Joseph Rossow

The new trend in elementary education is positioning principals as learners and instructional leaders with the literacy coach. Having the literacy coach working alongside myself, the principal, is important in establishing a plan to move the literacy growth of our building forward. This creates a process for a positive collegial work environment and rapport with the principal, literacy coach, and staff.

When I was a first-year principal at my elementary school, the literacy coach had already worked at the school for over a year. The coach had established rapport and a safe collegial working relationship with the previous principal who had worked there for many years. It was clear to me that I had to develop a plan to work closely with the literacy coach, building off the rapport that was already established.

Right away I wanted to create a team to help ensure that my ideas and philosophies matched up with the literacy coach and staff. It is important to be on the same page with your literacy coach -- to work together to make it a positive and beneficial school year. During the first couple of weeks, it was a balancing act to make certain that in the eyes of the staff, I was the principal, but also the instructional leader who learned alongside the literacy coach.  The literacy coach and I learned how to complement each other with our strengths and helped each other with our weaknesses when working with the staff. 

To start the school year, the literacy coach and I reviewed and analyzed data and shared with staff the strengths and areas of need. We worked with the Leadership Council and started working on the School Improvement Plan (SIP). This ensured the literacy SMART goals in the SIP were being integrated into the professional learning communities (PLCs) and into the classroom instructions. The literacy coach and I created a schedule for the whole school year to map out our strategic PLCs. This helped show staff collaboration between the principal and the literacy coach. I also positioned myself as one of learners during the PLCs. In addition to PLCs, each month for 30-45 minutes the literacy coach, grade level teams, and I would convene for data meetings to analyze student growth in the Balanced Literacy program. 

It is imperative to meet with the literacy coach on a regular basis to coordinate what the needs are for the staff. The structured meetings between the literacy coach and myself were held at least once a week to ensure academic growth for the students and staff; we met on average two-to-three times per week. For the last two years, I relocated the office of the literacy coach closer to my office which has increased the communication and academic productivity between the teachers, literacy coach and administration team. 

With this experience it has also allowed me to transform from being a manager to more of an instructional leader in our school. Having the literacy coach and the principal work together has systematically changed the PLCs into more of a hands-on practical pedagogy for all the teachers at my school.