A Duck, is a Duck, is a Duck?: Roles of Reading Specialists Today

Gilda Martinez-AlbaTowson University

Introduction

• This study sought to unveil the ILA standards

(International Literacy Association, 2010) used most often

by teachers that have obtained reading specialist

certification across the nation.

The SurveyThe 2010 Standards for Reading Professionals, were used to create a scale where reading specialists would fill in how often (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually, never) they were performing the tasks under the reading specialist/literacy coach section for the six standards:

1. Foundational Knowledge,2. Curriculum and Instruction,3. Assessment and Evaluation,4. Diversity,5. Literate Environment, and6. Professional Learning and Leadership.

The SurveyAdditional background questions evolved, such as:• school’s setting, • student population, • grade levels, • years of experience, • role, • familiarity with the College and Career-Ready

standards (if their state uses them), and • what would they change in their graduate reading

program?

Survey Respondents

• 300 teachers with reading specialist degrees from

throughout the nation responded.

• 215 were from Maryland, and

• an additional 85 teachers were from across the

nation.

 

Survey Respondents

• Many had worked in schools 21+ years

(Maryland=32%, nation=33%).

• Overall, the results from Maryland were somewhat

similar to the nationwide data.

Their Students

• In Maryland, 85% of the respondents said that they

had students on free and reduced meals compared

to 95% nationwide.

• 67% of the Maryland teachers worked with English

learners compared to 50% nationwide.

Their Students

• They served pre-K through 12th grade students, though

the grades most served were kindergarten through 5th

grade (83%=Maryland, 61%=nation),

• followed by high school (17%=Maryland,

27%=nation),

• then middle school (11%=Maryland, 13%=nation).

Their Students

• Students’ schools were located in urban

(15%=Maryland, 39%=nation),

• suburban (69%=Maryland, 36%=nation), and

• rural (13%=Maryland, 24%=nation) areas from a

total of 28 states across the nation.

Self-Identified Roles/Titles of Reading

Specialists

_____________________________________________________________________Maryland Nation

 Classroom teacher 32% 23%Resource teacher other than Reading Specialist 8% 6%Reading Specialist 43% 27%Literacy coach 4% 9%Curriculum coordinator 1% 2%Administrator 3% 3%College/university instructor 1% 16%Other 8% 14% 

From the “other” category they identified these as their roles, which are listed in alphabetical order:

Building literacy representative County reading teacher Elementary network coach English and remedial reading teacher English language arts specialist ESOL teacher Gifted and talented teacher Instructional assistant Instructional resource teacher Intervention teacher Literacy coordinator Literacy specialist Literacy teacher Media Specialist / Librarian Music teacher PhD student

Reading and language arts consultant

Reading contact Reading interventionist Reading recovery teacher

Reading recovery teacher and district intervention coach

Reading resource teacher Reading teacher Remedial reading teacher

Resource teacher Special educator Speech-language

pathologist Staff development teacher

Targeted reading intervention

Teacher mentor Teacher specialist Team leader Title 1 teacher specialist

Youth literacy program

consultant

*Note. Between one to five teachers identified themselves in each of these. In addition, there were 209 Maryland respondents and 64 nationwide respondents for this question.

Note. The percentages do not add up to 100% because sections, such as daily/weekly or monthly/quarterly were combined then rounded. The totals range from 99% to 101%. Additionally, there were 192 respondents for the single state and 64 respondents nationwide for this part of the survey.

Take Action!

Based on the feedback, areas to consider for professional development at your

school might include:

Common Core

Technology

Writing

Working with Diverse Students

Instruction and Assessment

Collaboration with Teachers and Parents

Reading Specialist Responsibilities

Conclusion

• In a few years after the Common Core has been in place for more time, these

numbers will probably look a little differently.

• In the meantime, this survey provides a brief overview of these reading

specialists’ roles, titles, populations, as well as their desires for graduate

reading programs.

• There is quite a range of titles that are accompanied with varying

responsibilities; yet, in general many similarities across the nation were noted

in the jobs of reading specialists.

Watch a short video I created to go along with this research project.

This is currently under review at:

Literacy Issues and Practices

Questions:• How would I go about getting more nationwide responses?

• I used LRA’s listserv, my university’s listserv, and every Facebook account that was reading related nationally, by state, and by county.

• Should I add or delete anything on the survey?

• What might be a next step for this research project?

• Do you see any other implications?

• Other questions?