"How Is Your Practice Going?" A Qualitative Study of Coaching Calls Within the CARE for Teachers Program

• In Event: 49.083 - Exploring Processes of Effectiveness and Impact in Social Emotional Learning Programs for Educators

Abstract

Mindfulness-based programs for teachers and students can greatly benefit from intervention supports, as a means of deepening engagement and strengthening their effects. Coaching calls provide ongoing support to participants beyond the primary program format, while also serving as a mechanism for developers to better understand why effects may be seen through quantifiable data. This qualitative study of intervention supports provides insights into the relationship between behavior changes and attitudinal shifts in participants over time, and into the nuances of how program components work together. As a component of an intervention, coaching calls can be used to investigate how and why participants are utilizing mindfulness practices and emotion regulation skills taught during program sessions.

This paper reports on coaching calls conducted during the delivery of the CARE for Teachers professional development program (CARE) for an IES-funded efficacy trial. Two cohorts participated in the study during the 2012-2014 school years, and a total of 222 teachers from 36 schools were recruited. Teachers were randomly assigned within schools to intervention or waitlist control. At this time, CARE has been presented to all treatment teachers and one group of control teachers (N=125) across four trainings; remaining control teachers will receive CARE in the 2014-2015 school year. The program is presented across five sessions, over a span of two to three months. To provide intervention support for each training group, program facilitators and fidelity coders served as coaches to participants.

Coaches scheduled two or three (depending on training structure) one-on-one coaching calls with each teacher to take place in between CARE training sessions. The Support Call Protocol was developed designed as a semi-structured interview to provide a framework for coaching calls around specific topics. Coaches completed an online version of the protocol to record teacher responses for each call. Teachers also completed a qualitative and quantitative practice questionnaire in conjunction with calls to report uptake of mindfulness practices. Of the total sample, 8% completed 1 call, 27% completed 2 calls, and 59% completed 3 calls.

Teacher responses during calls indicate attitudinal shifts related to greater awareness and intentionality over the course of the CARE program. For teachers who completed all of the scheduled coaching calls, there was a qualitative change in responses related to facing challenges between the first and final call they completed. Over time, 40% of teachers who completed all scheduled coaching calls indicated an increased awareness of how to manage stressors and respond to challenges regardless of whether mindfulness practices were reported as being done with a high frequency or regularity. This research indicates that the method of change from this program is not only in increasing mindfulness practices, but also in changing the attitudes of teachers about the stressors they face.

Authors

• Anna DeWeese, Fordham University

• Sebrina Doyle, The Pennsylvania State University

• Patricia A. Jennings, University of Virginia

• Joshua L. Brown, Fordham University

• Regin Tanler, Fordham University

• Damira S Rasheed, Fordham University

• Jennifer L Frank, The Pennsylvania State University

• Mark T. Greenberg, The Pennsylvania State University