How Coaches Use Strategies to Respond to District Structures That Shape Their Classroom Access (Poster 9)

• In Event: Exploring the Influence of Organizational and Leadership Contexts on the Work of Coaching

Abstract

Given the lynchpin role of gaining classroom access to coaching, coaches regularly work to respond to the forces that shape their access using a diverse network of strategies. However, how coaches do so is currently understudied and undertheorized and research has explored these phenomena separately. That is, prior work has either sought to unpack coaches’ access-granting strategies (Authors, 2022a) or the forces that shape coaches’ classroom access (Kane & Rosenquist, 2019). Understanding whether and how coaches coordinate forces and strategies is integral for the field as it can support coaches to effectively and efficiently develop a presence in teachers’ classrooms. The purpose of this investigation is to explore how coaches used strategies to respond to one micropolitical force that influenced classroom access: structures of time and workload.

Methods
We conducted 28 interviews with content coaches, asking them to describe the strategies they used to access teachers’ classrooms, and the forces that shaped their access. We identified instances in the transcripts in which coaches narratively linked strategies and forces (n=247). Each instance of strategy-force coordination was coded with the strategy type(s) and force(s) that were referenced, and all coordination instances were organized in a matrix to count frequencies and explore patterns. This presentation focuses on the access-granting strategies that were coupled with the structures of time and workload force.

Findings
Forty percent of all instances of force-strategy coupling (n=100 of 247) involved the structures of time and workload force. This force emanated from the structures established by the school or district organization that regulated when and how much teachers and coaches could collaborate or interact in ways that might lead to coach access, such as having structured professional development time with teachers, a coaching community that met regularly, and being institutionalized in structures like student support teams. As with all forces, structures of time and workload could either enhance or inhibit access. Nearly two-thirds of the instances (n=66 of 100) of force-strategy coupling with structures of time and workload occurred when this force enhanced coaches’ classroom access. In other words, coaches were more likely to leverage strategies when these structures supported access, taking advantage of a favorable structure, than when structures posed a barrier to access.

Significance
Coaches in this study most frequently used strategies to take advantage of favorable time and workload conditions, often by using structural opportunities to interact with teachers, offer coaching, and be available and involved. When coaches discussed this force as impeding their classroom access, they were less likely to try to leverage strategies to enhance their classroom access. This may be because, as a structural force emanating from the district organization, the allocation of time and work was not a force coaches perceived they could surmount with strategies. Overall, this study indicates that when schools and districts create favorable structures of time and workload, coaches will leverage strategies to capitalize on these opportunities to gain access to classrooms for coaching.

Authors

• Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides, University of Cincinnati

• Jen Munson, Northwestern University