Description:

In pursuit of Academic Excellence, MCPS allocated funds for school year 2022-2023 to ensure every elementary school had a full-time reading specialist to serve as a literacy coach. This evaluation focused on understanding how the reading specialist position supported teachers' increased capacity to implement the MCPS literacy program, including the shift to Structured Literacy. This study was based on self-reported data from surveys of reading specialists and principals, a focus group, and an interview with central office-level elementary language arts (ELA) specialists. These sources provided insights into three key aspects: 1) the role and responsibilities of reading specialists, 2) the professional learning system established to support them, and 3) the support given to teachers as they implemented the elementary literacy program.

Recommendations:

1. Provide ways for the reading specialists to have enough designated time to deliver professional learning to their school staff.
2. Expand professional learning opportunities to include topics of interest, particularly writing.
3. Conduct a feasibility study to hire school-level testing coordinators to relieve the burden on reading specialists.
4. Provide additional workdays during the summer for reading specialists.

A response to the recommendations in this report, prepared by the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs, can be found here.

File Name: Read Specialist Support Structure Lit ES Eval Rpt FINAL.pdf (1.9MB PDF)