Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Karen B. Kamin
Committee Member
Scherrine Pitts
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
able readers, academic areas, assessment, classroom instruction, coaching techniques, collaborative activities, district professional development, educational coaching, FCAT, Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Florida Department of Education, Florida Literacy Project, instructional coaching, instructional curriculum, instructional walk throughs, integrated strategies, learning team, literacy program, literacy skills, literacy strategies, ninth grade, peer coaching, professional development, professional development plans, project director, reading skills, reading strategies, school improvement plan, school stakeholders, strategy sessions, student achievement, student assessments, summer institute, teacher training, teachers, urban high school
Abstract
This study describes an opportunity to research the implementation of a major district professional development initiative related to reading strategies and the effect that coaching techniques have on teachers implementing learned strategies into their instructional curriculums in an urban high school. The Florida Department of Education mandates that teachers develop professional development plans and that training must positively impact student achievement. This can be accomplished only if learned strategies are implemented.
In 2001, after an in-depth review of results of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and other student assessments, school stakeholders identified the improvement of reading skills as a major concern related to ninth grade student achievement and as a goal for the school’s School Improvement Plan. This identified goal resulted in the necessity to train teachers in reading strategies that could assist both able and struggling readers. The Florida Literacy Project provided an opportunity for five teachers and the project director, the school’s principal, to attend a summer institute to learn a myriad of reading strategies and how to plan a school-wide literacy program.
The project director assisted project teachers in the development of a learning team to improve collaborative activities for the purposes of identifying and promoting the use of literacy strategies in all academic areas. To improve the percent of integrated strategies into classroom instruction, the project director implemented instructional coaching techniques such as peer coaching activities, instructional walk throughs and strategy sessions in working with project teachers. An analysis of the data revealed that the integration of learned strategies into classroom instruction increased with the use of coaching techniques.