District Considerations for Designing and Implementing an Instructional Coaching Program

The purpose of this Capstone project was to investigate instructional coaching programs that are being implemented in Virginia school districts for the purpose of developing recommendations that may be insightful for Salisbury School District as they consider the effects that a coaching program may offer in supporting and improving instruction. Two overarching questions guided the investigation:

1) In districts with existing coaching programs, what are the perceptions of administrators in those districts about the use of instructional coaching to improve instruction? To what degree have administrators observed positive changes in instructional practices during classroom observations? What factors do the administrators think currently influence the success of coaching programs?

2) What do the leaders of Salisbury School District identify as the specific instructional areas that need to be addressed? How do classroom teachers perceive their most effective use of instructional coaches?

This investigation involved the distribution of an online survey to instructional
administrators in each public school district in Virginia. Follow-up interviews were conducted with administrators in seven purposefully-selected districts in order to elicit data regarding specific design and implementation components of their district’s instructional coaching programs. Interviews were also conducted with administrators, principals, and teachers in Salisbury School District. Survey and interview data were then coded thematically, analyzed, and organized into shared themes.

These themes were then used to develop recommendations for designing and implementing an instructional coaching program. These recommendations address issues that were identified as central components in determining an instructional coaching program’s level of effectiveness and overall success. These issues include purposeful clarification of the coaching program’s goals and structure to all involved stakeholders, hiring criteria, coach training and support, instructional coach roles and responsibilities, and several recommendations specific to Salisbury School District’s instructional needs.