Sharing experiences among teachers is an important part of professional development. Coaching is defined as an ongoing process in which experts engage with practice, with the purpose of continuous improvement. This article will discuss the principles of peer coaching in teacher development, by examining a specific case of peer coaching between two…

The Every Student Succeeds Act provides an opportunity for policymakers and researchers to revisit what is known about effective teacher evaluation practices to make better informed decisions moving forward. Principals--responsible for implementing new teacher evaluation reforms and accommodating the demands to spend more time observing and…

Providing high-quality professional learning opportunities for teaching staff is a key responsibility for school leaders that can lead to increased teacher capacity and higher student outcomes. Instructional coaching is a professional development model that has gained in popularity over the past decade. An instructional coach is an individual who…

Many teachers and administrators recognize the importance of social and emotional development for student success but do not feel that they have the time or tools to support social and emotional learning (SEL). The American Institutes for Research developed the "Social and Emotional Learning Coaching Toolkit: Keeping SEL at the Center"…

Professional development (PD), which includes coaching, has demonstrated the capacity to affect preschool teachers' use of evidence-based practices. The present study explored how coaches facilitated conversations within practice-based coaching (PBC) partnerships. A direct behavioral observation coding system was developed to investigate: (1) the…

While teacher coaching is an attractive alternative to one-size-fits-all professional development, the need for a large number of highly skilled coaches raises potential challenges for scalability and sustainability. Collaborating with a national teacher training organization, our study uses administrative records to estimate the degree of…

Classroom observation has changed dramatically in recent years. Trivial checklists have given way to research-based rubrics that describe important aspects of teaching and, for each aspect, explain the difference between more and less effective practice. Instead of asking if the lesson objective was posted, these new instruments typically ask to…

Enhance a long-standing tradition of paper-based coaching notes with digital apps to record anecdotes and observations that support professional development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted early care and education (ECE) programs across the country in many ways, including changes to enrollment, staffing, and daily operations. Many programs closed or transitioned to providing virtual learning and services in response to state guidance and mandates, especially in the early months of the pandemic. ECE…

Background: This study evaluated a package of Active Support (AS), which included standard training with additional video informed reflective practice. Materials & Methods: The training package was implemented as part of a service improvement initiative in four residential intellectual disability homes, using a concurrent multiple baseline…

This study seeks to contribute to the research on mentored induction by investigating the practices mentors employ in their work with new teachers in two high-need, high-poverty urban elementary schools. Informed by Schwille's (2008) temporal framework of "educative" mentoring practices occurring "inside" and…

Naturalistic language and communication strategies (i.e., naturalistic teaching strategies) refer to practices that are used to promote the child's language and communication skills either through verbal (e.g., spoken words) or nonverbal (e.g., gestures, signs) interactions between an adult (e.g., parent, teacher) and a child. Use of naturalistic…

This action research study focused on the use of an instructional coaching model to support teachers in the use of Marzano's nine research-based instructional strategies at a low performing Title 1 middle school. The intervention was carried out over five and a half -month period and was aimed at improving teachers' classroom instruction. The…

The teacher evaluation process provides opportunity for instructional feedback and teacher improvement, but also may influence the beliefs teachers have about the quality of their own work and their confidence levels as a teacher. Self-efficacy plays a vital role in determining teacher effectiveness and the students' academic experience, but…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of performance-based feedback (PF) delivered via email on early childhood teachers' sustained use of recommended practices within inclusive early childhood classrooms. A multiple baseline design across behaviors was replicated across three teachers to examine the relation between PF delivered via…