This study investigated elementary mathematics coaching from the point of view of two coaches, five elementary classroom teachers, and two principals in an urban school board in Ontario. Case studies were conducted of the two coaches and their work with their respective teachers. Qualitative data was collected through a series of ongoing observations of both teachers and coaches. Additionally, interviews were conducted near the beginning and end of the study with each coach, teacher, and principal.
The teaching experience of the teachers in the study ranged from three to seventeen years and from kindergarten through grade five. The coaching program in the school board was in its fourth year of implementation. One coach had been working as a coach since the inception of the program and the other was in her third year of coaching. Evidence from the study leads to six major findings: (1) all participants indicated that engaging in coaching brought about change in the teachers’ classroom practices; (2) all participants were unable to clearly define a change in student learning due to coaching; (3) trusting and collaborative relationship between teachers and coaches is important to teacher engagement in coaching; (4) co-teaching and model lessons are the coaching structure with most impact; (5) time is the major barrier to coaching; (6) high quality professional development designed to meet the coaches’ learning needs and the existence of a coaching network to offer support are fundamental to sustaining a coaching program over time.
Implications from this study suggest that coaching programs that include an emphasis on collaboration through reflective discussion and co-teaching are likely to bring about identifiable changes in teacher practice. School boards will need to find ways to ease the challenges that time presents to working with a coach in order for the changes to spread across the district. This study suggests that it is imperative that school boards identify and provide quality professional development to their coaches in order to sustain the changes that occur in practice. Suggestions for stakeholders implementing coaching programs and future research on coaching are included at the end of the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/34777 |
| Date | 17 December 2012 |
| Creators | Larsen, Shannon |
| Contributors | McDougall, Douglas Emerson |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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