Coaches Served as the Link Between the Researcher and the Practitioner

The CCDD project committed to the collaborative reflections of researchers and teachers to understand student learning. It is special because teachers get an inside view on the process and goals of the study, while researchers have the opportunity to learn and improve their understanding of student learning from the feedback and experience of teachers. To make this partnership possible, the STARI and Word Generation coaches facilitated development and learning between the groups.

To the teachers, the coaches were a resource as they implemented the curriculum, experimented with new teaching methods, provided feedback to curriculum writers, and participated in the data collection process. The teacher-coach relationship revolved around bringing the theories of the research study into practice. The coach supported the teachers as they used the curriculum to facilitate and develop discussion, academic language, complex reasoning, and perspective-taking competencies. Coaches helped teachers develop professional goals and ways to acknowledge their own development, along with new student learning. In addition to curriculum and instruction support, coaches guided teachers as they participated in the research to analyze adolescent literacy. Coaches shared the intent, purpose, and scope of the research to support teachers as they contextualized assessments, feedback expectations, videotaping, and collection of student work as data.

To the researchers, the coaches were the link to practice and student learning. Coaches worked with the projects’ lead researchers, curriculum developers, and graduate students to improve research methods, clarify understanding of student learning, design feedback and reflection models so that participating teachers were contributing to how researchers look at their data, and revise the curriculum to be most effective.

Video 1 of 2: Coaching Relationships (STARI)

Senior STARI Coach Meenakshi Khanna shares:

middle school English teachers often ask for support with teaching reading  •  professional learning communities within the STARI project are powerful experiences  •  colleagues sharing expertise is key element  •  coaches committed to helping to establish a lasting community of professionals  •  network meetings and summer institute offer significant professional development opportunities

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Video 2 of 2: Coaching Relationships (Word Generation)

Word Generation Coach Erin Ruegg describes how:

coaches focus on being in the classroom and with the teacher in a non-evaluative way  •  teachers' privacy is respected  •  coach/teacher relationship built on trust  •  works to connect theories and approaches central to the program  •  regular meetings with teachers and teacher groups  •  orienting teachers to the curriculum as it is introduced in the classroom  •  anticipating challenges within the curriculum, such as perspective taking  •  integrating the program into the other curricula teachers use  •  coaches welcome the opportunity to model the teaching of the program.

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