Jade Wexler & Elizabeth Swanson 
Literacy Coaching in the Secondary Grades 
Helping Teachers Meet the Needs of All Students

Too many adolescent learners still struggle with reading .
This much-needed guide shows how to support teachers in providing effective literacy instruction in the content areas, which can be intensified as needed within a multi-tiered framework. Adaptive Intervention Model (AIM) Coaching was created for grades 6–8, but is equally applicable in high school. The book gives instructional coaches an accessible blueprint for evaluating, developing, and reinforcing each teacher’s capacity to implement evidence-based literacy practices. User-friendly features include case studies, end-of-chapter reflection questions and key terms, and reproducible tools. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download and print the reproducible materials–plus supplemental lesson plans and other resources–in a convenient 8 1/2′ x 11′ size.

Table of Content

I. Introduction

1. The State of Adolescent Literacy

2. What Do We Do about These Poor Outcomes?

3. Common Schoolwide Support Models

II. Instructional Practices Every Secondary Literacy Coach Should Know

4. Using Data

5. Challenges in Choosing Text for Intensive Instruction

6. Features of Effective Instruction

7. Evidence-Based Content-Area Literacy Practices to Support Students with Intensive Needs

8. Fidelity of Implementation

III. An Adaptive Coaching Model to Improve Literacy Instruction for All Students

9. An Adaptive Approach to Literacy Instructional Coaching: Enhancing Intensive Instruction in a Schoolwide Literacy Model

10. An Introduction to AIM Coaching

11. Determining Teachers’ Skill and Will Levels

12. Tailoring Support to Meet Teachers’ Needs

13. AIM Coaching Case Study

References

Index

About the author

Jade Wexler, Ph D, is Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education at the University of Maryland. Her current research focuses on designing reading interventions to support adolescents with reading difficulties and disabilities in the content-area and supplemental intensive intervention settings. She also designs and evaluates professional development and schoolwide service-delivery models to support the implementation of evidence-based literacy practices in middle schools. Dr. Wexler has published over 45 articles focusing on adolescent literacy interventions. She is a former high school special education and reading teacher.

Elizabeth Swanson, Ph D, is Research Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, and has served the field of education since the 1990s as a special education teacher, researcher, public speaker, and writer. Currently, she focuses on improving educational opportunities for struggling readers and students with disabilities. Dr. Swanson has worked closely with teachers to co-create and test the effects of multiple sets of instructional practices focused on infusing the content areas with vocabulary and comprehension practices to improve outcomes for struggling readers. She has published more than 55 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Alexandra Shelton, Ph D, is Assistant Professor of Special Education at Johns Hopkins University. She focuses on professional development for middle school teachers aimed at improving literacy instruction and intervention for students with and at risk for reading disabilities. Dr. Shelton is the author of multiple publications related to secondary literacy instruction and intervention. A former high school special education teacher, she served students in general and special education settings in English language arts and science.