Literacy Collaborative Literacy Coach Training — A Coaching and Teaching Model That Works
In the Literacy Collaborative model, the role of the literacy coach is a teacher, staff developer, coach, participant in the professional learning community, and a learner. The school-based literacy coach teaches children, provides professional development for teachers, coaches teachers in the language and literacy framework, and monitors the data that provides evidence of literacy achievement.
The Literacy Collaborative model provides several options to meet your staffing and budget needs.
Literacy Coach Training Levels
- Primary Level (Grades K–2)
- Intermediate Level (Grades 3–6)
- Middle School Level (Grades 6–8)
- Grades K–5 Dual Training Level
Literacy Coach Training Format
- Four weeks of face-to-face training (Monday to Friday) on the Lesley campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- The first week takes place in August each year
- Subsequent weeks typically take place in October, January, and May
- Between face-to-face training weeks, literacy coaches-in-training participate in 15 to 18, two-hour webinars
- Coaches receive nine graduate credits from Lesley University upon
completion of all related course work and have the option to register
for additional credits
Expectations of a Literacy Coach
- The Literacy Collaborative framework includes readers' workshop, writers' workshop, and language and word study
- Literacy coaches are expected to implement the Literacy Collaborative framework in a heterogeneous classroom for 2.5–3 hours per day, five days per week
- A key feature is the use of ongoing assessment to inform and guide teaching, and the use of whole-group, small-group and individual instruction
- In the following year, the literacy coaches provide professional development and coaching to fellow teachers on how to use the framework in their own classrooms, while continuing to implement the language and literacy framework themselves
- They continue to coordinate data collection and analysis and attend five days of ongoing professional development annually at Lesley University
Getting Started in Literacy Collaborative Literacy Coach Training
- It is highly recommended that a team of administrators, teachers, and literacy professionals from your school district attend our Literacy Leadership Team Institute [pdf] to learn about the successful implementation of literacy improvement models
- Our staff are happy to speak to you anytime about the Literacy Collaborative model and to answer your questions
- Once a school or district has decided who they would like to participate in the Literacy Collaborative Literacy Coach Training, that educator completes and submits an official application to Lesley University, typically due in early May for the cohort beginning in August