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Running head: COACH ESSAY

Coach Essay

Victoria Parrott

Longwood University

February 21, 2018

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COACH ESSAY
Coach Essay

The roles of a reading specialist and a reading coach are similar in the way that their goal

is to lead educators and improve reading achievement in their school districts. Both reading

specialists and coaches must be able to collaborate with many different groups of people, which

may include students, classroom teachers, administration, parents, and the community to provide

literacy support. They are also both responsible for keeping themselves updated on the latest

literacy research to provide the best practice for students.

While some of the qualifications overlap, the roles of a reading specialist and reading

coach also differ in many ways. Depending on the specific school district, the responsibilities

and duties required by each of these roles can look very different.

Reading Specialists

A reading specialist can be defined as teachers who have “specialized knowledge of

assessment and diagnosis that is vital for developing, implementing, and evaluating the literacy

program in general, and in designing instruction for individual student” (International Reading

Association, 2000). Reading specialists in this era are focused on Response to Intervention

(RTI), which emphasizes both “preventing reading difficulties and maximizing all students’

opportunities to learn” (Galloway & Lessaux, 2014). The qualifications for being a reading

specialist include expertise with instruction, assessment, and leadership. Reading specialists

support students by working collaboratively with other teachers to implement quality, research-

based reading instruction. Reading specialists must also have knowledge and experience with

developing, implementing, and evaluation of assessment. Finally, a reading specialist must be

able to provide a resource of leadership for teachers and parents.

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COACH ESSAY
Reading Coaches

“A literacy coach partners with teachers for job-embedded professional learning that

enhances teachers’ reflection on students, the curriculum, and pedagogy for the purpose of more

effective decision making” (Toll, 2014). Being a reading coach requires several qualifications

including being well-versed in research, understanding of teaching, learning, and child

development, knowledge of teacher professional learning, strong interpersonal skills, and

planning/organizing skills (Toll, 2014). In addition, reading coaches also need to be a

trustworthy resource for teachers to feel comfortable collaborating with (Toll, 2014). A literacy

coach provides ongoing support, mentoring, relationships, and professional development for

teachers. Coaches do not just work with students, but they also spend a great deal of their time

training teachers to become leaders of their own. Just like reading specialists and coaches,

classroom teachers are responsible for providing the best instruction based on their students

individualized needs. The idea of reading coaches best supports school reform and changing the

way that teachers view and implement literacy instruction.

Changing Roles

“Although reading specialists and others have engaged in coachlike duties for many

years, it was the Reading First program, enacted as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of

2001, that placed literacy coaching in the national spotlight” (Toll, 2014). As a result of the

Reading First program, thousands of elementary schools across the United States were funded to

have a reading coach in their school. Even schools that did not receive funding worked toward

finding ways to fund coaches in their districts. Since then, the known importance of coaching has

increased across many school levels and settings to improve instruction and achievement (Toll,

2014).
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COACH ESSAY
My Position

I believe that the qualifications for being a coach (of any kind) means having a great deal

of practice and experience in a specific field. Without the experience as a classroom teacher, I do

not feel that I have enough personal experience to be a reading coach yet. I believe that I need to

put my knowledge from the RLL program to use and gain more confidence in my own ability

first before I would feel fully confident coaching other professionals. Later in my career as an

educator, however, I would love the opportunity to become a literacy coach. Just as the old

saying goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed

him for a lifetime,” literacy coaches similarly empower teachers to become literacy experts

themselves. I love the idea of being able to collaborate with teachers and create a school

environment of literacy leaders and learners and I hope to have that chance someday.

In my local school district, there are not literacy coaches, by name, but reading

specialists. From what I have observed, most of the reading specialist’s duties are geared toward

RTI, analyzing data, and finding ways to best meet the needs of students in their school. I have

not seen as much of the coaching or professional development aspect. There are some

professional development opportunities available to teachers during the summer and after school

on occasion, but not a daily support system. I would love to see more of a coaching side come to

light in my local school district, as I believe many teachers would benefit and become stronger

educators with the support from a coach.

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COACH ESSAY
References

Galloway, E. & Lesaux, N. (2014). Leader, teacher, diagnostician, colleague, and change agent:

A synthesis of the research on the role of the reading specialist in this era of rti -

based literacy reform. The Reading Teacher, 67 (7), 517-528.

Toll, C. (2014). The Literacy Coach’s Survival Guide (2nd edition). International Reading

Association.

International Reading Association. (2000). Roles of the Reading Specialist: Summary of position

statement. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/roles-reading-specialist.