Purpose: The No Child Left Behind Act sets a challenging goal of having all students, including students with disabilities, achieve proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014. Schools and districts are held accountable for making adequate progress toward proficiency for all students and subgroups, and the performance of students with disabilities is often cited as a particular challenge for schools in achieving annual proficiency targets. Research has identified a number of teaching practices which may accelerate academic progress for students with disabilities, but professional development research has lagged behind in identifying methods for facilitating teachers' professional learning so they can adopt research-based practices on a widespread and ongoing basis. The researchers on this project will develop and evaluate a teacher training model called the Partnership Instructional Coaching model for improving instruction and achievement for students with disabilities. This model will incorporate a number of practices that have been demonstrated to promote professional learning in teachers, such as (a) one-to-one non-evaluative partnership relationships between a coach and teacher, (b) empirically proven teaching practices, (c) modeling by coaches in teachers classrooms, (d) observation of teachers by coaches in teachers' classrooms, (e) collaborative discussions about teaching practices, model lessons, teachers' lessons, and (f) ongoing support (modeling, observation, collaborative discussion) until teachers' use of new practices is fluent and habitual.

Project Activities: This research team will conduct two studies, a qualitative study to develop the intervention, and an initial evaluation to examine the potential effects of the intervention. In the qualitative study, they will compare "great" and "good" coaches using a sample drawn from approximately 2,100 coaches employed in the Just Read Florida Reading Program. "Great" and "good" coaches will be identified according to specified criteria, and ten "great" and ten "good coaches" will participate in individual interviews to identify desirable strategies and attributes. After the intervention has been developed, the research team will conduct an initial evaluation of Partnership Instructional Coaching in which teacher-level and student-level outcomes will be compared across three conditions (Partnership Instructional Coaching, expert coaching, and no coaching).

Products: The expected outcomes from this project include publications and presentations on the findings of the two studies, along with manuals, coaching evaluation rubrics, and other materials needed to implement the Partnership Instructional Coaching model.

Structured Abstract

Purpose: The No Child Left Behind Act sets a challenging goal of having all students, including students with disabilities, achieve proficiency in reading and mathematics by 2014. Schools and districts are held accountable for making adequate progress toward proficiency for all students and subgroups, and the performance of students with disabilities is often cited as a particular challenge for schools in achieving annual proficiency targets. Research has identified a number of teaching practices which may accelerate academic progress for students with disabilities, but professional development research has lagged behind in identifying methods for facilitating teachers' professional learning so they can adopt research-based practices on a widespread and ongoing basis. The researchers on this project will develop and evaluate a teacher training model called the Partnership Instructional Coaching model for improving instruction and achievement for students with disabilities. This model will incorporate a number of practices that have been demonstrated to promote professional learning in teachers, such as (a) one-to-one non-evaluative partnership relationships between a coach and teacher, (b) empirically proven teaching practices, (c) modeling by coaches in teachers classrooms, (d) observation of teachers by coaches in teachers' classrooms, (e) collaborative discussions about teaching practices, model lessons, teachers' lessons, and (f) ongoing support (modeling, observation, collaborative discussion) until teachers' use of new practices is fluent and habitual.

Setting: The intervention will be tested with a sample of teachers and students from Colorado and Texas.

Population: The population with whom the intervention will be implemented includes middle school (grades 6, 7, and 8) science and social studies teachers who serve students with disabilities in regular classroom settings.

Intervention: For the purposes of this study, Partnership Coaching is defined as having the following attributes: (a) one-to-one non-evaluative partnership relationships between a coach and teacher, (b) empirically-proven teaching practices, (c) modeling by coaches in teachers classrooms, (d) observation of teachers by coaches in teachers' classrooms, (e) collaborative discussions about teaching practices, model lessons, teachers' lessons, and (f) ongoing support (modeling, observation, collaborative discussion) until teachers' use of new practices is fluent and habitual. Instructional coaches in Partnership Coaching employ the following practices: (a) building rapport, (b) collaborative planning, (c) modeling lessons, (d) holding post conferences, (e) observation of lessons (f) post conference, and (g) providing on going support.

Research Design and Methods: This project will conduct two research studies: A qualitative study to develop the intervention, and a quantitative study to obtain initial indications of the possible effects of the intervention. The qualitative study will compare "great" and "good" coaches using a sample drawn from the approximately 2,100 coaches employed in the Just Read Florida Reading Program. The quantitative study will compare teachers who implement one of three randomly-assigned conditions (Partnership Coaching, Expert Coaching, and No Coaching). The total sample will include 15 schools, 90 teachers, 360 special education students, and 1,980 general education classmates.

Control Condition: There will be two control conditions: traditional in-service training and expert coaching. Traditional in-service training will include a two-day workshop, instructional materials, and technical follow-up support without coaching. Expert coaching will include all of the in-service training support plus follow-up expert coaching.

Key Measures: The following student-level measures will be used: (1) Social studies/science curriculum-based tests; (2) State science and social studies tests administered in the eighth grade; (3) Course grades in science or social studies; and (4) Classroom climate as measured by an instrument created during project year one.

The following teacher-level measures will be used: (1) Instruments developed during project year one to measure teachers' attitudes toward and knowledge of evidence-based practices; (2) Surveys and observations to measure teachers' implementation of their designated models (e.g., assessment of Partnership Instructional Coaching).

Data Analytic Strategy: The experimental study on intervention effects will use a 3-group design comparison of students by coaching conditions (3 x 3), a repeated-measures analysis of covariance for teachers, and an analysis of covariance for students.

Products and Publications

Book

Knight, J. (2011). Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Knight, J. (2013). High-Impact Instruction: A Framework for Great Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Knight, J. (2014). Focus on Teaching: Using Video for High-Impact Instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Knight, J. (2015). Better Conversations: Coaching Ourselves and Each Other to be More Credible, Caring, and Connected. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Fullan, M., and Knight, J. (2011). Coaches as System Leaders. Educational Leadership, 69(2): 50–53.

Knight, J. (2014). What You Learn When You See Yourself Teach. Educational Leadership, 71(8): 18–23.

Knight, J., and Nieuwerburgh, C. (2012). Instructional Coaching: A Focus on Practice. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 5(2): 100–112. doi:10.1080/17521882.2012.707668

Knight, J., Bradley, B., Hock, M., Skrtic, T., Knight, D., Brasseur-Hock., I., Clark, J., Ruggles, M., and Hatton, C. (2012). Record, Replay, Reflect: Videotaped Lessons Accelerate Learning for Teachers and Coaches. Journal of Staff Development, 33(2): 18–23.

Knight, J., Elford, M., Hock, M., Dunekack, D., Bradley, B., Deshler, D., and Knight, D. (2015). 3 Steps to Great Coaching: A Simple but Powerful Instructional Coaching Cycle Nets Results. Journal of Staff Development, 36(1): 10–16.

Wanzek, J., Vaughn, S., Scammacca, N., Gatlin, B., Walker, M., and Capin, P. (2016). Meta-Analyses of the Effects of Tier 2 Type Reading Interventions in Grades K-3. Educational Psychology Review, 28(3): 551–576. doi:10.1007/s10648–015–9321–7

Working paper

Beglau, M., Craig-Hare, J., Foltos, L., Gann, K., James, J., Jobe, H., Knight, J., and Smith, B. (2011). Technology, Coaching and Community: Power Partners for Improved Professional Development in Primary and Secondary Education. Eugene, OR: ISTE .