Research Statement

Research in the LETC program is organized around two key strategies:

• Building partnerships among a consortium of IHEs, the Ohio Department of Education, Regional Service Centers and School Districts.
• Offering high quality training to literacy specialists that supplements and enhances existing training offered by university programs and/or the state and that results in the Literacy Specialist Endorsement.

Primary documents provide evidence for a formative and summative evaluation of the building partnerships strategy, such as plans, meeting records and promotional materials. Documents are critically analyzed to determine how problems are defined, what kinds of explanations are offered, and the preferred solutions that foster collaboration.

Evidence of high quality training for the Literacy Specialist Endorsement (LSE) is demonstrated in (1) pre/post measures of participants’ content knowledge and coaching skills; (2) an online satisfaction survey and (3) exit interviews. Several measures have been developed to assess teachers’ content and coaching knowledge, including the Knowledge Fluency Test, Case Study Response, and Video Analysis. Mixed methods are used in data analysis to determine program efficacy and teacher readiness for the LS role. The focal research interest is on the development of adaptive expertise in teacher thinking and action for the coaching role. The concept of adaptive expertise involves abilities to use knowledge flexibly and creatively to solve problems of practice.

Research studies related to the key strategies of the LETC program are in progress.