About the Author

Rita M. Bean, PhD, is professor emerita of the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Instruction and Learning. For over twenty-five years, she taught students preparing to be reading specialists and served as director of the Reading Center. Prior to joining the university, she taught at the elementary level and served as reading coordinator (K-12), the role which stimulated her interest in coaching to support teacher professional learning. Bean has focused her research on the role and impact of reading specialists and literacy coaches in schools. She served as co-director of a large-scale evaluation study of a literacy initiative in Pennsylvania that included coaching as a major approach for professional learning. She has also participated in several national studies that have resulted in position statements about the role of reading specialists and literacy coaches (International Literacy Association). She received her bachelor's degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and her master's and doctorate degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Bean received the University of Pittsburgh's Distinguished Teacher Award and the Chancellor's Distinguished Service Award for her community and outreach efforts to improve literacy. In 2009, she was elected to the Reading Hall of Fame and is currently serving as its president.

Reviews

"Cultivating Coaching Mindsets is an important volume that brings together important emerging themes in the coaching literature to present a coherent vision of this work in real schools." -- Joshua Lawrence, Assistant Professor "University of California Irvine, School of Education"

"If teachers are looking for the next text in coaching, this is it! Cultivating Coaching Mindsets masterfully weaves current research in with new ideas and relevant practice]] and provides new information regarding the role of coaching, specifically literacy coaching, that is helpful to today's teachers." -- Andrea Noonan Fox "2013 North Dakota Teacher of the Year"

"There are many publications about leadership, assessment, common core standards, and differentiation, yet few about literacy coaching. Cultivating Coaching Mindsets will make a distinction in the field." -- Tracie Hallissey "2013 Sanford (Maine) Teacher of the Year"