Instructional Coaching: Seeding District-Wide Innovation
Instructional coaches from Albemarle County Public Schools are driving innovation by working alongside and supporting teachers with their personal learning goals that will help them guide students to ownership in their own learning.
Their instructional coaching is set up to have their coaches work very closely with teachers across the school division. They have a total of 24 instructional coaches in 27 schools. The elementary schools are grouped into four clusters. There are then teams of three to four coaches per cluster. Each coach serves three schools in the cluster. Their overall purpose is to connect school cultures across the division, promote a collaborative systems approach to professional development, and address teachers diverse learning needs. It's very important to them that they connect teachers from one school to another because that's where and how the innovative practices spread. What coaches learn from teachers at one school, is taken to the next school and shared with other teachers.
What I noticed that these coaches do first is establish a need. They sit down with their teachers and ask them what their needs are, and that's how they know where to begin. They also create partnerships with the teachers they are coaching. I noticed how well they communicated with one another during individual and team meetings. They were collaborating so well together, and the teachers were expressing their needs while the coach listened instead of dictating.
The coaches also target differentiated technology projects while collaborating with their teachers. They help them think through their ideas, focus on goals and projects, and consider what types of teacher-centered technology use might assist the teacher to embed them into daily activities. One technology tool that a teacher utilized during her project-based learning unit was blogs. It was also mentioned how modeling the lesson plans, observing, and providing feedback was another opportunity for coaches to determine what the teachers need. The coaches also assessed the progress to help determine whether or not the goals of the coaching process are being met. Based on the assessments, the coaches were able to gather questions to help the teacher think through their process and the product.
Reflect on the integration to ponder what went well, what the students' learned, and what changes need to be made was a big part of their instructional coaching. Teachers were able to reflect and understand how kids can drive their own learning. They also reflect on their teacher goals and teacher-centered approach to see the growth. Because of their instructional coaching, they have seen 95% grade rate vs 90% for the state. Their dropout rate has decreased by over 10% in the last ten years, and now it is down to 2%. Their district has also consistently outperformed the state in reading, math, and science for the past ten years.
Their instructional coaching is set up to have their coaches work very closely with teachers across the school division. They have a total of 24 instructional coaches in 27 schools. The elementary schools are grouped into four clusters. There are then teams of three to four coaches per cluster. Each coach serves three schools in the cluster. Their overall purpose is to connect school cultures across the division, promote a collaborative systems approach to professional development, and address teachers diverse learning needs. It's very important to them that they connect teachers from one school to another because that's where and how the innovative practices spread. What coaches learn from teachers at one school, is taken to the next school and shared with other teachers.
What I noticed that these coaches do first is establish a need. They sit down with their teachers and ask them what their needs are, and that's how they know where to begin. They also create partnerships with the teachers they are coaching. I noticed how well they communicated with one another during individual and team meetings. They were collaborating so well together, and the teachers were expressing their needs while the coach listened instead of dictating.
The coaches also target differentiated technology projects while collaborating with their teachers. They help them think through their ideas, focus on goals and projects, and consider what types of teacher-centered technology use might assist the teacher to embed them into daily activities. One technology tool that a teacher utilized during her project-based learning unit was blogs. It was also mentioned how modeling the lesson plans, observing, and providing feedback was another opportunity for coaches to determine what the teachers need. The coaches also assessed the progress to help determine whether or not the goals of the coaching process are being met. Based on the assessments, the coaches were able to gather questions to help the teacher think through their process and the product.
Reflect on the integration to ponder what went well, what the students' learned, and what changes need to be made was a big part of their instructional coaching. Teachers were able to reflect and understand how kids can drive their own learning. They also reflect on their teacher goals and teacher-centered approach to see the growth. Because of their instructional coaching, they have seen 95% grade rate vs 90% for the state. Their dropout rate has decreased by over 10% in the last ten years, and now it is down to 2%. Their district has also consistently outperformed the state in reading, math, and science for the past ten years.
Take-Aways
My favorite part about their set up is that they are working so closely with teachers across the school district. They are connecting teachers from one school to the next. The ideas and networks that can be developed through this process are so powerful to their teaching and learning. The reflection that happens during their instructional coaching meetings is so important for teachers to think through what they are thinking and why. It's a great way to analyze instructional strategies, assessments, progress monitoring and projects so that teachers know what the students are learning and if changes need to be made.
References
Alaniz, K., & Wilson, D. (2015). Naturalizing digital immigrants: The power of collegial coaching for technology integration. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Edutopia. (2015, September 18). Retrieved November 14, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0IrZ5jrvCo
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