Although literacy coaching is used as a professional development mechanism in many schools to facilitate teachers' learning, few studies have looked carefully at the discourse used by literacy coaches who have successfully increased the professional capacity of teachers with whom they work. This qualitative multiple case study is grounded in the…

This article presents findings on the institutional logics of reading instruction in an urban school district, portraying how district leaders and coaches enacted two logics. Findings are grounded in observation, interview, and document data on district leaders and literacy coaches from a 13-month period. Using neoinstitutional theory, this…

The purpose of this dissertation research was to identify a clear connection between teacher reflection, instructional coaching, and improved secondary reading instruction. During this case study, teachers explain and describe their understanding of the impact that two elements, instructional coaching and video reflection, have on secondary…

Purpose: Instructional coaching is framed as both a means for systemic and individual reform. These competing conceptualizations of coaching as a mechanism for change have not been systematically examined, and therefore, we know little about how the framing of instructional coaching initiatives affects the enactment of coaching. In response to…

Disciplinary literacy is a newer framework for teaching and learning within the last decade. This qualitative study explored how seven teachers in one Midwestern rural school district defined and enacted disciplinary literacy in grades six through twelve. The content areas represented in this study include teachers from agriculture, art, family…

This article examines the case studies of 2 middle grades professional learning communities that focused on teaching and learning with new literacies strategies. The new literacies theoretical lens that frames this study recognizes literacy as multimodal (e.g., print, image, sound) and tied to one's sociocultural identities and…

This study examined how the professional development initiative of Reading Apprenticeship (RA), which included the support of a school-based literacy coach, impacted two high school Title I teachers and their students. In the field of education, much is known about the qualities of professional development which lead to improved learning on the…

Literacy coaches are in the business of helping to create some kind of change--change in teaching practice, change in school policy, change in curriculum, or change in teachers and children themselves. But the social interactions necessary for change to happen, such as in-classroom consultations conducted by a literacy coach, are often fraught…

Throughout this study a number of factors regarding the experience of principals and their strategies and processes from the perspective of helping teachers adopt more effective teaching practices, will be examined. The result should be a fresh and more complete picture of the principals' processes and helping teachers adopt more effective…

In this article, the researchers use positioning theory and de Certeau's theoretical insights into cultural production in everyday life to examine how first-year literacy coaches negotiate issues of power, positioning, and identity during their professional development. Data were collected during a yearlong qualitative study of literacy coaches…

This study's purpose was to determine whether or not the Literacy Coach Appraisal Instrument developed for use in evaluating literacy coaches had content validity. The study, a fully mixed concurrent equal status design conducted from a pragmatist philosophy, collected qualitative and quantitative data from literacy experts about the elements of…

This ethnographic study reports on one elementary literacy coach's response to high-stakes testing and her approach to support third- through fifth-grade teachers in a Title I school in Texas. Sources of data included field notes and observations of classes and meetings, audio/video recordings, and transcribed interviews. The findings illustrate…

This article examines literacy coaches' (n = 7) digital note-taking practices using mobile technology and their influence on reflective practice. The study, which employed a design-based approach, investigated the coaches' transition from note-taking by paper and pencil to the note-taking application Evernote. Data included interviews with the…

As the demands placed on the literacy coach have evolved, so too have the roles of these educational providers who are often responsible for working with school teams to turn around student performance on standardized literacy tests. One literacy coach based in a Queensland primary school recounts her experiences via open-ended interview over a…

This study of two successful first grade teachers examines the forces that guide their instructional decisions. Findings reveal the complexities of forces that influence the moment-to-moment decisions made by these teachers. Teachers repeatedly attempted to balance their desires to be student-centered while addressing state standards and…