Models of Coaching

1. Models of Coaching Michael C. McKenna University of Virginia Sharon Walpole University of Delaware

2. How we define coaching “Coaching is a strategy for implementing a professional support system for teachers, a system that includes research or theory, demonstration, practice, and feedback.” McKenna, M. C., & Walpole, S. (2008). The literacy coaching challenge: Models and methods for grades K-8. New York: Guilford.

4. Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers Joyce, B., Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development. Washington, DC: ASCD.

5. A professional support system Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

6. We are certain of one thing: “… there is no one ‘right’ coaching model for all settings and there are models that would be poor choices.”

7. How do we select a model? Start by considering the professional standards adopted by IRA and the National Staff Development Council. These have a long history, dating back all the way back to the turn of the century. 

8. A chronology of coaching standards • IRA. (2000). Excellent reading teachers. • http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/positions_excellent.html • IRA. (2000). Teaching all children to read: The roles of the reading specialist. • http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/positions_excellent.html • NSDC. (2001). Standards for staff development. • http://www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm • IRA. (2004). The role and qualifications of the reading coach in the United States. • http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/positions_coach.html • IRA. (2006). Standards for middle and high school literacy coaches. • http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/reports/coaching.html • IRA. (2007). Revised role definitions of reading professionals. • http://www.ira.org/resources/community/ncate_standards.html

9. Additive coaching qualities Knowledge of content areas Knowledge of adult learning Knowledge of struggling readers Knowledge of excellent classroom instruction

10. Two types of coaches • Change Coaches • Help administrators reorganize resources • Help build leadership and understanding related to site-based goals • Set the stage for coaches of teachers

11. Two types of coaches 2. Content Coaches • Work once resources are allocated • Although they interact with administrators, their focus is more squarely on the teachers. • They help teachers learn new ideas, to implement them during instruction, and they provide formative feedback

12. Neufeld and Roper • Neufeld, B., & Roper, D. (2003). Coaching: A strategy for developing instructional capacity: Promises and practicalities. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute Program on Education and Annenberg Institute for School Reform. • Available: http://www.annenberginstitute.org/images/Coaching.pdf

13. A coaching model … • is a set of guidelines for professional developers who provide ongoing formative support for teachers (Those professional developers are called coaches, and their specific roles in schools vary.) • includes a logistical plan for collaboration with teachers, and specific strategies for designing, understanding, and reflecting on teacher instruction • provides for knowledge-building, instructional planning, and observation of teaching • is informed by strategies for assessing student achievement.

14. 6 characteristics common to all coaching models • Establishing a role for the coach • Building knowledge for teachers • Choosing instructional strategies • Making instructional plans • Reflecting on instructional quality • Assessing student learning

15. Let’s examine six coaching models, each based on different goals and assumptions. We’ll start with the least intrusive model and move to the most intrusive.

16. Intrusiveness of Models

17. Intrusiveness of Models

18. Mentoring New Teachers • One-one-one approach that links a beginner to an experienced teacher • Non-evaluative–a safe way for the novice to share frustrations and confusions • Longstanding approach, but not well defined • Focus is on nuts and bolts of teaching in a specific setting • Often evolves into coplanning sessions • Best mentoring is flexible and responsive • Mentoring is expensive, usually involving release time • Danger is that mentoring may perpetuate status quo

19. Typically, a veteran teacher at the same grade level is called on. Sometimes the same teacher mentors many teachers but does not teach. This situation has advantages and drawbacks. How are mentors chosen?

20. Mentoring New Teachers      

21. Take a few minutes to identify the advantages and drawbacks of mentoring new teachers.

22. Intrusiveness of Models

23. Peer Coaching • Well articulated and researched • Intended as a bridge between formal PD and classroom implementation • Begins with principal targeting a problem and identifying an outside expert to provide PD in a strategy designed to address the problem • Does not embrace particular strategies • Entire staff implements the strategy and models it for one another • Teachers coach one another

24. Peer Coaching • Steps in peer coaching: • Principal facilitates forming teams of 2 or more • Teams meet to discuss goals and plan lessons • They observe one another teach from these plans • They meet again afterward to discuss the lesson • Joyce and Showers maintain that the observers also receive coaching through the modeling they observe

25. Peer Coaching • Teachers are not likely to see peer coaching as threatening • It is relatively inexpensive • It helps build cohesive relationships within teams • Especially appropriate if a particular schoolwide strategy is key (e.g., guided reading or reciprocal teaching) • But it places heavy reliance on a single strategy • Also, there are few “quality controls” for implementation

26. Peer Coaching      

27. Take a few minutes to identify the advantages and drawbacks of peer coaching.

28. Intrusiveness of Models

29. Cognitive Coaching • Coaches learn personal interaction techniques similar to those used by counselors • Goal is to facilitate a teacher’s self-directed learning • Cognitive coaches • Collaborate with teachers in planning and instruction • Help build knowledge and skills outside the classroom • Explore the quality of teaching

30. Cognitive Coaching Cycle Planning Conference • Goals clarified • Evidence chosen • Strategies selected • Self-assessment Classroom Observation Reflection Conference • Evidence gathered • Strategies documented • Guided self-reflection • Evidence shared • Conclusions for future

31. Cognitive Coaching • There is enough flexibility that any goal can be addressed • But Cognitive Coaching does not specify what or how to teach • Potential problem: What if teachers choose goals that are inconsistent with research?

32. Cognitive Coaching      

33. Center for Cognitive Coaching http://www.cognitivecoaching.com/

34. Take a few minutes to identify the advantages and drawbacks of cognitive coaching.

35. Intrusiveness of Models

36. Subject-Specific Coaching • Coaching targets a single subject area • Thus, an LC is really a subject-specific coach! • Can be linked to standards in a given area • No established approach for implementation • Gabriel speaks to subject-specific coaching in LA • He argues that leadership must be shared within teams. • He cautions against evaluation but reminds coaches that especially troubled instruction might have to be reported to the principal.

37. Subject-Specific Coaching • Gabriel’s view of the coach’s role makes subject-specific coaching potentially more intrusive than mentoring new teachers, peer coaching, or Cognitive Coaching. • Gabriel stresses the need for curriculum mapping.

38. Subject-Specific Coaching • A map is a good metaphor since there are usually more than a single route to a given destination. • Curriculum maps help teachers assure horizontal alignment (across classrooms at the same grade) and vertical alignment (across grades).

39. Subject-Specific Coaching • Gabriel includes scenarios for how a subject-specific coach can use data to promote teacher engagement. • He recommends both formal and informal assessments. • A coach must not overrely on scores, but they can provide a window for constructive reflection.

40. Gabriel, J. G. (2005). How to thrive as a teacher leader. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

41. Subject-Specific Coaching      

42. Take a few minutes to identify the advantages and drawbacks of subject-specific coaching.

43. Intrusiveness of Models

44. Program-Specific Coaching • Targets implementation of a commercial (or nonprofit) program • Slightly controversial since some authorities distinguish between training and true PD. • Two influential models of program-specific coaching are Reading Recovery and Success for All (SFA). • These models take different approaches to coaching for implementation. • These differences are instructive.

45. Reading Recovery • 30-minute lesson frame • One-on-one instruction, first grade only • Children progress through leveled books that encourage application of recently taught skills • Each lesson involves complex decision making before, during, and after the lesson. • A train-the-trainer model is used. Trainers receive extensive work at university sites, then return to prepare teachers as Reading Recovery teachers. • Trainers watch teachers behind one-way mirrors, then provide follow-up conferencing.

46. Success for All • Provides materials, grouping plans, and assessments • 90-minute block in five-day cycle • Externally validated • Highly specific, but coaching still needed. • Coach’s role is to ensure fidelity to SFA • Observation checklists are used by coach • Coaches do not choose curricula or strategies • They use lesson plan templates

47. Program-Specific Coaching      

48. Reading Recovery http://www.readingrecovery.org/ Marie Clay

49. Success for All http://successforall.com/ Robert Slavin Nancy Madden

50. Take a few minutes to identify the advantages and drawbacks of curriculum-specific coaching.