Purposeful Coaching of Middle School Teachers: Establishing a Collaborative Environment for Engaging Teachers as Sense-Makers

• In Event: 21.051 - Mathematics Coaching for Sense-Making: Shifting the Lens to Teachers in the Coaching Relationship

Abstract

Purpose
This presentation provides results of a two-year mixed design study of middle school mathematics teacher leaders (i.e., mathematics specialists). The purpose of this study was to determine (a) if specialists had an impact on teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics, (b) if the amount of time they spent with teachers had an impact on student learning and if so, (c) to what extent the qualitatively different ways that they work with teachers contributed in part to this learning, and (d) what was the nature of the coaching relationships?
Perspective
Our view is that the in-school mathematics specialist and mathematics teachers jointly establish and sustain learning communities in their school buildings (Fullan, 2006; NCSM, 2008). Additionally, the specialist’s role as a coach is crucial to support teachers as continuous learners about their practice (West & Staub, 2003). The environment established by the coach is key for teachers and the coach to work together as sense-makers. Wenger’s (1998) constructs help us describe how individuals participate in and refine community practices to account for individual and collective learning. Taking this view, learning occurs when an environment is established in which collective shifts take place in how a community’s shared enterprises are accomplished (Wenger, 1998) when they work towards common goals with shared resources that enable and sustain teachers’ work as sense-makers.
Methodology
We use a mixed linear statistical model to determine if teacher beliefs and student achievement were positively influenced as a consequence of working with mathematics specialists. We analyzed multilevel hierarchical data collected from students and teachers in 11 paired treatment and control schools (students’ standardized achievement test scores and teachers’ responses to belief surveys). Additionally, we developed case study methodologies of three mathematics specialists to explore the possibility of corroborating statistical findings. We used this data to explore the structures established by a coach to encourage teachers to participate in coaching as sense-makers.
Results
Examples from the case studies as well as analysis of quantitative data allow us to elaborate on how the structures the coach establish encourage teachers’ to participate in teacher-coach interactions as sense-makers. The structures include (a) a teaching schedule that allows for multiple teacher-coach interactions per day, (b) a dedicated space for the coach and teachers to engage in their work together, (c) sharing mathematics content and pedagogical strategies through professional learning communities and through engagement in and observation of the coaching cycle (planning, coaching, and debriefing). The extent to which teachers were highly engaged—who participated in regular, effective coaching sessions and team meetings—with the specialist had a significant impact on their teacher beliefs about how mathematics should be taught and learned. When specialists and teachers co-constructed experiences that encouraged teachers to explore different instructional practices, use innovative materials and investigate important mathematical ideas underpinning those materials, this contributed in part to teacher and student ongoing learning. These findings also point to the specialists’ important role in providing quality experiences for teachers that are not solely motived by standardized assessment practices and outcomes.

Authors

• Aimee Ellington, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Joy Wright Whitenack, Virginia Commonwealth University