I listened to the school committee meeting the other night and was worried when I heard about the potential of adding two more coaches to the district. If you read my blog, you probably realize that I am not a big fan of the coaching model in schools. I am, however, a fan of the co-coaching model, a hybrid-teaching model where teachers teach and coach each other at the same time.
Too often, I believe that the coaching model is too distanced from the day-to-day needs and opportunities that exist when teaching students. I feel that coaches who work mostly to help teachers, but not work with students are too removed from teaching to be the kinds of support needed to substantially contribute. Working with students on a regular basis keeps you in the game and allows you to experience the most challenging aspects of the job which are how to help every child succeed in ways that are meaningful, relevant, engaging, and empowering.
When I hear about the potential of adding two more coaches, that feels like I will get two more bosses on top of the administration I already have which include coaches, the principal, and other department leaders who direct my work. What I need more than anything else is more help with the direct service to children as well as the opportunity to work collaboratively with colleagues to coach each other.
The team model that we have in place at my grade level is awesome. We have time each week to coach each other. I would like to see this model broadened into a more distributive co-coaching, leadership model which I've outlined in this post. I would like to use the money set aside for coaches to support this model instead. I worry that the coaching model has become popular because it serves administration well--if students don't do well, they can blame the coach and quickly replace that coach. I worry that to hire a coach is a quick fix to a problem rather than truly looking deeply at the problem and talking to teachers about why it exists. When I heard people advocate for a coach in a particular subject area, I wondered why they think that's needed. I believe the issue in that area lies in time on task and student-teacher ratios rather than educator ability.
Schools need to look deeply at the issues that occur. They need to analyze the impact of particular systematic roles and models too. Then it's important that they choose models that work best. There is substantial research that supports greater teacher leadership in schools, and we know that skilled professional teaching time-on-task with students is paramount to improving schools and student success.
I question the effect of the coaching model in schools if that model means that coaches do not regularly teach students, take part in typical teaching duties and activities, uplift teacher leadership, and team with teachers in ways that matter. I am open to your debate in this arena as I am always working to understand situations with greater depth, breadth, and potential. Perhaps there are scenarios of success I am not aware of.
