The Development and Refinement of SEDLs Working Systemically Model

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Literacy Coaches Promises and Problems Sebastian
Wren
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One of the most important variables determining
the literacy success or failure of an "at-risk"
student is the quality of that student's literacy
teachers. Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, Wilkinson,
1985 Snow, Burns, Griffin, 1998 Ferguson,
Ladd, 1996
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Teacher quality (knowledge and skills) is
significantly influenced by the quality of
professional development that teacher
receives. Gallagher, 2002 Farrell and
Cirrincione, 1986 Joyce and Showers, 1995 Lyons
and Pinnell, 2001
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• High-quality professional development adheres to
  5 core principles
• Authentic and job-embedded
• Ongoing
• Data-driven
• Outcome and task oriented
• Collaborative
• (synthesized from Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1999
  Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 1995 Joyce and
  Showers, 1995, 1996 McLaughlin and Talbert,
  2001 Lieberman, 1995)

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A literacy coach model for professional
development is believed to be an effective
approach for building teacher quality in literacy
instruction that adheres to the 5 principles of
professional development. Lyons and Pinnell,
2001 Sturtevant, 2003 Neufeld and Roper,
2003 Dole, 2004
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A "literacy coach" is a knowledgeable and
credible professional primarily tasked with
"coaching" other teachers to build their
knowledge and skills as literacy teachers. Bean,
2004 Coggins, Stoddard, and Cutler, 2003 Walpole
McKenna, 2004
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There have been literacy coaches in the middle-
and upper-grades for decades. Sturtevant, 2003
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However, there has been a recent "rapid
proliferation" of literacy coaches across the
country, primarily in the lower
grades. International Reading Association, 2004
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There have been thousands of new coaches staffed
in schools across the country in recent years,
and there have been calls for tens of thousands
more. Sturtevant, 2003
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Staffing and supporting 1 full-time literacy
coach can easily cost 100,000 per year. With
millions spent on literacy coaches across the
country, and with the literacy (life) success of
students in the balance, we should really
understand literacy coaches very well.
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• Core research questions
• To what extent does adding a literacy coach to a
  school improve student achievement?
• What specific roles and behaviors of the
  literacy coach are most important for success?
• What are the characteristics of a literacy coach
  that are most often associated with success?
• What role, if any, do school and district
  leaders have to play in supporting the literacy
  coach to maximize effectiveness?

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• Interesting research questions
• Can one literacy coach be effective when divided
  among more than one school campus?
• Is there a "coach-teacher ratio" that is optimal?
• What is the trade-off between percentage of time
  and measurable school improvement? (i.e. Is a
  0.5 FTE literacy coach half as effective as a 1.0
  FTE literacy coach?)
• Are there other advantages to having more than
  one literacy coach in a school? (e.g. mutual
  professional support, complementing talents, etc.)

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• Interesting research questions
• What percentage of time and energy should be
  dedicated to each of the critical roles and
  behaviors of the literacy coach?
• What kind and level of training or support is
  effective for developing effective behaviors and
  characteristics in a literacy coach?

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A great deal has been written about literacy
coaches -- articles, books, internet sites. And
much advice and guidance has been provided as
answers to the questions listed above. However,
little information is to be found in
peer-reviewed research publications.
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Most of what we know about literacy coaches has
come from very informal literature and testimony
from experts. Controlled studies have not been
reported. Most evidence comes from descriptions
of successful literacy coaches.
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The informal, largely anecdotal evidence is
substantial -- dozens of articles, policy briefs,
white papers, chapters and several books have
been dedicated to the topic. That alone would be
fairly compelling if it were convergent and
consistent.
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It isn't. Consider the advice given in various
reports about the roles and responsibilities of
the literacy coach.
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• What are the characteristics of a literacy coach
  that are most often associated with success?
• Again, there is not much consensus or clarity

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• What role, if any, do school and district
  leaders have to play in supporting the literacy
  coach to maximize effectiveness?
• Possibly the most important question.

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Leader Support Roles
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Consequences? It is possible that most literacy
coaches are not very effective. There is evidence
that the literacy coach role is sometimes
confusing and frustrating for coaches, leaders,
and teachers. It is likely that coaches, like all
humans, will fall into a "comfort zone" and will
engage in activities that are less effective for
engendering change and improvement (Bean)
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Consequences? It is likely that we will not find
many professionals already qualified and capable
of being literacy coaches. And worse, we will not
know how to train and support the legions needed
to truly improve literacy instruction.
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"Perhaps one of the most important factors that
impinged on the coaches' ability to be effective
was... the ambiguity of the coach role and the
uncertainty of what the relationship should be to
the teachers, the principal, and the leadership
team." Poglinco, Bach, Hovde, Rosenblum,
Saunders, and Supovitz (2003)
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Bean, Swab, and Knaub (2003) -- Reading
specialists "expressed a great deal of
frustration and confusion about these many tasks
that they were asked to perform." IRA (2004) --
"At present, there is little consistency in the
training, backgrounds, and skills required for
such positions, and there is little consistency
in the general competence of coaches, in part
because there are no agreed upon definitions or
standards for the roles."
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Coggins, Stoddard, and Cutler (2003) noted that
coaches tended to focus on areas where they had
the greatest comfort or perceived skill. Also,
they noted a weak correlation between what
coaches think they should be doing and what they
actually spend their time doing.
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Poglinco, Bach, Hovde, Rosenblum, Saunders, and
Supovitz (2003) stated that coaches tendend to
engage in behaviors that give them the greatest
job satisfaction. Coaches also admitted that
they "observed more where they felt more welcome,
not necessarily where the need was greatest."
Several coaches stated that they should be
observing more, but they did not have the time.
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Neufeld and Roper (2003) -- "One primary
difficulty is that, due to the novelty of the
enterprise, there are few people with the extant
knowledge and skill necessary to lead these
programs." Poglinco, Bach, Hovde, Rosenblum,
Saunders, and Supovitz (2003) -- "The diversity
also illustrated how difficult it is to find a
single person whose profile matches the combined
expectations of the role."
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"I have to keep track of everything -- student
data, teacher schedules, research findings, all
the ROP stuff. (The principal) needs me to do
that -- there's no way it would happen without me
-- but it always takes more time than I expect it
to" (Coggins, Stoddard, and Cutler (2003) p. 22).
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Current research A variety of presentations at
NRC this year -- very few in years past. Starting
to see proposed models (Kathy Toll, Susan
L'Allier) IES has funded a large study to begin
to address the "effectiveness" question (AIR and
MDRC).
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Organizational Positions IRA has been trying to
clarify the standards for literacy coaches. They
released a 50 page position paper on secondary
literacy coaches this year (this month?).
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Future Work The supportive role of leadership is
critical to the success or failure of a literacy
coach. More work with school leaders in
implementing this model is needed.
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Thank you.