Ongoing Coaching
Kristen Morehouse, an assistant principal in Stonington Public Schools, remarked in her webinar with CSDE, “Adopting a program is not the end, but just the beginning.” Prioritizing job-embedded, collaborative support and coaching for all staff as part of ongoing professional learning has been cited as a critical move in the successful implementation of a CT-approved, evidence-aligned core comprehensive model, program, or compendium. It is also a key tenet of Connecticut's K-3 Literacy Strategy.
Here is what educators from across the state have to say about the importance of supporting all staff with job-embedded, collaborative professional learning support and coaching:
“Understanding the needs of your staff is key to good professional development.”
“Coaches are learning right alongside our classroom teachers and supporting our classroom teachers in the implementation… This is a really valuable component of implementing any new curriculum.”
“We… found it essential to have open lines of communication where teachers could reflect, ask questions and share ideas as we authentically worked through the process together and, most importantly, we celebrated successes every step of the way.”
“We… included learning walks within our own district for staff members to see piloting teachers in their classrooms with their students.”
“Dr. Ciccarini and I decided to implement more planning time for our teachers to meet with the instructional coaches on a monthly basis. That gives them about two hours extra per month of planning outside of already scheduled planning times.”
“Piloting teachers also continued with a coaching session with our Amplify professional developer where they were able to… visit us in the classrooms, see Amplify in action, they were able to comment on things we were doing that they felt were great successes, we could ask them questions that we had right there on the spot, and they gave us some tips for improvement as well… It was wonderful to have their support throughout the full implementation process.”
“With Literacy How… we said we want people that have gone to the nine-day training as an initial process. We also then have Literacy How coming to our district and then coaching those teachers in the classroom, providing coaching on specific Wonders lessons, and how that specifically ties to the modules from the Science of Reading.”
“Instructional coaches are game changers if used correctly.”