Lessons for Boosting the Effectiveness of Reading Coaches

Despite recent progress in reading achievement among elementary school children, literacy levels among U.S. adolescents remain low. Many middle schoolers struggle to develop advanced reading skills, such as the ability to analyze and synthesize complex ideas or to comprehend multiple points of view within a text. Possessing such advanced literacy skills is increasingly becoming a key to success. A popular approach for improving students' literacy skills is school-based literacy or reading coaches--specially trained master teachers who provide leadership for the school's literacy program and offer onsite and ongoing professional development support for teachers so they can improve the literacy skills of their students. Unlike other staff who support reading (e.g., reading resource teachers), coaches generally don't work directly with students and, in most cases, serve in a nonevaluative, support role for teachers. Using the coaching model to improve adolescent literacy is compelling because middle and high school students generally receive instruction from content-area teachers who have received minimal preservice training in how to teach reading. Coaching models are designed to fit the best practices suggested by the literature on professional development and learning theory. Research has suggested that traditional one-shot workshops result in little instructional change and little to no improvement in student learning (Garet et al. 1999; Garet et al. 2001; Hawley and Valli 1999; Showers and Joyce 1996). Instead, learning theory suggests that learners should have opportunities to discuss and reflect with others, to practice applying new ideas and receive feedback from an expert, and to observe modeling (Vaughn 1996; Lave and Wenger 1991; Rogoff 1990; Tharp and Gallimore 1988; Brown, Collins, and Duguid 1989; Lave 1988). As on-site personnel who interact with teachers in their own workplaces, coaches should theoretically be able to facilitate learning that is context-embedded, site-specific, and sensitive to teachers' actual work experiences (Toll 2007; Walpole and McKenna 2004; Hasbrouck and Denton 2005). With strong theoretical and intuitive appeal, coaching has become increasingly prevalent. But there is little empirical evidence about coaching's effectiveness in changing teacher practice and improving student achievement, particularly at the secondary level (Marsh et al. 2008). RAND, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, sought to address this gap in knowledge by studying a statewide reading-coach program in Florida middle schools. To understand the implementation and effects of coaching, researchers surveyed principals, coaches, and reading and social studies teachers in 113 middle schools in eight large Florida school districts; conducted interviews, focus groups, and observations; interviewed state officials and coach coordinators; and examined results from state middle school examinations in reading and mathematics (Marsh et al. 2008). Coaching in Florida may be distinct from similar interventions elsewhere because of the presence of reading teachers and reading courses in middle schools, and because Florida middle school coaches often prioritize work with these reading teachers (as opposed to content-area teachers). Despite the potential difference in target audience, Florida coaches face many of the same goals, pressures, and constraints as coaches elsewhere. Thus, even though we lack definitive evidence to suggest that our findings from this study can be generalized to other states or districts, we believe the experiences and effects of Florida reading coaches nonetheless provide important insights for policy makers and practitioners interested or involved in similar coaching efforts. Key Findings Administrators voiced common concerns about recruiting and retaining high-quality coaches. Some administrators voiced concerns about a short-age of qualified candidates (as one coach supervisor noted, middle school teachers are generally not "reading people"). …