There are 3 models of Instructional Coaching. The purpose of an Instructional Coaching Model is to help close the student achievement gap and accelerate learning for all students by building teacher capacity through implementation of effective instructional practices (Casey, 2008). The primary responsibility of instructional coaches is to improve classroom instruction and increase student achievement.
In my research I have found three coaching models that are being used in school districts. I have also been trained in all three. My favorite model, and the model our school chooses to use is Student Centered Coaching by Diane Sweeney. I would highly recommend this model. It really takes the pressure off of both the teacher and the coach. The main focus is on student data, not the teacher, which is non-threatening to teachers. Student data drives instruction, which in return changes or enhances instructional practices. I also like this model best because data and student achievement is the focus. In using this model our focus is on pre assessments, planning formative assessments and using the summative assessment to judge mastery of the standards. This model lends well to differentiation techniques for all students.
However, my team uses concepts from Jim Knight’s training and Cognitive Coaching. The concepts that my team have implemented from the Jim Knight training are the concept that Instructional Coaches are NOT evaluators and the concept of using researched-based strategies. This was a great foundation for our team to start with. Jim Knight also has many great suggestions on how school administrators can help support instructional coaches. Our administration and instructional coaches started with a book study using Jim Knight’s book. A fellow coach and I were also involved in the Elena Aguilar Cognitive Coaching training. We really liked the coaching conversations that this class had to offer. Cognitive coaching is all about the coaching conversations. It’s main focus was on paraphrasing teacher’s reflections and asking the right questions in order to get teachers to get to their own ah-ha moments. My team uses these conversation techniques in our student centered coaching cycles. This technique is great to use during reflections throughout the student centered coaching cycle process.
In the first model of instructional coaching Jim Knight, the Director of the Kansas Coaching Project at the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas has extensively studied instructional coaching methods in schools. Knight commented that the Kansas Coaching Project’s research indicates that efficient coaching models typically take on a three-part cycle: identify, learn, and improve.
3 Part Coaching Cycle:
Over time the kind of goals you set, the questions you ask, the process, is very tight and clear. The process itself is adaptable. There’s a recognition that if this practice or this teaching strategy won’t help, we’ll use a different one. Or change the way we measure progress towards the goal. You work with the teacher and make adjustments as you need to, but the steps are pretty consistent.
Relationship Driven Coaching Cycle:
Inquiry based or cognitive coaching aims to improve a teacher’s instructional practices by focusing on their underlying thought processes and beliefs. Particularly important in this model is developing a teacher’s “cognitive skills of reflection through discourse and application of knowledge.” Cognitive coaching is the model most clearly described by Elena Aguilar of Elena Aguilar Consulting. Coaching that is truly transformational, she argues, must address teachers’ emotional intelligence, non-verbal communication, and underlying beliefs.
Cognitive Coaching Cycle:
The model of instructional coaching supported by Diane Sweeney Consulting (DSC) is known as “student-centered coaching.” According to the organization’s website, student-centered coaching is able to achieve a higher degree of impact on students because of its focus on student learning rather than teacher practice and use of data. Figure 1.3 below displays DSC’s comparison between student-centered coaching and teacher-centered or relationship-driven coaching.
Student Centered Coaching Cycle:
Trusting, respectful relationships are a necessary component for all forms of coaching. In order to work toward improving classroom instruction, coaches engage in a variety of in-class activities such as modeling instructional methods, observing teachers at work, out of class activities, co-planning, analyzing student data, developing curricula, and conferencing with teachers. This is a tool that our school uses throughout the student centered coaching cycle (adapted from Diane Sweeney).
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