Over the months of a graduate course in literacy education, the authors engaged in many conversations about their leadership roles in the district in which they both work. Their schools are actively engaged in school improvement with a focus on enhancing student achievement. The district and the provincial Department of Education have given…

This article outlines five critical issues for teacher educators and literacy specialists in New York State. Intended to raise issues and share recent policy decisions, the article provides background and conversations about current policy. Readers are encouraged to make decisions about how to participate in the current conversations across the…

Elizabeth G. Sturtevant, a professor of education at George Mason University, holds a 33-year record of college-level teaching, scholarship, and service that centers on adolescent literacy. Her research helps clarify the pressures that affect teachers' literacy instruction, the role of secondary school literacy coaches, and adolescent…

What role must principals play in order to effectively support literacy coaching efforts? This is a question that many educators have begun to ask (Burkins, 2007; Casey, 2006; Kral, 2007; Shanklin, 2007; Steiner & Kowal, 2007; Toll, 2008). Some suggest that principals can establish close relationships with literacy coaches by offering a number…

Pressures to help students pass high-stakes tests affect teachers' reading instruction, their responsiveness to students' learning needs, and their professional effectiveness. This article reports on how one reading specialist responded to testing pressures in her urban elementary school. She believed that what was "right" for her…

High school reading specialists possess specialized knowledge and have the potential to positively affect adolescent literacy growth. Research on the role of the high school reading specialist can create a better understanding of depth and breadth of that role and provide a comprehensive portrayal of the role. This outline lists literacy problems…

Presents results from a survey in the United States that provides some indication of how reading specialists fulfill their roles and how they offer students effective literacy instruction. Notes that the goal was to investigate what reading specialists do so that educators could better understand how they provide services to students and teachers.…

Reading specialists can and should take action that will help determine the nature of public policies affecting reading. (MKM)

Describes the reading specialist's role in the Collaborative Literacy Intervention Project (CLIP) of the Tempe (Arizona) School District. (SR)

A special interest group of the International Reading Association publishes a scholarly journal, "The Reading Professor: The Journal of Professors of Reading Teacher Educators." In Volume 22, No. 1, Fall 1999, the following articles are featured: "Young Children Draw Their Images of Literacy" (Roberta A. McKay and Maureen E.…

The papers in this volume represent thoughts about the state of the art of teaching reading (with an emphasis on persistent problems) of many recognized authorities in the field of reading education. Eight of the articles were originally presented at a joint Reading Hall of Fame and International Reading Association (IRA) symposium at the IRA…

Offers a few suggestions on how to implement a school or district content-area reading and writing program. (PKP)

Contends that there is no literacy crisis in the United States. Notes that research on college-level proficient readers has indicated that reading educators are doing a better job of educating students to become mature readers and that even at the elementary level the news is better than most people realize. Suggests that the conception of reading…

Considers the merits and disadvantages of withdrawing students from timetabled lessons for periods of intensive teaching and those of its alternative, namely, support for the ordinary class or subject teacher during normal lessons. (NKA)