ensure that the coach is working within a sustained, schoolwide model for reading success.
Other topics that are reviewed in this chapter include: defining the role of the reading coach, using data to help define the role, coaching versus supervision, confidentiality and trust, and scheduling a coach for success.
The schools that were studied were all in Alabama; as Alabama is one of the states that has adopted the IRA's guidelines.
Main points:
- There is a great need for empirical research to assess the effectiveness of reading coaches. [I wonder if this is lacking because it would not be ethical to deny some students of the services a reading coach would provide.]
- The roles and responsibilities of a reading coach were "diverse and multifaceted, and there was not one consistent view of literacy coaching". Therefore, a specific list of tasks or guidelines (like that of the IRA's position statement) should be adopted by districts/schools to help all involved to understand what all can be expected of a coach.
- Administration/Principals HAVE to be supportive of the coach. "The way the principal embraced or did not embrace the role was influential in how quickly the coach was seen as a valuable resource within the school."
- "Without the continued support from principals, coaching can have little to no impact on changing and/or improving teacher practices. It is imperative that the principal supports and accounts for the coaching work at a school."
- A complaint about how coaches spent their time included the amount of time spent in meetings. [Based on our text, this would still be okay. Perhaps staff/admin didn't see what a coach did during the meetings or what they took away from the meeting, to better assist teachers and students.]
- The Alabama Reading Initiative had Principal Coaches that would come in to schools/districts and work directly with principals.
Bottom line: Once a state/district/school adopts the IRA/ILA's guidelines, the coach needs to reiterate that to their principal and possibly provide a list of services s/he can do. The principal must support the coach 100% and treat them as another leader in the building.
Choice Article:
Principals' Perceptions of the Effectiveness and Necessity of Reading Coaches within Elementary Schools
Dean, Milanda Jackson; Dyal, Allen; Wright, James V.; Carpenter, Laura Bowden; Austin, Sheila
DOI: not available
ERIC Number: EJ986922
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 30
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-0510
Brief Highlights of the Article and connections/thoughts:
The article begins by explaining how NCLB and Reading First began. It also references the (at that time) IRA's position statement on the responsibilities of a reading coach.The schools that were studied were all in Alabama; as Alabama is one of the states that has adopted the IRA's guidelines.
Main points:
- There is a great need for empirical research to assess the effectiveness of reading coaches. [I wonder if this is lacking because it would not be ethical to deny some students of the services a reading coach would provide.]
- The roles and responsibilities of a reading coach were "diverse and multifaceted, and there was not one consistent view of literacy coaching". Therefore, a specific list of tasks or guidelines (like that of the IRA's position statement) should be adopted by districts/schools to help all involved to understand what all can be expected of a coach.
- Administration/Principals HAVE to be supportive of the coach. "The way the principal embraced or did not embrace the role was influential in how quickly the coach was seen as a valuable resource within the school."
- "Without the continued support from principals, coaching can have little to no impact on changing and/or improving teacher practices. It is imperative that the principal supports and accounts for the coaching work at a school."
- A complaint about how coaches spent their time included the amount of time spent in meetings. [Based on our text, this would still be okay. Perhaps staff/admin didn't see what a coach did during the meetings or what they took away from the meeting, to better assist teachers and students.]
- The Alabama Reading Initiative had Principal Coaches that would come in to schools/districts and work directly with principals.
Bottom line: Once a state/district/school adopts the IRA/ILA's guidelines, the coach needs to reiterate that to their principal and possibly provide a list of services s/he can do. The principal must support the coach 100% and treat them as another leader in the building.
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