KU Center for Research on Learning
Teacher Quality
Kansas Coaching Project
Notable achievements
Though more than a year of grant funding remains for the Teacher Quality project, researchers already have identified several successful outcomes:
- The introduction of video to record and analyze coaching interactions has revolutionized our approach to research. “I think using video is likely going to be something we use in other forms of research here at the Center,” Knight says.
- Not only has the Teacher Quality research team learned about effective coaching, they also have expanded their repertoire of research methods. Co-principal investigator Tom Skrtic, a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas, is a leader in the field of qualitative research and naturalistic inquiry. Methodologist Barbara Bradley, assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum & Teaching at KU, is co-author of one of the landmark books on design study. Both have shared their expertise with other members of the project team.
- Despite serious financial difficulties, the Beaverton, Ore., school district renewed its commitment to this project and to instructional coaching. “It’s a testament to the power of coaching that they’re going to keep it even though they’re really struggling financially in the district,” Knight says.
- The team has partnered with Dr. Henry Levin of Columbia University, a leading expert in the field, to analyze the cost-effectiveness of the coaching model.
“To me, the biggest success this year has been just how powerful the design model approach is. It’s also consistent with our Partnership approach, where we really see the other person as someone we can learn from and not just a vessel for us to inject our good ideas into.”
-Jim Knight, director, Kansas Coaching Project
The Teacher Quality project grew out of several studies dating back to the mid-1990s, when the concept of “learning consultants” appeared in the Center’s work. In 1999, learning consultants became “instructional collaborators” in our first GEAR UP/Pathways to Success grant (http://www.kucrl.org/pathways/). By 2003, we settled on the term “instructional coaches” and began to clearly define the role of coaches in the education process and the skills required to be a coach. The Teacher Quality project and the concept of instructional coaches both also have roots in Jim Knight’s dissertation research on Partnership Learning (http://instructionalcoach.org/tools.html).
Personnel
KU-CRL Staff:
Jim Knight, principal investigator
Mike Hock, co-principal investigator
Tom Skrtic, co-principal investigator
Don Deshler, researcher
Irma Brasseur-Hock, senior project coordinator
Barbara Bradley, methodologist
Jake Cornett, project coordinator
Jana Craig Hare, project coordinator
Sarah Estes, research assistant
Jeff Levering, research assistant
Michael Kennedy, doctoral fellow
Leslie Novosel, doctoral fellow
Belinda Mitchell, doctoral fellow
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