To improve teachers鈥� mathematics instruction, enlist a team of coaches. But to find out what actually makes for effective coaching, ask researchers.
That鈥檚 the premise of an instructional coaching program in Tennessee. Over the last four years, select coaches have been working with math teachers in grades 3 through 8 to promote high-quality teaching that鈥檚 rooted in complex thinking and aligned with state standards. Researchers with the University of Pittsburgh have been evaluating the coaches to better understand how to help them do their jobs better.
鈥淎s our state was transitioning to more rigorous standards, we needed a way to support our teachers,鈥� said Laura Booker, the executive director of research for the Tennessee education department. At the same time, 鈥渨e realized there was a real lack of training on how to be an instructional coach and work with adult learners.鈥�
The coaching program tackles both of those challenges. Funded by a federal Institute of Education Sciences grant, the program uses a continuous improvement process, in which researchers analyze the coaching data periodically and then refine the guidance they provide to coaches.
The ongoing feedback loop helps the researchers determine the best coaching practices and create a model for guiding math coaches, said Jennifer Lin Russell, an associate professor of learning sciences and policy at the University of Pittsburgh, and the lead researcher on the coaching program.
So far, more than 70 coaches across 31 districts in Tennessee have been trained in the model, which emphasizes higher-level thinking in mathematics. Researchers are still analyzing the data collected. Results on student achievement are expected later this summer.
But so far, researchers have found that when coaches and teachers had deep and specific conversations while planning lessons, the teachers were better able to orchestrate high-level and open-ended mathematics tasks in the classroom. They became more skilled at helping students better understand math concepts.
Teachers also became more comfortable allowing students to do most of the thinking about math problems, rather than jumping in and providing assistance as soon as students started to struggle, Russell said.
Booker said she remembers getting 鈥渃old chills鈥� when she realized the process was working. "[One teacher said], 鈥業 feel like my teaching has so dramatically improved,鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was like, this is why we鈥檙e doing this.鈥�
鈥楪rappling in the Learning鈥�
The coaching model asks coaches to provide evidence-based feedback to teachers; establish mathematics and pedagogical goals before lessons; and engage teachers in deep and specific discussions of the 鈥渋nstructional triangle,鈥� which is made up of content, pedagogy, and student thinking. Coaches work with their partner teachers before, during, and after a lesson a minimum of three times per school year.
This level of intensive coaching requires time and resources. Still, high-level coaching can transform the instruction of a teacher who, for example, is great at language arts but struggles with teaching math, said Jim Knight, a senior partner at the Instructional Coaching Group, a consulting firm that partners with states and districts to train coaches.
鈥淚f you keep that great teacher in the system, it鈥檚 worth that kind of support,鈥� said Knight, who is not involved in Tennessee鈥檚 coaching work.
To evaluate the coaching, the Pittsburgh researchers looked at planning documents and transcripts of videos of the coaching cycle: the pre-lesson conference, the lesson observation, and the post-lesson reflection.
鈥淲e would go out into the field, work with the coaches, and then we鈥檇 listen to what the coaches are doing and study their videos. That would call into question things that needed to be modified in the coaching project,鈥� said Victoria Bill, a senior fellow at the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, which provides the professional development for the coaches.
For example, coaches were asked to set learning goals with the teachers before lessons. But when Bill鈥檚 team watched coaches鈥� videos, the researchers realized that the coaches had a different understanding of math learning goals than they鈥檇 intended.
鈥淲e showed them some examples, but it wasn鈥檛 enough for them to learn it,鈥� Bill said. 鈥淭hey needed to grapple in the learning with us.鈥�
Coaches were trained to push the teachers to think and reason deeply about the mathematical concepts, as well as consider how to make sure students understood the concepts.
鈥淭here was all this educating of pedagogy, student learning,鈥� Bill said. 鈥淎nd these are the people who are ... already the expert teachers. But I think they learned what they didn鈥檛 know, and we learned about what they need to learn more deeply.鈥�
Jamelie Johns was part of the first cohort of math coaches in the program. She said the researchers taught her how to have conversations with teachers that press for both depth and specificity.
鈥淚 was able to get feedback [that said], 鈥榃hen you did this, we saw the teacher change her practice in this way.鈥� That鈥檚 a move I want to continue to make,鈥� Johns said. 鈥淚f we saw something that wasn鈥檛 as impactful, [I would] revise.鈥�
The continuous improvement model was a 鈥渂ig departure鈥� from previous research projects, said Pittsburgh鈥檚 Russell, who is also a research scientist in the Learning Research and Development Center at the university. Mainly, it was faster.
鈥淲e鈥檙e used to these long cycles of data collection and analysis, and here we were, ... engaged in much more rapid analysis,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he way we were engaging with [the coaches] in a very regular way helped us understand what was happening in the data.鈥�
Researchers could see what the challenges of the implementation were, in close to real time, she said.
For example, the researchers wanted coaches to be having deep and specific conversations with teachers about mathematics, pedagogy, and student thinking. As the school year went on, the researchers were able to better refine the training and guidance they gave to coaches.
By the end of the year, the researchers could see noticeable improvements in the quality of coaches鈥� discussions, Russell said.
Learning to Be a Coach
For Johns, who is now the director of elementary math and science for Hamilton County schools, the biggest challenge in becoming a coach was learning how to work with adult learners, rather than students.
鈥淎s adults, we鈥檙e more fixed in our ways,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think the perception is that teachers are expected to know everything because we鈥檙e the ones teaching, but it鈥檚 not that at all: Teachers are learners.鈥�
That learning curve is why coaches need coaching, too, said Knight, who is also a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Teaching and Learning.
Coaches need professional development to learn how to set goals with teachers, gather data, and pass their knowledge on to other adults, he said, adding that it鈥檚 tough to create lasting change in teachers鈥� instruction.
鈥淭o dramatically change the way you do your work ... it鈥檚 like changing your personality,鈥� Knight said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to take some time, it鈥檚 going to take some support.鈥�
Ultimately, the three teachers Johns coached through the model had gains in both student achievement and student growth.
Now, there are 12 elementary math coaches in the Hamilton County district, which includes Chattanooga. A few have been trained in the state model, and the rest have learned the process from their peers.
鈥淭he selling point we often make [to teachers] is even professional athletes have coaches,鈥� Johns said. 鈥淐oaching isn鈥檛 for weak people. It鈥檚 for strong people who want to get better.鈥�
The $2.5-million federal grant that has funded the research in Tennessee runs out at the end of December, and the state education department is strategizing on how to keep the program going past the life of the grant.
Booker, of the Tennessee education department, said the plan is to divide the work into three regions of the state, with math consultants from the education department convening networks of coaches in each region. This could eventually scale up the program, she said, as the consultants extend the training to new coaches.
