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Coach Essay
Victoria Parrott
Longwood University
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
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
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
“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
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
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
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 -
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