Student-Focused Coaching

The Instructional Coach's Guide to Supporting Student Success through Teacher Collaboration

Jan Hasbrouck, Daryl Michel

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781681254951
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Professional Development

A widely used, highly effective approach to student success, Student-Focused Coaching (SFC) helps instructional coaches and teachers work collaboratively to improve student outcomes using evidence-based practices. This is your one-stop, step-by-step guide to instructional coaching in K–12 schools using the field-tested, research-based SFC model.

Featuring a foreword by Jim Knight, the leading voice on instructional coaching, this book was coauthored by the lead developer of the SFC model (Jan Hasbrouck) and an experienced instructional coach and trainer (Daryl Michel). These expert authors help you master the three key roles of coaching: Facilitator, Collaborative Problem-Solver, and Teacher/Learner. You'll discover how to build respectful and mutually beneficial professional relationships with every teacher—from the most eager to the most reluctant—and work together to help all students learn and thrive in the classroom. To help you put the SFC model into action, the book offers practical activities and materials, including application exercises, reflection exercises, virtual coaching tips, and 20+ pages of ready-to-use downloadable forms.

LEARN HOW TO

• Partner with teachers to tackle a range of classroom challenges —academic, behavioral, and social-emotional
• Develop collaborative communication skills to help you navigate even the most challenging conversations
• Work with teachers to set and achieve goals by identifying, selecting, and implementing evidence-based interventions
• Help teachers support struggling students with goal-based, targeted, and intensive instruction
• Improve time management skills using a four-step, systematic problem-solving process
• Collect different types of data and use it to give helpful feedback to the teachers you work with
• Design continuous professional learning opportunities that meet individual teacher needs
• Deliver support to administrators to make the most of the benefits coaches can provide

PRACTICAL DOWNLOADS: The book includes access to 20+ pages of downloadable materials for coaches, including worksheets, checklists, tracking sheets, and self-assessments.

1

Overview of Coaching

Before reading this chapter, consider the following questions. Jot down some notes on your current understanding, and then at the end of the chapter, we will revisit these questions to assess the knowledge and insight you gained during your reading.

• How might a coach affect teacher development and student learning?
• What challenge(s) might a coach face?
• What goal(s) might you set for yourself as a coach?
• How might a campus administrator support a coach?

APPLICATION EXERCISE

List three verbs to describe the work of a coach. Then, in your own words, summarize what each verb means to you and how it will be reflected in your coaching (e.g., deliver: deliver differentiated, sustained professional development [PD] and learning targeting the needs of each teacher).

Here you are—ready to begin your learning journey into Student-Focused Coaching (SFC)! We are excited that after careful reflection during the introduction of this book, you are willing to take on this challenging, yet rewarding role. You probably have heard about coaching or maybe have direct experiences with it. Perhaps you have been coached by someone yourself, which may have been a valuable or positive experience. Some of you reading this book will already be experienced, veteran coaches. Some of you are stepping into this new role with only a vague understanding of what the coaching role entails.

We want to be clear from the start: Coaches do not just attend meetings, compile assessment data, make copies or organize materials, unpack shipments, or meet with the principal. The role of an instructional coach, if clearly defined and well executed, is hard work, and every minute counts. Successful coaching requires a great deal of planning, communicating, building relationships, working with all types of adults, and remaining positive even when facing inevitable challenges.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF COACHING?

If coaching is this hard and potentially frustrating, then why even consider it? The answer is that the rewards of being a coach are worth it. Coaching is all about helping every teacher be as successful as possible so that every student achieves success. We can all agree that teaching is hard work, and we also know that high-quality instruction can make a lifelong impact on the success of students, with demonstrated academic, social-emotional, and even economic benefits. International, evidence-based research indicates that quality teachers and teaching (Chetty et al., 2014; Jackson, 2016) that are supported by strategic teacher professional development (PD) (Rowe, 2003) are what matters most for student success.

Professional Development

Providing coaching to teachers has become a widely used and effective way to provide strategic PD to teachers and specialists in schools (Kraft et al., 2018). PD for educators can be described as specialized training, formal education, team development, and more intended to help administrators, teachers, or other educators improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness (Great Schools Partnership, 2014). PD might include taking college or university courses, participating in online webinars, attending conferences or workshops, or reading relevant resources. These options often inspire, motivate, and energize a teacher to try implementing new ideas based on this acquired knowledge. All these various PD formats can and do play a valuable role in supporting high-quality teaching; however, there is a clear downside to these traditional formats. Although PD can result in growth for the teacher, these traditional methods of providing PD are unlikely to alter the culture of an entire school or a classroom (Fullan, 2007). PD alone rarely results in sustained improved practice.

Professional Learning

Professional learning (PL) shares attributes with PD; however, PL focuses on “ownership over compliance, conversation over transmission, deep understanding over enacting rules and routines, and goal-directed activity over content coverage” (Martin et al., 2014, p. 147). PL might include reading and discussing professional literature, analyzing data with colleagues, or collaboratively planning curriculum. Teachers’ effectiveness can steadily improve with effectively designed and implemented PL because of the shared depth and understanding of their work—to improve student learning. PL coupled with PD can optimally ensure continuous learning as an individual and with colleagues. Combining professional development and learning (PDL) addresses individual student needs across the school and encourages teachers to, “keep challenging and stretching [themselves] and each other to create the maximum benefit for all students” (Fullan & Hargreaves, 2016, p. 6). More details about effective PDL are provided in Chapter 10.

Professional Development and Learning and the Student-Focused Coach

What does PDL have to do with a Student-Focused coach? High-quality instructional coaching can provide the onsite, job-embedded, sustained PDL for individuals and groups that really makes a difference. Coaches have specific expertise and can assist individuals and groups of teachers to gain the knowledge and skills needed to improve instruction and student outcomes. Skillful, knowledgeable, trained, and well-supported SFC coaches can deliver an optimal form of PDL because SFC integrates two essential components—targeted support for individuals and groups that is sustained over time (Guskey, 2003; Ingvarson et al., 2005; U.S. Agency for International Development, 2014).

The PDL provided by SFC coaches has these characteristics:

• Content is based on evidence- and research-based best practices.
• Coaching efforts focus on student learning.
• Teachers have a voice in the development of PDL.
• PDL is collaborative, experiential, interactive, and engaging.
• Opportunities exist for reflection and inquiry.
• Content connects to the educators’ day-to-day work with students, as well as to a larger plan for school improvement.

REFLECTION

What do you think about the list of characteristics of effective PDL? Reflect on each. Are there other things you would add to this list?

Write down ways in which you have attempted to enhance and improve your own professional practice. Did any result in positive and sustained changes in your classroom that resulted in improved student outcomes? Why or why not?

WHAT IS INSTRUCTIONAL COACHING?

Providing effective, strategic PDL to teachers that ultimately results in improved student outcomes is the overarching purpose of coaching. What should this strategic PDL actually look like when implemented in real-world school settings?

If we stopped some average people on the street and asked them if they had ever heard of someone who works in schools who is called a coach, we are guessing most people would say, “Sure! Basketball coaches, right? Or football coaches?” Or gymnastics, baseball, or even cheerleading. It would not surprise any of us to hear this response. Few people outside of schools have heard about the role of the academic coach—even though it has been a role in some schools for at least a few decades. If we went on to ask these same people to speculate about what someone who is called an instructional coach might do in schools, then they would likely suggest that these coaches watch teachers teaching lessons and give the teachers feedback, or they might hypothesize that coaches provide guidance and support to other teachers to help them provide the best possible instruction to students. And, of course, they would be right. This description seems like a common sense, practical view of the role of an instructional coach. As the coaching role has grown and expanded, however, we should recognize that there are other things that coaches are frequently asked to do with their time.

In fact, the number and types of tasks that coaches perform vary greatly (Denton & Hasbrouck, 2009; Deussen et al., 2007; Kraft et al., 2018; Scott et al., 2012). Although the fundamental purpose of instructional coaching should always be related in some way to PDL, several different approaches to coaching have been implemented in schools. We describe four of these approaches, or models, of coaching. As you read, think about the pros and cons of each if they were implemented in your real-world setting.

Four Models of Coaching

The four models of coaching discussed here are technical coaching, problem-solving coaching, reflective practice coaching, and peer coaching. We certainly recognize that this list is not exhaustive or complete. We are not recommending, or discouraging the use of, any of these models of coaching. We simply have observed these four different processes being used in schools to provide coaching services.

Technical CoachingThe primary function of the coach in the technical coaching model is to assist teachers in the accurate and high-quality implementation of a specific program or strategy (American Institutes for Research, 2004). Technical coaching is often used to support and extend training that has been previously provided to teachers in seminars or workshops. The relationship between the technical coach and the teacher is that of an expert and a novice.

For example, a school might adopt a new math curriculum or a new computer-assisted intervention program and hire coaches to provide support for teachers using these new materials. These technical coaches receive significant training to become highly knowledgeable about those materials or strategies. Their coaching is focused on helping their colleagues successfully implement them. Technical coaches can play an important and valuable role in achieving successful outcomes when educators use well-designed, research-supported materials with fidelity.

REFLECTION

Write down possible pros and cons of the technical coaching model.

Problem-Solving CoachingProblem-solving coaching involves having the coach work with one or more colleagues to address specific concerns such as, “Malique is struggling with phonics,” “Rory isn’t making progress because he is so often off-task during our instructional time,” or “There are a bunch of students in my fourth-period science class that can’t write a report without a lot of help from me.” Problem-solving coaching can address issues or concerns related to a single student, a small group of students, or even an entire class.

The basis for the problem-solving model of coaching in schools comes primarily from research that was conducted in the fields of school psychology and special education. Practitioners in both professions are frequently called on to collaborate with or advise colleagues about the academic, behavioral, and/or social-emotional concerns of a student. The process—typically called consultation in the research literature—has been studied since the 1970s as a triadic (three participants), indirect service delivery model in which a consultant (e.g., special educator, school psychologist, reading specialist) works with and through a consultee (often a general education classroom teacher or parent) to improve the outcomes of a client (usually a student with some learning, behavioral, or emotional challenges). Sometimes consultation can be collaborative; the consultant and the consultee pool their respective knowledge and skills to jointly attempt to solve the concern. Or, consultation can be more prescriptive, in which the consultant provides expert guidance to direct the resolution of the problem. The process has been studied extensively by researchers (Erchul & Sheridan, 2008; Idol et al., 1995; Kampwirth & Powers, 2016). The process of school-based consultation mirrors much of the work of coaches (Denton &...