Professional Coaching

This report presents selected findings from the school principal data files of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS).  It provides the following descriptive information on school principals by school type, student characteristics, and other relevant categories: number, race/ethnicity, age, gender, college degrees, salary, hours worked, focus of work, years experience, and tenure at current school.

This paper: reviews research on beginning teacher induction programs, summarizing previous reviews of the topic; identifies various state- and local-level induction programs, analyzing best practices that exist today. 

This book is compiled from the proceedings of the sixth summit entitled “Performance Feedback: Using Data to Improve Educator Performance.” The 2011 summit topic was selected to help answer the following question: What basic practice has the potential for the greatest impact on changing the behavior of students, teachers, and school administrative personnel?

This article describes a school district administrator's research on optimal coaching experiences for classroom teachers. This research was done with the intent of gaining a better understanding of how coaching affects student learning. 

This issue is the second in a three-part series on quality teaching. The other two issues in the series focus on teacher recruitment and teachers' career structures and work environment. This issue examines research and expert consensus on teacher preparation,

This case study explored the use of the Bug-in-Ear (BIE) tool for undergraduate student-teacher supervision in the hands of a novice BIE2 coach, including the ease with which BIE equipment can be set up and operated by a novice coach and naïve users in the classroom. 

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a classroom-teacher-delivered reading intervention for struggling readers called the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), designed particularly for kindergarten and first-grade teachers and their struggling students in rural, low-wealth communities. 

This policy brief focuses on the clinical aspects of teacher preparation in each of these key features. These aspects include the typical processes of clinical work, the location, and the duration of the training.

Despite increasing emphasis on preparing more and better teachers and despite the near universal presence of student teaching across teacher education programs (TEPs), numerous questions about what and how student teaching experiences contribute to preservice teachers’ development remain unanswered.

This article discusses instructional coaching as well as the eight factors that can increase the likelihood that coaching will be a real fix for a school. Instructional coaching holds much potential for improving the way teachers teach and the way students learn, but that potential will only be realized if leaders plan their coaching program with care. 

This chapter reviews the state of the field as it pertains to the preparation of preservice teachers
for K-12 online and blended learning.

Using professional self-regulation in medicine as a model, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future has proposed sweeping changes in how teachers are trained and licensed, claiming that the reforms are well-grounded in research. This paper argues that the research literature offers far less support for the Commission's recommendations than is claimed. 

This study looks at the use of performance feedback and checklists to improve middle-school teams problem solving.

The book presents many examples of Questioning the Author (QtA) in action as children engage with narrative and expository texts to construct meaning.

This study used a delayed multiple-baseline across-participants design to analyze the effects of coaching on special education teachers’ implementation of function-based interventions with students with severe disabilities. This study also examined the extent to which teachers could generalize function-based interventions in different situations. 

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of what is known about teacher induction in special education and to outline recommendations for the design of induction programs and further research.

The Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary School Principals in the United States is a subsection of the NCES 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). It provides descriptive statistics on K-12 school principals in areas such as: race, gender, education level, salary, experience, and working conditions.

This study examines the importance of implementation integrity for problem-solving teams (PST) and response-to-intervention models.

This essay provides examples from reading and math curricula, describes how experts have, for ideological reasons, shunned some solutions that do display robust evidence of efficacy, then examines how public impatience has forced other professions to “grow up” and accept accountability and scientific evidence. 

This study evaluates the effectiveness of implementation on increasing the use of a practice behavior who attended a one-day continuing education class.

This paper examines the issue of efficacy of value-added measures in evaluating teachers. This question is important in understanding whether value-added analysis provides unbiased estimates of teachers’ impact on student achievement and whether these teachers improve long-term student outcomes.

The purpose of this overview is to provide information about teacher coaching as it is used in schools, the research that examines this practice as a method of teacher professional development, and its impact on student outcomes.

The purpose of this overview is to provide an understanding of the research base on professional development and its impact on student achievement, as well as offer recommendations for future teacher professional development.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of feedback on treatment integrity for implementing behavior support plans.

This manuscript reports on two district’s efforts to improve the instructional leadership of principals, and lead teacher coaches in collaboration with an external support provider.

Research shows that the most powerful, in-school influence on learning is the quality of instruction that teachers bring to their students. In the next decade, more than 1.5 million new teachers will be hired for our schools; unfortunately, teacher preparation programs may not be up to the task of delivering the teacher workforce we need, and critics have identified lax selection of teacher candidates, coursework disconnected from classroom practice, and weak clinical opportunities as indications that we are inadequately preparing teachers. 

This study evaluated the impact of public feedback in RtI team meetings on the quality of implementation.  Feedback improved poor implementation and maintained high level implementation.

This research examines meta-analyses on the topic to identify those practices that predictably lead to effective classroom instruction. The paper examines practices such as teacher degrees, preparation models, methods of course delivery, technology-based instruction, cooperative learning practices, instruction methods, field experience, field experience supervision, and induction practices.

New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change. Continuous
improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting innovation are all part of the
landscape of learning challenges today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that
organizations thrive, or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those
organizations work.

This paper draws upon a structured analysis of over 300 research-based papers on mentoring across three discipline areas in an attempt to make more valid inferences about the nature and outcomes of mentoring.

This paper looks at methods to enable teachers to generalize skills taught in pre-service to use in the classroom.

This paper exams teachers' views on unions, tenure, pay-for-performance, alternative certification, and other issues and finds that while most teachers are strong supporters of standards, a sense of vulnerability, along with fears of politics and favoritism, make them loyal to the tenure system, loyal to their unions, and highly skeptical about pay tied to student test scores.

In reporting on one aspect of a national center's research on teacher education, this chapter examines two U.S. programs in which experienced teachers are expected to play major roles in the induction and socialization of beginning teachers. By exploring connections between what experienced teachers in the two projects do and the organizational and intellectual contexts within which they work, this analysis demonstrates that the contextual conditions of mentoring can lead to striking differences in the definition and enactment of mentoring roles. 

This paper reports the results of a literature review on the subject of beginning teacher induction, presenting a conceptually oriented discussion of the induction literature.

Policy makers are concerned about reports of teacher shortages and the high rate of attrition among new teachers. Prior studies indicate that mentor-based induction can reduce the numbers of new teachers leaving schools or the profession

A 5-year prospective, quasi-experimental investigation demonstrated that grade-level teams in 9 Title 1 schools using an inquiry-focused protocol to solve instructional problems significantly increased achievement. Teachers applying the inquiry protocol shifted attribution of improved student performance to their teaching rather than external causes.

This workbook provides exercises for improving the decision-making of helping professionals.

This article aimed to present frameworks and practices coaches can use with classroom teachers to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based interventions in schools.

This study examined general education teachers’ implementation of a peer tutoring intervention for five elementary students referred for consultation and intervention due to academic concerns. Treatment integrity was assessed via permanent products produced by the intervention.

This Story From the Field examines how Denver and five other school districts have constructed and are using these systems as they seek to better train, hire and support school principals.

The study examines whether comprehensive teacher induction programs lead to higher teacher retention rates and other positive teacher and student outcomes as compared to prevailing, generally less comprehensive approaches to supporting new teachers

This study examines principals’ time spent on instructional functions. The results show that the traditional walk-through has little impact, but principals provide coaching, evaluation, and focus on educational programs can make a difference.

This report presents national data on teachers and teaching from the Schools and Staffing
Survey (SASS) and other sources. Where data permit, the report compares findings from the
early to mid-1990s with findings from the 1980s.

This article discusses the current focus on using teacher observation instruments as part of new teacher evaluation systems being considered and implemented by states and districts. 

This report provides descriptive information on traditional public, charter, and private school principals over the period of 1987-88 through 2011-12. It includes comparative data on number of principals, gender, race/ethnicity, age, advance degrees, principal experience, teaching experience, salaries, hours worked, focus of work, experience and tenure at current schools, etc.

This Issue Paper presents a brief review of the legal and policy foundations and best professional practices for inclusive services. It also provides a discussion of key components of inclusive services that should be incorporated in teacher preparation at the preservice and inservice levels. 

The most successful teacher induction programs reported here include opportunities for experts and neophytes to learn together in a supportive environment promoting time for collaboration, reflection and acculturation into the profession of teaching. 

This study examines whether such supports have a positive effect on the retention of beginning teachers. The study also focuses on different types and components of induction, including mentoring programs, collective' group activities, and the provision of extra resources and reduced workloads. 

This review critically examines 15 empirical studies, conducted since the mid 1980s, on the effects of support, guidance, and orientation programs— collectively known as induction — for beginning teachers.

This research evaluated the impact of structured and intensive teacher induction programs over a three-year time period, beginning when teachers first enter the teaching profession. The current report presents findings from the second year of the evaluation and a future report will present findings from the third and final year.

Improving the use of evidence in teacher preparation is one of the greatest challenges and
opportunities for our field. The chapters in this volume explore how data availability, quality,
and use within and across preparation programs shed light on the structures, policies, and
practices associated with high-quality teacher preparation.

This paper examines how well principals can distinguish between more and less effective teachers. To put principal evaluations in context, we compare them with the traditional determinants of teacher compensation-education and experience-as well as value-added measures of teacher effectiveness.

This book provides research as well as case studies of successful professional development strategies and practices for educators.

This paper highlights the importance of making the preparation of teachers as scientific as possible by basing instruction on scientific evidence and making teaching an applied science.

This study shares the results of a national survey targeting teacher education programs’ efforts to help prepare preservice teachers for K-12 online learning. Data show that only 1.3% of responding teacher education programs are addressing this need via field experiences in virtual schools. Implications for policy and practice in the field of teacher education are examined

this study presents and apply a framework for measuring the cost of coaching programs to 3 schools. Then the study discusses strategies for reducing the average cost of instructional coaching. 

This study review the empirical literature on teacher coaching and conduct meta-analyses to estimate the mean effect of coaching programs on teachers’ instructional practice and students’ academic achievement.

The authors conducted a comprehensive review of research to identify the impact of coaching on changes in preservice and in-service teachers’ implementation of evidence-based practices.

The authors conducted a comprehensive review of research to identify the impact of coaching on changes in preservice and in-service teachers’ implementation of evidence-based practices. They identified a total of 13 studies from the 20 years of literature they searched.

This study examined the effects of in-service plus follow-up coaching on first grade teachers’ accurate delivery of three research-based strategies during math instruction.

This study examined the effects of in-service support plus coaching on kindergarten teachers’ accurate delivery of group instructional units in math.

A meta-analysis of findings on feedback timing and human verbal learning showed that applied studies using actual classroom quizzes and real learning materials have found immediate feedback to be more effective than delayed.

In the past 3 decades, the concept of professional community has gained considerable
momentum in the theoretical and empirical studies in this field. At the same time, the concept
has faced conceptual and methodological difficulties in that as yet no universal definition
has been formulated and that its operationalization differs in the various empirical studies
conducted on the subject.

This paper examines teacher induction through the lens of scientific evidence.

Teacher educators are under increasing pressure to show that preparation programs meaningfully impact instruction among pre-service teachers, who are then influential in student learning. This external pressure is challenging for teacher educators. We present an early field-based course and applied teaching project to examine teaching practices and pupil outcomes.

This study investigates teacher empowerment in schools that have at least four years of experience with some form of decentralized or school-based management. 

This study examines the effects of effective command training with teachers on students' compliance rates and academic engagement.

This study documents the implementation of research-based strategies to minimize the occurrence of reading difficulties in a first-grade population. Three strategies were implemented. 

This study evaluated the effects of performance feedback on the implementation of a classroom intervention.

This study examines the impact of 2 forms of professional development on prekindergarten teachers' early language and literacy practice: coursework and coaching. 

The New Teacher Center has released guidelines and standards for the implementation of coaching as a powerful means of improving school, teacher, and ultimately student performance. The Instructional Coaching Program Standardsdefine the essential elements of a coaching program designed to accelerate teacher effectiveness. 

This study compared the effects of discussing issues of implementation challenges and performance feedback on increasing the integrity of implementation. Performance feedback was more effective than discussion in increasing integrity.

This study evaluated the effects of consultation and performance feedback in a public school setting.

This study looks at treatment integrity with which general education teachers implemented a reinforcement based intervention designed to improve the academic performance of elementary school students.

While teachers continue to learn and grow as they gain experience, the foundation for their skills is provided by their initial teacher education program. And of all the parts of teacher education, none is more important than clinical practice. In general, the field of education has long recognized and championed the importance of practice.

Effects of a 1-semester professional development (PD) intervention that included expert coaching with Head Start teachers were investigated in a randomized controlled trial with 88 teachers and 759 children. 

Describes a Sonoma County (California) school district's peer coaching program designed to meet the needs of new, probationary, and experienced teachers. The program succeeded because participation was voluntary, the training empowered teachers and improved their coaching skills, and teachers continued to meet as a group and learn from each other.

This study evaluted the impact of coaching on the implementation of an intervention.  Coaching with higher rates of performance feedback resulted in the highest level of treatment integrity.

First Step to Success is an empirically supported intervention for young elementary school students that can be implemented by public school teachers with training. This study evaluated the effects of coaching feedback on teachers who not effectively implemented First Step following training.

The objective in this review was to summarize and critique empirical research on the impact of beginning teacher induction on teacher retention and teacher quality (particularly studies in which teacher effectiveness was evaluated by using student achievement measures).

The authors use research-based "impact modeling" to show how a strategic approach to recruiting and supporting rookie teachers could yield as much as 4.2 extra months of student learning. We provide 5 recommendations for school systems to leverage their investment in structures that provide rookie teachers with both shelter and development.

Most children with autism rely on schools as their primary source of intervention, yet research has suggested that teachers rarely use evidence-based practices. To address the need for improved educational outcomes, a previously tested consultation intervention called the Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success was evaluated in a 2nd randomized controlled trial, with the addition of a web-based group. 

In this article, we describe and report on the results of a study in Texas that tested 2 models of professional development for classroom teachers as a way of improving their practices and increasing the reading achievement of their students. 

In this article, we describe and report on the results of a study in Texas that tested 2 models of professional development for classroom teachers as a way of improving their practices and increasing the reading achievement of their students. 

If educational programs are to be effective they must be implemented with sufficient integrity to assure benefits. To have a significant impact on schools, solutions must be scalable. This study evaluated the effects of using existing school personnel to provide performance feedback to teachers regarding the quality of implementation.

This study compares the effects of verbal performance feedback and verbal plus graphic performance feedback on implementation of a student-specific behavior support plan at an elementary school.

This is a literature review of the effect of performance feedback on teacher’s use of practices.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of multilevel support on first-grade teachers' accurate use of research-based strategies during beginning reading instruction and the extent to which teachers maintained use of these strategies. 

This study examines whether such programs - collectively known as induction - have a positive effect on the retention of beginning teachers.

The authors surveyed student teachers in a yearlong internship and their peers in a traditional semester-long internship to compare perceptions across different practice teaching experiences. The authors discuss the outcomes regarding continuing challenges professional development programs face when building and sustaining effective clinical experiences.

This book is written for school administrators, staff developers, behavior specialists, and instructional coaches to offer guidance in implementing research-based practices that establish effective classroom management in schools. The book provides administrators with practical strategies to maximize the impact of professional development. 

This analysis examines the available research on effective teaching, how to impart these skills, and how to best transition teachers from pre-service to classroom with an emphasis on improving student achievement. It reviews current preparation practices and examine the research evidence on how well they are preparing teachers

The lived experience of principal supervisors in Long Beach Unified School District consisted of an intentional and aligned system of principal evaluations, coaching, and principal supervisor professional learning community. Principal supervisors also identified practices such as increased visits to schools and classrooms with principals, central office departments focused on teaching and learning, and the traits of creating an environment of vulnerability and growth mindset as an important skill set.

This paper reviews the research literature on new teacher mentoring, focusing on issues of definition, why teachers quit, and the effects of mentoring on retention. 

In this article, the authors describe key features of the multi-tiered support (MTS) continuum of intervention and assessment and present a case study to illustrate implementation of some components of the framework with four middle school teachers.

The National Teacher and Principal Survey is completed every four years soliciting descriptive information from principals and teachers across the 50 states. A few highlights include: Sixty percent of school principals have been at their schools for three years or less. 

This study examined the effectiveness of a classroom teacher intervention, the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), in helping struggling readers in kindergarten and first grade. This intervention used biweekly literacy coaching in the general education classroom to help classroom teachers use diagnostic strategies with struggling readers in one-on-one 15-min sessions.  

Teachers make a difference. The success of any plan for improving educational outcomes depends on the teachers who carry it out and thus on the abilities of those attracted to the field and their preparation. Yet there are many questions about how teachers are being prepared and how they ought to be prepared.

"The Mirage" describes the widely held perception among education leaders that they already know how to help teachers improve, and that they could achieve their goal of great teaching in far more classrooms if they just applied what they knew more widely.

The hypothesis that guided this study was that the degree of teacher professionalism in a school would be related to (a) the professional orientation of principals in their exercise of administrative authority—especially, the extending of adaptive discretion to teachers in the conduct of their work—and (b) the trust evident among various actors in the school community.

In this study, the results of five training studies evaluating the effects of a coaching program for use in Dutch primary and secondary schools are described.

This study describes a benefit-cost analysis of a comprehensive mentoring program for beginning teachers conducted in a medium-sized California school district.

U.S. public policy has increasingly been conceived, debated, and evaluated through the lenses of politics and ideology. The fundamental question -- Will the policy work? -- too often gets short shrift or even ignored. A remedy is an evidence-based policy--a rigorous approach that draws on careful data collection, experimentation, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine what the problem is, which ways it can be addressed, and the probable impacts of each of these ways. 

This study evaluated the effects of performance feedback on increasing the quality of implementation of interventions by teachers in a public school setting.

 Due to the increased need to support teachers' use of evidence-based practices in multi-tiered systems of support such as RTI [Response to Intervention] and PBIS [Positive Behavior Interventions and Support], coaching can extend and strengthen professional development. This paper describes a multi-level approach to coaching and provides implications for practice and research.

The purpose of this study is to examine research to answer the question, What is the impact of teacher professional development on student achievement.