Instructional coaching as a tool for impacting teacher efficacy

Abstract

This Educational Leadership Portfolio (ELP) examines the instructional coaching program at St. Georges Technical High School in Middletown, DE. In an effort to provide personalized professional learning supports for the teachers employed by the school, the program was implemented in 2015 to ensure teachers had access to learning opportunities tailored to their unique needs as a practitioner. ☐ Teachers are a key variable in student achievement. For this reason they must continually learn and grow in their professional practices to keep up with the needs of an ever changing student population. The purpose of this ELP was to evaluate the instructional coaching supports put in place at the school and seek to defend the use of the coaching program as a way to address some of the gaps that exist between teachers’ self-reported effectiveness and weaknesses in student performance. Through surveys and interviews, participants in the program were able to qualify the impacts (if any) the coaching supports had on their professional practices. ☐ Analysis of this body of work garnered positive links between the instructional coaching supports available to staff and increases in teacher efficacy. Teachers actively using the program reported increased data usage, increased usage of research based best practices, and increased efficacy belief. While this is encouraging, more must be done to increase teacher usage of the supports available in the program.