Principal Leadership and Reading Specialist Role Understanding In the Era of Test-Based Accountability Policies

This study investigates how the role of the reading specialist (RS) is defined and communicated by principals, and examines to what degree a common understanding of this role exists among teachers, building administrators and reading specialists. The principal’s responsibility in defining and communicating role, and the effect these efforts have on job satisfaction and specialists’ perceived effectiveness is also studied. Eight elementary schools in the western part of New York State (USA) are studied. Based on interviews with principals and reading specialists and surveys completed by principals, reading specialists, and teachers, the following themes emerge: (a.) Principal leadership was essential in defining the RS role; (b.) A clearly defined RS role was associated with greater RS satisfaction and perceptions of effectiveness as well as greater teacher compliance; (c.) Greater teacher compliance with a school’s literacy program did not affect beliefs about the proper role of RSs; (d.) Lack of a clearly defined role in a school was associated with role conflict and role ambiguity for reading specialists; (e.) Reading specialists, even without coaching responsibilities, served as a resource to teachers, although no time was allocated in their schedule to do so; (f.) Reading specialists faced challenges due to increased accountability and assessment demands affected by policy, demographics, and accountability requirements. It is concluded that principals must assume responsibility for defining and communicating the reading specialist role within their schools to strengthen literacy programming.

Teacher Compliance and Accuracy in State Assessment of Student Motor Skill Performance

Purpose:The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher compliance with state mandated assessment protocols and teacher accuracy in assessing student motor skill performance.Method:Middle school teachers (N = 116) submitted eighth grade student motor skill performance data from 318 physical education classes to a trained monitoring committee to evaluate compliance and data accuracy.Results:Eighty-four percent of the data sets met the requirements for acceptance and compliance by the monitoring committee. Accurate assessment of students proved more difficult for teachers when discriminating four performance levels within a rubric (M = 67.17%, SD = 19.79) than simply discerning between competent and incompetent motor skill performance (M = 93.92%, SD = 7.42). Teachers who attended data collection training sessions and curriculum inservice training submitted more compliant and accurate student performance data.Discussion:Teacher training is instrumental in the successful use of testing protocols and for discriminating levels within student skill competency. Training should be a part of any district or state mandated assessment program.