Literacy Coaches

The objective of the UIC Early Reading First projects (UIC-ERF) is to create centers of early literacy excellence in which preschool children learn the language, cognitive, and literacy skills that prepare them for continued school success. We believe that teacher professional development is the key to establishing such centers, and in our project Literacy Coaches are the primary means through which professional development is provided. This document describes how we have conceptualized the role of the early childhood literacy coach and summarizes the various activities that coaches are involved in throughout the year.

The Role of Literacy Coach in UIC-ERF

Our focus is on coaching for outcomes. The outcomes coaches seek to achieve are as follows:

• For Teachers:
• Comfort with change
• Enhanced knowledge of scientifically based reading and child development research related to preschool age children
• Enhanced early literacy teaching and assessment strategies
• Regular self-reflection on teaching and assessment
• Self-sustaining habits of collaborative interaction with other teachers
• For Children:
• Improved achievement in early language and literacy skills and strategies
• Enhanced enjoyment of and disposition toward reading and writing
• Substantive content knowledge, especially in science and social studies
  

Professional Development

Our professional development (PD) is based on a three-tiered philosophy: (1) enhanced teacher knowledge about scientifically based reading and child development research forms the foundation for (2) improved classroom language and literacy instruction, which leads to (3) higher language and literacy achievement of children.

UIC-ERF professional development coordinates project-wide group PD with application of principles and practices at the individual classroom level. In group professional development activities, all UIC-ERF teachers and staff come together to focus on a particular topic (e.g., phonological awareness, using assessment data to differentiate instruction, children’s literature). Classroom- and site-based professional development is primarily provided by the Literacy Coach and is tailored to the immediate needs of the children and teachers. It is practical work that is firmly grounded in research: the intent is to help each teacher become a principle-based decision maker rather than merely someone who follows the procedures from a teacher’s guide or in a lesson plan found in a commercial program or on the Internet.

UIC-ERF professional development centers around three substantive areas:

• Classroom Literacy Environment: Creation of literacy-rich environments that foster early reading, writing, and oral language development. Coaches work with teachers to enhance the physical, intellectual, and social dimensions of the literacy environment.
• Instructional Practices: Coaches help teachers identify areas of professional growth and improvement that align with SBRR instructional strategies, principles, and practices.
• Assessment: Coaches work with teachers to develop their skill in collecting, analyzing and managing both formal and informal data on individual students’ language and literacy concepts and strategies so that the teachers can make appropriate instructional decisions that address identified student needs.

Coach Activities

The classroom-based coaching activities in UIC-ERF are intended to be both broad and deep. They are enacted through varied means and focus especially on the following three areas:

• Deeper Knowledge/Enhanced Teaching and Assessment: Through techniques such as modeling lessons and teaching strategies, co-teaching, observing teacher lessons and debriefing, grade level teacher/assistant teacher meetings, and study groups, the Literacy Coaches focus on increasing the knowledge base of teachers in proven teaching and assessment practices and enabling their effective implementation of these practices with children on a daily basis. Such development involves enhancing teachers’ capacity for self-reflection, progress monitoring and purposeful decision-making.
• Curriculum/Materials Preparation: UIC-ERF classrooms are implementing a comprehensive curriculum that focuses on content teaching in science and social studies as well as on language and literacy. Our coaches support teachers during this complex process of implementation and change by assisting with the gathering and creation of materials needed for the varied lessons, centers, and small group instructional activities.
• Linking School Literacy to Community: UIC-ERF coaches work directly with family literacy experts on the UIC-ERF staff to provide family workshops, home-based activities, and newsletter communications and other means of involving parents and other family and community members in promoting the preschoolers’ early language and literacy development.