A Duck, is a Duck, is a Duck?: Roles of Reading Specialists Today Gilda Martinez-Alba Towson 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 Survey The 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, and 6.Professional Learning and Leadership.

The Survey Additional 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 12 th grade students, though the grades most served were kindergarten through 5 th 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 _____________________________________________________________________ MarylandNation Classroom teacher32%23% Resource teacher other than Reading Specialist8%6% Reading Specialist43%27% Literacy coach4%9% Curriculum coordinator1%2% Administrator3%3% College/university instructor1%16% Other8%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?