Who's Coaching the Coaches: Charting the Evolution of a Coaching Professional Learning Community

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating Teacher Leadership

Abstract

The provision of leadership coaching has become a central feature of the clinical experience in several preparation programs identified in the research as exemplary (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007) yet we know very little about the developmental structures that support leadership coaches. Conceptually anchoring our work in the literature on professional learning communities and effective teams, this paper reports findings from a 12-month study that examines the work of coaches in a program where leadership coaching is a key feature of the program’s clinical experience and where leadership coaches have established a professional learning community designed to catalyze their learning and development as coaches.

Authors

• Lionel Allen, University of Illinois of Chicago

• Cynthia Kay Barron, University of Illinois at Chicago