Literacy coaching: Research & practice

The chapters in this volume are based on presentations from the First National Literacy Coaching Summit held at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi on April 3 and 4, 2009. The conference drew more than 400 participants from 21 states, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and Washington, D.C. Keynote speakers included Dr. Nancy Shanklin of the University of Colorado, then-head of the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse; Dr. Rita Bean of the University of Pittsburgh, a longtime researcher on the role of the reading specialist/literacy professional; Dr. MaryEllen Vogt of California State University Long Beach, an expert on teaching English language learners; and Gary Soto, a noted children’s author. Literacy coaching has been a hot topic in the field for most of the past decade (Cassidy & Cassidy, 2009-10). A literacy coach should be a well-qualified and highly-regarded classroom teacher with advanced training in literacy. Ideally, the literacy coach is assigned to one school and primarily works as a staff developer. However, the International Reading Association recognized the “changing roles … and variety of new titles, such as reading coach and literacy coach, and …the variability in the job descriptions for these coaches” (2004, p. 2). Chapters included in this book represent both research and practice in the field of literacy coaching. The 26 authors hail from 10 different states. These chapter authors are both school-based and university-based professionals. Each of the articles was blindly peer reviewed by at least two literacy professionals. Like the authors, Jack Cassidy & Sherrye Dee Garrett, these peer reviewers were both school-based and university based and came from ten different states. The first chapter introduces the major coaching themes and research presented in this book. The second chapter provides an overview provides an overview of the history and precursors of current literacy coaching. The next five chapters represent some of the research conducted on literacy coaching. Nancy Shanklin’s article begins the research section, and it highlights some of the most significant research on literacy coaching. The second section of the book focuses on specific practices associated with literacy coaching. This chapter opens with a piece by Rita Bean, delineating five lessons from her years working with and observing literacy coaching in schools. The remaining five chapters address specific programs and strategies that have proven effective.