What does a literacy specialist do?
A literacy specialist ensures accurate and correct recording reporting and document keeping. These professionals manage literacy support by organizing staff instructions and schedules. Besides providing and supporting data analysis and literacy assessment, a literacy specialist also acts as a useful resource for families, administrators, assistant teachers, and teachers. They promote professional development by supporting, coaching, and guiding teachers with instructional practices and literacy programs. Moreover, literacy specialists oversee the learning institution's literacy program.
Literacy specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real literacy specialist resumes:
- Assist children on the autism spectrum academically and socially to achieve integration into a mainstream educational environment.
- Coordinate family ESL classes with childcare.
- Tutor and periodically assess multiple small groups of students of varying ages and abilities in science, mathematics, and literacy.
- Used manipulatives to teach basic fundamentals in mathematics.
- Plan and organize public awareness events to promote dyslexia awareness and ascertain the needs in the community for individualize instruction.
- Provide daily intensive data-driven literacy instructional support and intervention for at-risk students.
- Work in Pre-K classroom, planning and implementing literacy target lessons
Literacy specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Literacy Specialists are proficient in Instructional Strategies, School Administration, and Assessment Data. They’re also known for soft skills such as Cultural sensitivity, Communication skills, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Literacy Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Instructional Strategies, 11%
Provided PD training for K-6 teachers in Literacy-based policies, procedures and instructional strategies.
- School Administration, 8%
Collaborated with school administration to build yearly family engagement Plans that promote school/community relationships and welcome all families into the school.
- Assessment Data, 7%
Make materials like flashcard sight words-Monitor oral reading and giving feedback-Report assessment data to parent-Guiding student through writing homework-Spell Checking
- Staff Development, 6%
Staff development and professional development trainer Present.
- Curriculum Development, 5%
Assist with curriculum development and instructional improvement activities at the high school level, specifically as related to literacy.
- English Language, 5%
Led instruction of 1st-4th grade English language learners/academically struggling students with an emphasis on literacy attainment.
"instructional strategies," "school administration," and "assessment data" are among the most common skills that literacy specialists use at work. You can find even more literacy specialist responsibilities below, including:
Cultural sensitivity. One of the key soft skills for a literacy specialist to have is cultural sensitivity. You can see how this relates to what literacy specialists do because "teachers work with students from a variety of cultural, educational, and economic backgrounds." Additionally, a literacy specialist resume shows how literacy specialists use cultural sensitivity: "create and implement arts-integrated peace and non-violence curriculum using culturally responsive best instructional practices for in-school programming. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform literacy specialist duties is communication skills. Literacy specialists responsibilities require that "adult basic and secondary education and esl teachers must collaborate with other teachers and program administrators." Literacy specialists also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "accomplished in behavior and classroom management, curriculum development and delivery, data analysis, and communications. "
The three companies that hire the most literacy specialists are:
- Scholastic8 literacy specialists jobs
- New York Edge Music5 literacy specialists jobs
- Propel Schools3 literacy specialists jobs
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Compare different literacy specialists
Literacy specialist vs. Adult educator
An adult education teacher teaches and coordinates programs developed for adult learners. Adult education teachers assist learners who stop schooling early to provide for their families. They are advocates for the skills and confidence needed by those who were not able to complete their learning and in preparation for their job. Other than teaching, they make lesson plans so that adult learners can meet their goals. Also, they help students to look for resources that can be used to network in their job community.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, literacy specialist responsibilities require skills like "instructional strategies," "school administration," "assessment data," and "staff development." Meanwhile a typical adult educator has skills in areas such as "math," "colleges," "language arts," and "abe." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Adult educators really shine in the government industry with an average salary of $50,537. Comparatively, literacy specialists tend to make the most money in the retail industry with an average salary of $58,630.The education levels that adult educators earn slightly differ from literacy specialists. In particular, adult educators are 3.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a literacy specialist. Additionally, they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Literacy specialist vs. Ged teacher
A curriculum coordinator facilitates the development and implementation of curriculums at schools, colleges, and other organizations that offer learning services. They primarily assist teachers in improving school curriculums by conducting research and assessments, monitoring students' academic progress, developing learning resources and materials, coordinating with internal and external parties, promoting educational programs, and securing the supplies that the curriculum requires. Additionally, a curriculum coordinator participates in implementing school policies and recommends new policies based on research findings.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real literacy specialist resumes. While literacy specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "instructional strategies," "school administration," "assessment data," and "curriculum development," ged teachers use skills like "math," "language arts," "curriculum frameworks," and "general education."
Ged teachers earn lower levels of education than literacy specialists in general. They're 7.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for literacy specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Taylor Raney Ph.D.
Director of Teacher Education, Associate Chair, Associate Professor, University of Idaho
Literacy specialist vs. Adult education teacher
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from literacy specialist resumes include skills like "school administration," "assessment data," "staff development," and "student achievement," whereas an adult education teacher is more likely to list skills in "math," "language," "grammar," and "language arts. "
Adult education teachers earn the best pay in the government industry, where they command an average salary of $48,890. Literacy specialists earn the highest pay from the retail industry, with an average salary of $58,630.When it comes to education, adult education teachers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to literacy specialists. In fact, they're 4.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Literacy specialist vs. Curriculum coordinator
Types of literacy specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
