At some Georgia schools, literacy coaches are MVPs when it comes to testing

As the students rifle through the pages, Cole walks around the room monitoring their progress. She’s joined by one of the school’s literacy coaches, Ebony Fulgham, who is there to observe Cole and her students.

Fulgham is one of 60 state-funded literacy coaches placed at Georgia’s lowest-performing elementary schools during the 2024-25 school year in support of a new state law aimed at improving reading performance. Now, state officials are crediting coaches like Fulgham with helping schools like Hollis improve their reading and English/language arts scores.

The Georgia Department of Education estimates having coaches in schools resulted in a 15% improvement in reading scores in schools last year.

At Hollis, the percentage of third graders reading on grade level on the annual Georgia Milestones assessment jumped from 29% during the 2023-24 school year to 57.4% in 2024-25. The percentage of third graders on grade level in English/language arts went from 6% to 18.5% during the same time.

So what does a literacy coach do?

“We are bouncing in and out of a lot of classes all day,” Fulgham said.

Fulgham’s main job is to coach teachers. She observes their classrooms, meets with them and gives them feedback on the strategies and methods they’re using.

“Sometimes we get to come in and work with the kids, so that’s how we kind of get to know some of these personalities and kind of say, ‘OK, this is going work for this (student), but may not work for that one.’”

College Park Elementary in Fulton County also saw dramatic growth after adding a literacy coach last year. Third grade reading scores jumped more than 25 percentage points and ELA scores increased by more than 12 percentage points. Other schools in metro Atlanta that received state-funded literacy coaches and saw improved ELA and reading scores include Harper-Archer Elementary in Atlanta, Continental Colony Elementary in Atlanta and Stone Mountain Elementary in DeKalb County. The majority of students at each school are economically disadvantaged and students of color, according to state data.

“I think (literacy coaches are) definitely an investment that has a very high ROI (return on investment) in terms of getting the students and the teachers, in particular, where we need them to be,” said Dana Rickman, the CEO and president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, a nonprofit education advocacy organization.

The Georgia Legislature passed laws targeting literacy in 2023, which requires schools to adopt instructional methods aligned to a body of research known as “the science of reading.” The idea is to ensure students are taught the building blocks of language, such as the connections between sounds and letters, as opposed to memorizing words from sight.

Some school districts, like Fulton County, Atlanta Public Schools and Marietta City Schools, began implementing “science of reading” methods and training before the legislation passed and have been using literacy coaches for years.

“Where we see literacy coaches … we see the teachers doing better. We see the students doing better,” Rickman said. “Where (schools) don’t have access to literacy coaches, or it’s just sort of a spot-check kind of thing, you’re not going to see that kind of progress.”

At Hollis, Cole and Fulgham meet once a week to strategize. Last year, when Fulgham arrived at Hollis, they met twice a week.

Third grade is an important year. It’s the first-year students take the Georgia Milestones assessment, and the test results determine whether students advance to fourth grade.

Experts say that third grade is a critical year for reading development, where students transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Some research shows if students aren’t reading on grade level by the third grade, it’s harder for them to catch up.

Cole knows the stakes are high.

“I feel the pressure, but it’s not pressure that’s unmanageable pressure,” she said. “If I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and pushing them when I can push them, then they’re going to be ready.”