Abstract
MORE AND MORE COLLEGES ARE HIRING reading specialists. Generally they aren't given faculty status, usually they are paid out of grant (soft) money, and quite often their major responsibilities are for working with remedial or minority students. But they are on campus just the same, and they are a new resource for English departments if we could just decide how best to use them. In deciding this it might be best if we began by trying to understand them. The typical reading has a master's degree in reading and a background in classroom teaching either on the elementary or secondary level, or both. If her (a slight majority are female) experience was in grade school, she was primarily concerned with general language development in students and the initial decoding of letters into sounds. If she worked in a high school (most do not), she was concerned with remediation and survival training for slow learners and speed reading and study skill instruction for the college bound. It is important to note that as a specialist a major responsibility at both levels is the education of other classroom teachers. A good reading is generally proud of helping all teachers become at least partially teachers of reading. The graduate courses of the reading include at least one or two courses in remedial reading, one or two courses in developmental reading, at least one course in establishing reading curricula for schools, plus elective courses in language, literature, and psychological development. In addition they are expected to understand basic research method and statistics.
Published Version
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