Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
1-2021
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9407-0162
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Amy Barrios
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Mary Christopher
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Karen Maxwell
Abstract
Abstract
The failure of educators to meet the needs of elementary students who require separated, differentiated, and intensive reading interventions (Tier 3) has been attributed to the scarcity of administrative resources and a lack of effective collaboration between reading specialists and classroom teachers. Experts opine that common barriers to effective collegial collaboration between institutional reading specialists, who are employed by the school, and classroom teachers include: an unsupportive school culture, the classroom teachers’ fear of losing pedagogical autonomy, the absence of mutual trust and interdependence between the reading specialists and their students’ classroom teachers, and the inability of reading specialists and classroom teachers to resolve interprofessional conflicts. These perceived barriers are heighted when engaged independent reading specialists, who are not employed by the school, attempt to collaborate with unengaged classroom teachers of their students for the purpose of coherent lesson planning. The findings of this qualitative case study revealed five recommendations for practical application that enable independent reading specialists to more effectively collaborate with their struggling readers’ elementary school classroom teachers and also support the readers’ classroom curriculum. Successful collaboration between independent reading specialists and classroom teachers is essential to improving the academic achievement of struggling readers who depend on effective Tier 3 reading intervention.
Keywords: reading specialist, elementary education teacher, collaboration, conflict resolution, leadership
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hawbaker, Lindsay Lee, "Qualitative Study of Collaboration Between Independent Reading Specialists and Elementary Classroom Teachers" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 297.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/297
Included in
Educational Leadership Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons, Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Organizational Communication Commons, School Psychology Commons, Special Education and Teaching Commons, Speech Pathology and Audiology Commons