Literacy Coaching: A Handbook for School Leaders
About this ebook
Fail-safe literacy is defined as listening, viewing, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, and expressing through multiple symbol systems at a developmentally appropriate level. An effective literacy coach, who can inspire extraordinary performance from ordinary people, can be a key to improving literacy schoolwide.
Grounded in research and an evidence-based approach, this handbook guides school leaders in successfully implementing literacy coaching, with a systematic process for teachers, administrators, and students. It is designed to improve reading, writing, and content learning through literacy infusion into curricular and instructional practices throughout the school.
Classroom strategies, specific teacher leadership practices, and resources used successfully in schools are showcased throughout, along with
- Background knowledge and an introduction to "fail-safe" literacy
- Details on the roles and responsibilities of literacy coaches
- Ideas for building the literacy team
- Ways to study data and monitor achievement
- Practical guidance for the literacy coach′s continuing success
Literacy Coaching supports school leaders in implementing a successful literacy coaching program, and in creating a collaborative professional learning community for literacy, resulting in improved student achievement.
About the author
Dale E. Moxley, has an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership and has over thirty years experience in education and administration. His school level administrative experience includes principal at the elementary, middle and high school level. He has also been the director of secondary curriculum at the district level. He is currently principal at Round Lake Elementary a Lake County, Florida charter conversion school. His teaching experience ranges from sixth grade through college level. He has taught mathematics, physical education, social studies, and drama. In higher education he has taught several classes for masters and above students in Educational Leadership for the University of Central Florida and National Louis University. Dale has helped author and received over two million dollars in grant funding for education, literacy initiatives, and literacy coaches in the past several years. This grant funding has also included the use of technology to improve student achievement through literacy enhancement. These grants helped implement the literacy coach concept for the Lake County Schools. As director of secondary curriculum, Dale helped lead the implementation of the pre K-12 “Just Read, Lake” reading initiative with Carmen Arnold, director of elementary curriculum. This was a grass-roots effort by district staff, local administrators, and school staff to create a fail-safe literacy process across all content areas for students in grades preK-12. The literacy process was comprehensive and included professional development, literacy assessment and monitoring, and the roles and responsibilities for administrators, teachers, and literacy coaches. He supervised the literacy coaches for the district and provided for their professional development district-wide during the first three years of the development process. Dale has also worked with career academies and the small learning community concept. He has made several presentations on this subject, including the Georgia State Tech Prep conference and National Tech Prep Network conference. He has also conducted research as to how well prepared high school graduates are to enter directly into the workforce.
Rosemarye (Rose) Taylor has a rich background that includes middle and high teaching, school administration, and district administration. She was a reading, language arts, and Spanish teacher, and counselor, followed by service as a middle and high school administrator, and district level administrator in Georgia and Florida, USA. In private sector management she was Director of Professional Development for Scholastic, Inc., New York. Currently, she is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. As Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Central Florida, her specialty is systematic leadership to improve student achievement Pk-20, which as lead to her interest and research in the professional practice doctorate. She has conducted research on leadership and change, particularly as it relates to accountability. Presentations on this topic have been given at University Council of Educational Administration, American Association of Educational Research, American Association of School Administrators, International Reading Association, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and National Middle School Association conferences. Her articles have been published in Kappan, Educational Leadership, Middle School Journal, Schools in the Middle, American Secondary Education, AASA Professor, The National Staff Development Journal, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, Educational Research Service Spectrum, and International Journal of Education Management. Six books including Leading Learning: Improve Student Achievement Today! (2010), Improving Readers, Writers, and Content Learning for Students in Grades 4-12 (2007), Leadership Handbook for Literacy Coaching (2006),The K-12 Literacy Leadership Fieldbook (2005), Literacy Leadership for Grades 5-12, (2003), and Leading With Character to Improve Student Achievement (2003), reflect the commitment to all students learning more through leadership that creates ethical, fail-safe systems. She serves as consultant on literacy, learning communities, curriculum system development, and leadership to schools, districts and professional organizations.
