Monday, September 17, 2018
Many educators are familiar with the work of Joyce & Showers from 2002, who found even with practice and feedback when learning new skills, only 5% of teachers actually continued to use those new skills when they returned to their classroom. Yet, when embedded coaching was provided, implementation was improved to 85-95% of participants.
Since this initial research, the work of Elena Aguilar, Jim Knight, the National Implementation Research Network and others have found the implications of this research to hold true across classrooms, schools and districts. Coaching accelerates the implementation of the innovative practice, but most importantly, coaching promotes and increases the fidelity of implementation. And it’s the fidelity of the practice that leads to the intended outcomes for students.
But what defines coaching?
If coaching means different things to different people in different places, it is nearly impossible to develop and provide professional learning and resources. Without support, coaches may not be able to fulfill the promise of the research.
A diverse group of stakeholders from around the state gathered together research and experts in the field of coaching and used a template developed by the National Implementation Research Network to develop a Coaching Competency Practice Profile (CCPP). The CCPP has been available for reference and use for over a year and recently underwent another round of revisions based on feedback from coaches around the state.
The Coaching Competency Practice Profile (CCPP) is a tool describing the essential functions that allow coaching to be teachable, learnable, and doable in educational settings. The CCPP serves as a launching point for administrators and implementation teams when developing a coaching system that integrates methods for selecting, training and coaching coaches. Individual coaches may also use it to inform their practice. It is important to note that while this document may visually resemble a rubric, it should never be used for evaluative purposes.
With this definition of coaching in mind, professional learning and resources can be better-aligned across the state. As resources and learning opportunities are built at the state level, they will reference how they connect back to the CCPP. Using these connections as guidance, districts, schools and individuals will be better able to meet their specific professional learning needs.
For more information, see the Coaching Competency Practice Profile.