by Michael L. Shaw, William E. Smith, Barbara J. Chesler, and Lynn Romeo
IRA’s 2003 Standards for Reading Professionals identify a major change in the role of a reading specialist. While the 1998 standards focused on the multiple roles of the reading specialist to meet the needs of all students—including providing assessment and instruction, conducting professional development, supervising and assisting in setting reading program goals, working with parents and the community, demonstrating appropriate reading practice, and supervising paraprofessionals—the ability of graduate candidates preparing for this role could be assessed through tests, class projects, and simulations.
The 2003 standards now require that graduate candidates preparing to be reading specialists must actually demonstrate their ability to assist and support classroom teachers and paraprofessionals through preprofessional experiences in literacy coaching. This is a direct result of the 1998 report of the National Research Council, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, edited by Catherine E. Snow, M. Susan Burns, and Peg Griffin.
On page 333, the report recommended that schools should have access to “reading specialists who have specialized training related to addressing reading difficulties and who can give guidance to classroom teachers.” IRA’s standards are now in line with the report by suggesting that reading specialists are trained to take on multiple roles within their schools to improve the quality and effectiveness of reading instruction for all children.
This change also reflects IRA’s position statement Teaching All Children to Read: The Roles of the Reading Specialist, adopted in 2000, which includes leadership in working with classroom teachers to ensure that all children receive quality reading instruction. A 2004 position statement titled The Role and Qualifications of the Reading Coach in the United States calls for all literacy coaches to be reading specialists.
Reading specialists are still required to meet the needs of all students, including struggling readers, by assessing, instructing, motivating, and developing curriculum, but there is now a much greater emphasis on their professional development role. They must now use their knowledge and performance skills to make a schoolwide impact by demonstrating lessons and communicating and collaborating with classroom teachers and paraprofessionals. This is a major paradigm shift for graduate reading and literacy programs.
The first set of graduate reading and literacy program reports submitted by institutions seeking IRA national recognition using the 2003 standards were recently reviewed by teams that had been appropriately trained by IRA. The results of these pilot reports indicate that institutions are beginning to make the paradigm shift to coaching, but there is still the need to fully integrate this new role into graduate programs.
Literacy coaching means collaborating with classroom teachers and paraprofessionals in a variety of ways, such as demonstrating lessons, assisting teachers in selecting best practices, designing programs that motivate all students, training classroom teachers to administer and interpret assessments, presenting professional workshops, conducting study groups, assisting classroom teachers in preparing curriculum materials (including technologically based information), assisting with assessment, and coplanning appropriate instruction. Standards 2 through 5 reflect this change.
Feedback from institutions that are initiating hands-on coaching experiences has been very positive. Teachers in these graduate programs report that while they were nervous taking on the role of a literacy coach, once they began coaching, they found it to be a rewarding, empowering experience that reinforced their knowledge and skill as a reading specialist.
One teacher wrote in a reflection, “I was really nervous about demonstrating a guided reading lesson for a colleague and then coaching her through a similar lessons. We co-planned the lessons and discussed our experiences after each lesson. We both felt that this process was very helpful. I am convinced that this approach will make a positive impact in our school.”
Further information about submitting a program report and literacy coaching can be found on the IRA website at www.reading.org. In addition, details are included in the 2003 version of Standards for Reading Professionals, also available on the website.
Michael L. Shaw of St. Thomas Aquinas College and William E. Smith of Ohio University serve as cochairs of IRA’s Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. Barbara J. Chesler of Longwood University and Lynn Romeo of Monmouth University are past cochairs of that committee.
Moving forward: The reading specialist as literacy coach, by Michael L. Shaw, William E. Smith, Barbara J. Chesler, and Lynn Romeo. (June 2005). Reading Today, 22(6), 6.
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