What Is an Instructional Coach?

WHaT IS aN INSTrUCTIONaL COaCH?

At the core, an instructional coach is someone whose role is to work with teachers and school leaders to improve the educational outcomes of students. Instructional coaches are school-based teacher leaders. As professional development specialists, coaches work with teachers and teams to “facilitate appropriate learning experiences, provide feedback and support, and assist with implementation of challenges” (Killion, 2009, p. 9). Leaders put the coach in place to deliver high-quality professional development in several ways. Instructional coaches support teachers in areas such as content, instruction, organization, and management. The instructional coaching system comes to life when the instructional coach partners closely with school administrators. The result? A powerhouse team responsible for high-quality instruction using co-planning, modeling, and feedback (just to name a few) to make sure it all happens.

As an instructional coach, you’re not necessarily an expert in a certain subject. Your expertise lies in supporting teachers from any subject area. Yet leaders can assign instructional coaches to a specific content area. For example, there are mathematics coaches, English language arts coaches, curriculum coaches, science coaches, social studies coaches, technology coaches, academic coaches, and so on. All of these content-specific coaches use the same coaching strategies to build teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom.

Instructional coaches work toward clearly defined goals. Some examples include the following. • Increase graduation rates. • Support teachers as they implement the latest state standards or the newest resources. • Encourage equitable student participation by disaggregating ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status in all programs and student discipline data.

When a strong coaching infrastructure is dedicated to supporting teachers as they deepen and implement instructional practices, student achievement grows by leaps and bounds.

COACHING REFLECTION

Now knowing the definition of an instructional coach, rewrite the definition thinking of yourself as the coach. Use the following prompt to get started. I, (insert your name), as your instructional coach will . . .