This case study begins with a clear statement of the research problem. The author identifies the recent increase in literacy coaches at the middle school level, migrating up from elementary schools. The vastly different settings and contexts between elementary and middle schools create a challenge to the traditional model of a literacy coach. Smith (2012) claims that most elementary teachers perceive themselves as reading teachers, whereas most middle schools teachers consider themselves to be teachers of content, not reading skills. While implementation of middle school literacy coaches is increasing, this has not led to an increase of research on the way these coaches align with the middle school concept. This appears to be a research problem worthy of additional study.
The author adequately describes the case study’s purpose as “…exploring middle grades literacy coach perspectives on coaching roles, teacher change, and student learning” (Smith, 2012, Middle School Literacy Coaching from the Coach’s Perspective, para. 4). Literacy coaches are expected to impact student learning. However, their impact is indirect, coming through the support
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With this in mind, the author undertook a case study to try and determine how people in those positions could most effectively perform their duties. Since there are seemingly no ‘experts’ on the matter, the author used the most appropriate data source available: the literacy coaches themselves. Since qualitative evidence was the only option, the author wisely chose several instruments: participant reflection, observational field notes, and interviews with stakeholders and the participants themselves. The combination of these data collection methods provide the clearest evidence possible of an occupation that can be difficult to