Improving literacy coaching in diverse school environments ¹

At-A-Glance

Current behavior:

Teachers facilitate classroom discussions that lack structure and don’t enable deep student engagement.

Desire behavior:

Teachers facilitate classroom discussions that are informed by learning science and push students to think critically and defend their arguments.

Change approach:

Coaches worked intensively with teachers, planning lessons in advance and reviewing materials and recordings after classes. Trainings were also provided to principals and district leaders.

Impact:

Over three years classroom practices improved, and student reading achievement improved on state tests. The improvement was greatest for English Language Learners, who saw their scores rise by two percent.

Implication for implementing partners:

Ask principals to provide autonomy to teachers and coaches; find ways to accommodate high turnover schools and bring new teachers into efforts; provide training to all levels of leadership to enable holistic change.

Implications for supporting partners:

Identify where to prioritize change efforts, or how to tailor support by school, based on each school’s enabling conditions (e.g., teacher autonomy, culture of collaboration, turnover).

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh worked with schools in Texas to test a new approach to literacy coaching. In the studies, they both examined the impact of the model itself and tracked what contextual factors at the schools enabled stronger implementation.

The approach, called content-focused coaching (CFC), trains teachers to improve pedagogy and classroom management (e.g., strategies for engaging students in higher-level discussions). Coaches met with teachers regularly in both group settings and individually. In these meetings, coaches and teachers jointly plan lessons, using structured tools that include a set of questions to consider. They also review the results of each lesson – including students’ written word and videos of the classroom discussion – to set goals for future improvement.

The model was implemented at a Texas school district for three years. A randomized control trial showed that the coaching improved the quality of classroom discussion (as rated by expert observers) and raised student test scores. The impact was greatest on ELL students and helped close the achievement gap between them and native English speakers.

Researchers also evaluated what factors made implementation more or less successful across the 32 schools and nearly 200 teachers. Implementation was more successful at schools where principals generally empowered teachers and coaches to be leaders and gave them autonomy over their work, since autonomy and adaptation were important for successful implementation. Teachers with less experiences also tended to be more open to new approaches and this mindset led them to more fully implement the program.

Schools with a strong culture of teacher collaboration made it harder for new ideas to break in, while isolated teachers appreciated the camaraderie of a new coach and were more enthusiastic about adoption.

Interestingly, schools with a strong culture of teacher collaboration saw less enthusiastic implementation. Teachers mentioned that an existing strong culture made it harder for new ideas and practices to break in (especially when the existing culture opposed the new approach, as happened occasionally). On the flip side, teachers who felt isolated were more eager to participate since the coach gave them much-needed camaraderie.

Finally, the schools had significant turnover after year one, so the study recruited over 70 new teachers to join midway. The new teachers performed well, despite their later start, which some attributed to entering an environment that had already embraced and set up structures to support the new program. While high turnover is obviously disruptive to change efforts, this study indicates that with the right conditions, efforts can still succeed.