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.
Akhavan, N. (2015). Coaching side by side: One-on-one collaboration creates caring, connected
teachers. Journal of Staff Development, 36,34-37.
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.
Almendarez, M. B., Zigmond, N., Hamilton, R., Lemons, C., Lyon, S., McKeown, M., Rock, M. (2012). Pushing the horizons of student teacher supervision: Can a bug-in-ear system be an effective plug-and-play tool for a novice electronic coach to use in student teacher supervision? ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
As Secretary of Education from 1993 to 2001, Richard Riley had serious concerns about out-of-field teaching. The practice— which places in core academic classes instructors who have neither certification nor a major in the subject field taught— just didn’t make sense to him.
Almy, S., & Theokas, C. (2010). Not Prepared for Class: High-Poverty Schools Continue to Have Fewer In-Field Teachers. Education Trust.
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.
Amendum, S. J., Vernon-Feagans, L., & Ginsberg, M. C. (2011). The effectiveness of a technologically facilitated classroom-based early reading intervention: The targeted reading intervention. The Elementary School Journal, 112(1), 107-131.
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.
Annenburg Institute for School Reform. (2004). Instructional Coaching: Professional development strategies that improve instruction.
The book presents many examples of Questioning the Author (QtA) in action as children engage with narrative and expository texts to construct meaning.
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G., Hamilton, R. L., & Kugan, L. (1997). Questioning the Author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text.Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
The book presents many examples of Questioning the Author (QtA) in action as children engage with narrative and expository texts to construct meaning.
Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G., Hamilton, R. L., & Kugan, L. (1997). Questioning the Author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text.Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
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.
Bethune, K. S., & Wood, C. L. (2013). Effects of coaching on teachers’ use of function-based interventions for students with severe disabilities. Teacher Education and Special Education, 36(2), 97-114.
Teacher professional development is essential to efforts to improve our schools. This article maps the terrain of research on this important topic. It first provides an overview of what we have learned as a field, about effective professional development programs and their impact on teacher learning.
Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher, 30(8), 3–15.
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.
Chetty, R., Friedman, J. N., & Rockoff, J. E. (2011). The long-term impacts of teachers: Teacher value-added and student outcomes in adulthood (No. w17699). National Bureau of Economic Research.
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.
Farkas, S., Johnson, J., & Duffett, A. (2003). Stand by me: What teachers say about unions,
merit pay, and other professional matters. New York: Public Agenda.
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Lapp, D. (2011). Coaching middle-level teachers to think aloud improves comprehension instruction and student reading achievement. The Teacher Educator, 46(3), 231-243.
This article aimed to present frameworks and practices coaches can use with classroom teachers to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based interventions in schools.
Garbacz, S. A., Lannie, A. L., Jeffrey-Pearsall, J. L., & Truckenmiller, A. J. (2015). Strategies for effective classroom coaching. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 59(4), 263-273.
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.
Gilbertson, D., Witt, J. C., Singletary, L. L., & VanDerHeyden, A. (2007). Supporting teacher use of interventions: Effects of response dependent performance feedback on teacher implementation of a math intervention. Journal of Behavioral Education, 16(4), 311-326.
This study reviewed the reporting rates of treatment integrity for school based interventions.
Gresham, F. M., & Gansle, K. A. (1993). Treatment integrity of school-based behavioral intervention studies: 1980-1990. School Psychology Review, 254.
Is dismissing poorly performing teachers truly feasible in America today? After all the political capital (and real capital) spent on reforming teacher evaluation, can districts actually terminate ineffective teachers who have tenure or have achieved veteran status?
Griffith, D., & McDougald, V. (2016). Undue process: Why bad teachers in twenty-five diverse districts rarely get fired. Washington DC: Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Retrieved from http://edex. s3-us-west-2. amazonaws. com/publication/pdfs, 2812, 29.
A research synthesis confirms the difficulty of translating professional development into student achievement gains despite the intuitive and logical connection. Those responsible for planning and implementing professional development must learn how to critically assess and evaluate the effectiveness of what they do.
Guskey, T. R., & Yoon, K. S.(2009). What works in professional development? Phi Delta Kappan.doi: 10.1177003172170909000709.
This book provides research as well as case studies of successful professional development strategies and practices for educators.
Joyce, B. R., & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development. ASCD.
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.
Knight, D. S. (2012). Assessing the cost of instructional coaching. Journal of Education Finance, 52-80.
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.
Kraft, M. A., Blazar, D., & Hogan, D. (2018). The effect of teacher coaching on instruction and achievement: A meta-analysis of the causal evidence. Review of Educational Research, 88(4), 547-588.
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.
Kretlow, A. G., & Bartholomew, C. C. (2010). Using coaching to improve the fidelity of evidence-based practices: A review of studies. Teacher Education and Special Education, 33(4), 279-299.
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.
Kretlow, A. G., Cooke, N. L., & Wood, C. L. (2012). Using in-service and coaching to increase teachers’ accurate use of research-based strategies. Remedial and Special Education, 33(6), 348-361.
This study examined the effects of in-service support plus coaching on kindergarten teachers’ accurate delivery of group instructional units in math.
Kretlow, A. G., Wood, C. L., & Cooke, N. L. (2011). Using in-service and coaching to increase kindergarten teachers’ accurate delivery of group instructional units. The Journal of Special Education, 44(4), 234-246.
The seven guiding principles in this manuscript offer research-based directions for literacy coaching.
L’Allier, S., Elish-Piper, L., & Bean, R. M. (2011). What matters for elementary literacy coaching? Guiding principles for instructional improvement and student achievement. The Reading Teacher, 63,544-554. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.7.2
This study examines the effect of a comprehensive literacy-coaching program focused on enacting a discussion-based approach to reading comprehension instruction (content-focused coaching [CFC]) on the quality of classroom text discussions over 2 years.
Matsumura, L. C., Garnier, H.E., Spybrook, J. (2012). The effect of content-focused coaching on the quality of classroom text discussions. Journal of Teacher Education, 63,214-228.
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.
Menzies, H. M, Mahdavi, J. N., & Lewis, J. L. (2008). Early intervention in reading: From research to practice. Remedial and Special Education, 29(2), 67-77.
This study examines the impact of 2 forms of professional development on prekindergarten teachers' early language and literacy practice: coursework and coaching.
Neuman, S. B., & Wright, T. S. (2010). Promoting language and literacy development for early childhood educators: A mixed-methods study of coursework and coaching. Elementary School Journal, 11,63-86. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, P.L. 107-110, 20 U.S.C. § 6319 (2002).
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 ESEA Reauthorization
No child left behind act of 2001. Publ. L, 107-110. (2002)
This research evaluated procedures for training supervisors in a residential setting to provide feedback
for maintaining direct‐service staff members' teaching skills with people who have severe disabilities.
Parsons, M. B., & Reid, D. H. (1995). Training residential supervisors to provide feedback for maintaining staff teaching skills with people who have severe disabilities. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28(3), 317-322.
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.
Powell, D. R., Diamond, K. E., Burchinal, M. R., & Koehler, M. J. (2010). Effects of an early literacy professional development intervention on Head Start teachers and children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 299-312.
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.
Reinke, W., Stormont, M., Herman, K., & Newcomer, L. (2014). Using Coaching to Support Teacher Implementation of Classroom-based Interventions. Journal of Behavioral Education, 23(1), 150-167.
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.
Ruble, L. A., McGrew, J. H., Toland, M. D., Dalrymple, N. J., & Jung, L. (2013). A randomized controlled trial of COMPASS web-based and face-to-face teacher coaching in autism. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 81, 566-572.
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.
Sailors, M., & Price, L. (2010). Professional development for cognitive reading strategy instruction. Elementary School Journal, 110,301-323.
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.
Schnorr, C. I. (2013). Effects of multilevel support on first-grade teachers' use of research-based strategies during beginning reading instruction (Doctoral dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte).
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.
Sugai, G. (2014). Multitiered support framework for teachers’ classroom-management practices: Overview and case study of building the triangle for teachers. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 16(3), 179-190.
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.
Targeted reading intervention: A coaching model to help classroom teachers with struggling readers. Learning Disability Quarterly, 35, 102-114.
"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.
TNTP. (2015). The Mirage: Confronting the truth about our quest for teacher development. Retrieved from: https://tntp.org/publications/view/the-mirage-confronting-the-truth-about-our-quest-for-teacher-development
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.
Veenman, S, & Denessen, E. (2001). The coaching of teachers: Results of five training studies.
Educational Research and Evaluation, 7(4), 385–417.
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.
Wesley, P. W., & Buysse, V. (2006). Making the case for evidence- based policy. In V. Buysse & P. W. Wesley (Eds.), Evidence-based practice in the early childhood field (pp. 117–159). Washington, DC: Zero to Three.
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.
Wood, C. L., Goodnight, C. I., Bethune, K. S., Preston, A. I., Cleaver, S. L. (2016). Role of professional development and multi-level coaching in promoting evidence-based practice in education. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 14,159-170.
The purpose of this study is to examine research to answer the question, What is the impact of teacher professional development on student achievement.
Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee, S. W. Y., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K. L. (2007). Reviewing the Evidence on How Teacher Professional Development Affects Student Achievement. Issues & Answers. REL 2007-No. 033. Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest (NJ1).