One of the main responsibilities of a reading coach is to work individually with each student that needs help on reading skills. The reading coach evaluates each child and determines how much help is needed and in which areas. The individual help allows the reading coach to design a system of help that focuses on a child's weaknesses and helps her to strengthen her reading skills and become a more confident reader. It is important for a reading coach to keep these sessions private so the student does not become embarrassed among her peers.
Some schools organize classes into reading groups based on the reading abilities of each student. These groups can sometimes segregate a classroom, but they can also serve as a tool to help students know they are not alone in their struggles. A reading coach must work with each individual group to determine what areas of reading the group needs help with and create group exercises to help them strengthen those skills. Having the group read aloud also helps to build confidence without making the students feel as if everyone else is a better reader.
While a reading coach is supposed to help students become better readers, the teacher is still the leader of the classroom and in charge of the overall education of the students. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the reading coach to stay in close communication with the teacher on the progress of each student. The teacher may also have input on how the child is doing in class and what areas still need work. Together, the teacher and reading coach can better solve a student's difficulties with reading.
Since reading coaches are trained in the area of literacy and reading skills, they are sometimes able to recognize weaknesses in the overall reading curriculum that a teacher is using. If a reading coach identifies a weakness in the curriculum, it is his responsibility to work with the teacher to correct this weakness. The work of a reading coach will not be as effective if there are flaws in the way in which a teacher is presenting reading to the students.
In some schools, the reading coach is responsible for student evaluations to determine which students need additional help. Some school districts provide the evaluation tools to their reading coaches, while others prefer for the reading coaches to provide their own evaluations. The reading coach generally evaluates the students at the beginning of the school year to determine how much help is needed and then may also test them throughout the school year to gauge improvement.