Off to a Great Start: NCTE/IRA’s Literacy Coaching Clearinghousea

At a session at the International Reading Conference last week Nancy Shanklin, new director of the NCTE/IRA Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse, engaged over fifty people in brainstorming about the clearinghouse’s website and research questions. Participants brainstormed potential users of the website, generating a comprehensive list that included, among others, classroom teachers, literacy coaches, administrators, policy makers, parents, and state education officials. A range of research questions covered such topics as defining essential features of coaching, analyzing the impact of coaching on teacher practice, and describing the effects of changed practice on student learning.

As Shanklin assembles an Advisory Council and a set of fellows to contribute to the establishment of the Center, she is eager to learn what will be most helpful to those who will use the clearinghouse as a source of information and connection with others engaged in the coaching process. cambridge-blog@ncte.orgIf you have suggestions, please respond to this blog. I'll be sure that Nancy receives your ideas.

Recently at the American Educational Research Association, I attended sessions on literacy coaching on behalf of NCTE’s efforts in establishing the clearinghouse. Emily Rogers and Carrie Hung from The Ohio State University reported the dearth of research on what it is that effective literacy coaches do. Their research focused on using an observational rubric with coaches who observed and rated video clips of coaches at work. Basic questions included “How did the coaches analyze teaching?” and “What are literacy coaches’ understandings about quality teaching?” These researchers concluded that (1) Coaches need to lift teachers’ theoretical understandings. (2) Coaches need to be well prepared in the subject matter so they can make decisions on the how, what, and when of teaching,” and “Coaches need a deep theory of literacy learning and knowledge of the teaching standards.”

Three other research/practitioners—Irene Fountas, Gay Su Pinnell, and Emily Rodgers—developed specific rubrics for examining each of the following instructional components: interactive read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, interactive writing, writing workshop, and word study. They concluded from their work that “A many layered rubric offers a look inside the ‘black box’ of instructional approaches, provides concrete language for the professional developer or coach so that practice can be viewed on a continuum, and serves as a ‘map’ for self-reflection on the part of individual teachers.”

David Kerbow and Nicole Pinkard from the University of Chicago presented on “Developing Observational Rubrics for Literacy Coaches: A Tool for Professional Development and Following Teacher Change.” They field tested their rubric with 22 literacy coordinators working with 78 teachers in K-3. Based on an item response theory model, the rubric revealed that “Literacy coaches agree about what they are seeing.” They presented empirical evidence for the construct validity of their rubric and for teacher development.

I mention these three presentations because research is being done on literacy coaching. The problem is that the research is difficult to find and needs to be organized for ready accessibility by people in many roles who can benefit from the research findings. And, that’s one main function of the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse.

NCTE members will be able in the months ahead to contribute to and to benefit from the clearinghouse. Be on the lookout for the website to be up and running by the end of August. Also as you plan your time at the 2006 NCTE Convention, watch for the workshop that Nancy Shanklin will coordinate on literacy coaching. Beware that her excitement about this subject is catching! You’re likely to go away from the workshop more knowledgable and more enthused than ever about the benefits of effective literacy coaching.