Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Jan Bevan
Committee Member
Jodi Lamb
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
A.S.K. Coaching Model, administration, andragogy, coaching, content-area literacy, content-area teachers, curriculum, development methodology, follow-up sessions, knowledge management, language arts, literacy coach, mandatory training, mathematics, middle school, professional development, reading consultants, reading instruction, reading strategies, reading teachers, research-based strategies, science, social studies, standards, summative committee, support, synergy, teacher coaching, weekly meetings
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to investigate and provide middle school content-area teachers with ongoing support in an effort to foster reading across the curriculum. Mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts teachers participated in a mandatory content area literacy training where they were provided with research-based reading strategies to implement into their classrooms. The requirement to implement these new strategies into their daily instruction seemed overwhelming, which led to reluctance and frustration among many of the teachers.
The development methodology was used to develop the product utilizing a formative and a summative committee. The formative committee gathered data that were used to develop the product’s mission, objectives, and goals. The summative committee reviewed and approved the final product. The outcome resulted in The A.S.K. Coaching Model.
The concepts of andragogy, synergy, and knowledge management were integrated to form the A.S.K. Coaching Model. This model served as the foundation for the implementation of professional a development program to train reading teachers to coach content-area teachers. This training will subsequently provide content-area teachers with ongoing and comprehensive support from fellow reading teachers in an effort to foster reading across the curriculum.
To obtain the highest level of standards from the A.S.K. Coaching Model, several recommendations were made. These include having strong and ongoing commitment from the administration and teachers, employing a minimum of 4 reading teachers and a literacy coach, and providing time for weekly meetings and follow-up sessions.