Anyone in education has likely experienced poorly designed professional development (PD) at one time or another. We are stuck in a meeting or lecture where the content does not apply to our work or the focus of the meeting is uninspiring (anyone want to spend a day learning how to fill out a form correctly?). Or the PD is engaging and interesting, but it is a one-off; we leave energized, but the next day the folder gets lost among mountains of paperwork, never to be seen again. Unsurprisingly, this type of PD does little to change teacher practices and has no effect on student outcomes.

Fortunately, there is a solution: coaching! According to Joyce and Showers (2002), training alone only results in 0-5% of participants using their new skills in the classroom – yikes! — but when training is accompanied by coaching a whopping 95% of participants use these skills in the classroom.

What do we mean by coaching?     Knight (2007) defined instructional coaching as “intensive, differentiated support provided by an on-site professional developer who partners with teachers to identify and assist with implementation of research-based instructional practices.” However, in practice in educational settings coaching processes can vary widely because important questions may not be considered; e.g., how much coaching is needed; what practices should coaching target; what coaching formats are most effective (face-to-face meetings, direct observations, self-assessment, peer mentoring, etc.)?

Practice-Based Coaching (PBC) was developed by the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (NCQTL) to address this issue. PBC is a cyclical process that includes three components: planning goals and action steps, engaging in focused observations, and reflecting on and sharing feedback about teaching practices. PBC is a collaborative coaching partnership focused around an explicit set of teaching practices. Let’s look at each of these components in a little more detail.

Collaborative partnerships begin by establishing rapport and a shared understanding of the expectations, purpose and process for PBC. Snyder, Hemmter and Fox (2015) define a successful partnership as “one that acknowledges the learner’s preferences, strengths, and needs, while still ensuring implementation of effective teaching practices”. Teachers report that, in addition to support in implementing a practice, emotional and personal support is extremely meaningful and powerful (Shannon, Snyder, & McLaughlin, 2015). Programs looking to develop effective coaching relationships may want to identify coaches who are not direct supervisors, so that the process is not perceived as being related to job security. These considerations ensure a collaborative partnership in which the learner feels safe and is a true partner in the process, not just the recipient of guidance of expertise.

Once the partnership has been established a needs assessment is conducted. Data are gathered about the teacher’s current practices and used to determine priorities for improvement or enhancement (Snyder et al., 2015). A variety of tools can be used to facilitate this process, including walk-through tools, classroom observations, and/or self-assessments (see School Tools box for examples). The practices identified for enhancement are explicitly identified in observable and measurable terms and goals are written collaboratively, ensuring they are viewed as important and meaningful by both the coach and the teacher. Goals are written in a way that is specific, measurable and achievable. Small, focused goals allow for rapid improvement, which in turn serves to reinforce the coaching process. Action plans are then developed to indicate how goals will be accomplished and include the goal, action steps, resources, timelines, and a statement indicating how it will be determined when the goal has been met. For example, if the goal is to teach students the steps to the morning arrival routine to ensure a smoother transition into the school day, an achievement statement might be: “I will know I have achieved this when all students enter the classroom, greet the teacher and their peers, hang up their coats and backpacks, and bring the appropriate materials to their desks without making any detours.”

Following the development of the action plan, implementation of the steps identified in the action plan is assessed through observations focused only on the identified goals and action steps. Focused observations might also include support and prompting or brief feedback from the coach.

Lastly, the coach and teacher engage in reflection and feedback that includes problem solving around implementation issues, discussion of what is going well and thoughts about what might need to change. Performance feedback is provided specific to the fidelity of practice implementation which is both supportive and constructive. Then the cycle begins again, with the goals, action plans, and needs assessments updated if needed.  The  final review of goals and accomplishments includes a plan for sustaining the new practice.

PBC has been successfully implemented using multiple formats including face-to-face coaching, web-mediated distance coaching, and self-coaching with web-mediated or expert self-monitoring support (Snyder et al., 2015).  It is a well-established model that is applicable to educators in all settings that supports implementation of well-defined practices. Why not look to incorporate PBC in your setting? PBC leads to improved teacher practices which lead to improved student outcomes, and isn’t that why we are all here?

References

Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (2002). Designing training and peer coaching: Our needs for learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Knight, J. (2007). Instructional Coaching: A partnership approach to improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Shannon, D., Snyder, P., & McLaughlin, T. (2015). Preschool teachers’ insights about web-based self-coaching versus on-site expert coaching. Professional Development in Education, 41, 290-309

Snyder, P.A., Hemmeter, M.L., & Fox, L.F. (2015). Supporting Implementation of Practices through Practice-Based Coaching. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 35(3), 133-143