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A superintendent’s or principal’s role in fostering early literacy extends beyond setting a budget for materials and hiring the right teachers. They play a critical role in setting priorities, providing proper coaching for teachers, and ensuring equitable access. During the edLeader Panel “Supporting Literacy Success as a K-5 Leader,” education leaders detailed key practices for superintendents and principals to ensure effective literacy programs in their schools.

Make your staff a partner in building your literacy program

Before mandating a program be implemented, make sure that all of the staff understand what you are doing and why. Involve them in developing the new program, procuring the resources, and choosing the professional development. Make sure your staff are comfortable coming to you with any issues and with proposing new plans.

Recognize the barriers and challenges your staff will face

As you create the program, you need to understand what will prevent you from doing what is needed for your students. Make sure that you get input from all sectors as to the potential issues you see. This could be anything from teacher workload to adjusting after-school programs to providing parental support.

Advocate and allocate for literacy programs at all levels

Literacy leadership means ensuring that staff have all of the resources they need for successful implementation. But, this is about more than just budgets—it’s about working with school boards, state boards of education, and the community to get them to support the district’s literacy goals.

Give teachers the resources they need for knowledge acquisition

As the Science of Reading and other new pedagogical approaches take hold, the teachers will need continuous training. Most schools have moved away from one-and-done professional development, but the panelists suggested creating ongoing coaching sessions for teachers. The goal of these coaching sessions is to ensure uniformity in the approach to the literacy goals. Without a shared vision, too many errors can occur, and the students won’t receive a comprehensive education from grade to grade.

Create coherence across the school system

Beyond teachers working towards the same goals, every school in the district needs to make the literacy program a priority. This can include ensuring adequate time in the schedule for both student and teacher learning, vetting educational tools to make sure they share the same vision as your program, and even looking at how other academics in the schools can support literacy.

Revisit data collection

Most schools are collecting data now, but leaders must ask if that data actually gives them the information they need to help students. In other words, instead of just looking at what skills students have and have not acquired, look for assessments that show how the students are learning and what stage they are in. Many are creating flow charts to show what resources and interventions are needed. More importantly, they are collecting data at multiple points during the year so that students and teachers have constant feedback on their progress.

Ensure equitable access

Creating coherence and a shared vision, though, doesn’t mean the literacy needs are the same for all students. For instance, the panelists suggested that the most highly trained teachers should be assigned to students who have the greatest needs. This could also mean providing tutor and translation services for students for whom English is a second language. The point is to not only have literacy goals but to also ensure that you are building a program that supports each student on the path toward those goals.

Find ways to build bridges

Just as you need community support as you develop the program, you will need it as you implement and refine it. Make sure that you are collaborating with families, providing them with whatever resources they need. And, have teachers, staff, and school leaders go into the community to talk about the program and demonstrate how they are supporting this goal.

Finally, remember that everything won’t always work as planned. Take time to go into classrooms, observe teachers, and talk about what steps they can take to reach the literacy goals. Also, talk with other leaders and find out what’s working for them. Literacy is a collaborative effort because the outcomes benefit the entire community.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Supporting Literacy Success as a K-5 Leader, sponsored by Heggerty.

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Article by Stacey Pusey, based on this edLeader Panel