A Duck, is a Duck, is a Duck?: Roles of Reading Specialists Today Gilda Martinez-Alba Towson...
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Transcript of A Duck, is a Duck, is a Duck?: Roles of Reading Specialists Today Gilda Martinez-Alba Towson...
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?