This reflective article examines the work of Hurt, Roane, Simms, and Schell (1975), who surveyed remedial reading teachers to identify key personality traits essential to their profession. Their findings are contextualized within a broader historical framework, tracing significant educational policies and milestones that have shaped the field of…

Educators in rural settings experience many unique professional circumstances due to the rural context of their schools; one such unique circumstance is professional development opportunities that are unavailable locally. Rural reading specialists have limited opportunities for local professional development as well as limited opportunities for…

Student success is closely related to student engagement and literacy instruction, which can positively or negatively impact a student. It has been documented that children motivated to read have a strong sense of reading efficacy and academic competence (Wigfield et al., 2015). This research study addressed the skills needed by literacy…

This action research case study examined how adolescent male readers in reading intervention classes experienced and identified themselves as readers. Additionally, this case study was a self-study in that explored how I, a reading specialist, fostered student reading engagement and reader identity development. This study explored the research…

Millions of children in the United States struggle with reading acquisition, many of whom are identified with developmental dyslexia (DD). Although experimental research indicates that evidence-based reading interventions can bring many of these children to average-range reading skills, such promising outcomes are not commonly achieved within K-12…

This article describes a literacy methods course designed to introduce reading specialist candidates to research-based practices for comprehension instruction. Specifically, this article focuses on a sequence of assignments and class sessions within that course that introduced theoretical perspectives about comprehension processes and how those…

Policy, mandating early screening for dyslexia and use of specific interventions, is increasing throughout the United States. The authors designed a descriptive case study to learn what impact policies have on practice and how literacy specialists, trained in both comprehensive and structured literacy approaches, provide support for students. Data…

This autobiographical article explores the evolving expertise along the journey of an assistant professor in English as a second language and bilingual education. This educator began as a preschool teacher, then became a reading specialist, and is now working at a university, and she reflects on the challenges and rewards of understanding how…

Learning to read is a primary task of students at the beginning of their elementary years. For some students, learning to read is a struggle. Support for struggling students often comes from reading specialists who can provide further support beyond the classroom through Title I services. Support has not been consistent since March 2020, due to…

Specialized literacy professionals, guided by the International Literacy Association's (ILA) Standards for the Preparation of Literacy Professionals 2017, fulfill many roles within the elementary school setting to support the literacy development of students. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate elementary principals'…

Teacher expertise can have a large influence on student experiences and achievement. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences, practices, and beliefs of early elementary classroom teachers who have supplementary literacy certification. Although characteristics of effective literacy teachers have been identified in previous…

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…

This mixed methods study reports on seven library science and reading education students' experiences before, during, and after a small newly developed shortterm interdisciplinary study abroad, and its effects on their intercultural sensitivity. The evidence collected in this study affirms our belief in the potential for experiential learning,…

This paper provides a case study of two elementary science teachers' perspectives on science literacy and the role a reading specialist can play by providing them with a personalized professional development program. This paper seeks to gain insights into two research questions: (1) What beliefs do two focus third grade teachers hold about science…

Federal accountability policies requiring rapid, measurable outcomes have increasingly shaped the nature and type of public literacy services available to adults. However, little empirical research has explored the impact of accountability policies on program practice in adult basic education, and almost no research has focused on the effect on…