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The Common Core State Standards recommend that all educators prepare students with the literacy skills needed for college and careers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine 7th and 8th grade content area teachers' perspectives towards teaching literacy. The research questions addressed teachers' capabilities in the role of literacy instructor as well as the actual application of literacy. The conceptual framework included Bruner's constructivist, Bandura's self-efficacy, and Knowles's andragogy theories. These theories informed the investigation of adult learners' perspectives regarding the way they learn and gain confidence to provide literacy instruction. Eleven English, math, science, and social studies teachers participated in this study through interviews. Data were also gathered via classroom observations and lesson plans. A qualitative data analysis software program was used to manage the qualitative data. Inductive and deductive coding were used to analyze the data and identify themes. The findings of this study indicated that teachers felt unprepared to teach reading. While teachers saw value in literacy, their perspectives were affected by their commitment to content instruction and time constraints to meet disciplinary curriculum requirements. This study affects positive social change by providing increased understanding of literacy instructions in the content classroom. These findings can facilitate communication between teachers and other stakeholders regarding school literacy initiatives. Further, the findings informed creation of a professional training program to provide teachers with on-site support for literacy integration.

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The use of technology in assisting educators to use student data in well-devised ways to enhance the instruction received by students is gaining headway and the support of federal dollars across the nation. Since research has not provided insight as to whether or not reading coaches are using data technology tools with teachers, this mixed methods study sought to examine what behavioral intentions reading coaches have in using data technology tools with teachers, what variables may influence their behavioral intentions, and what trends may emerge in their views about using technology data tools with teachers. A mixed methods approach was deployed via a survey embedded in an email, and data from 61 Florida reading coaches from elementary, middle, and high schools in a large urban school district were examined using an adaptation of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The results showed that collectively all reading coaches have a high level of behavioral intentions towards using a data technology tool with teachers. The study also showed that elementary, middle, and high school reading coaches vary in their degree of behavioral intentions in using a data technology tool based on different variables. Trends in data showed that reading coaches think data technology tools are helpful, but that trainings are needed and that technology tools should be user-friendly. Discussion is provided regarding the implications of the study results for all stakeholders.