Earlier this summer, we shared a blog post on designing instructional coaching systems to ensure teacher growth. And while systems for instructional coaching are certainly necessary to coaching success, they are, on their own, insufficient in driving teacher growth. This is, of course, because the content of coaching determines whether or not teachers actually improve in practices that drive student learning.
To support leaders in ensuring high-leverage coaching of their teachers, particularly at the beginning of the school year, we offer two resources: our Action Steps Guide and Beginning-of-Year Observation Checklist. More on each below.
Action Step Guide:
The Action Steps Guide is designed as a trajectory of core teaching practices for the novice teacher to develop. It breaks steps into those focused on classroom management (left column) and those related to instruction (right column), as well as those we propose should be covered during pre-school summer months, in quarter 1 and quarter 2.
A few notes:
- No individual will follow the sequence exactly as outlined. While the guide reflects the general sequence and needs of most teachers based on our work in countless schools and with thousands of educators, leaders should pick and choose focus areas based on the demonstrated need of each teacher they support.
- We offer the “summer,” “Q1” and “Q2” designations due to limitations on professional learning and coaching time. Of course, if it is possible to cover focus areas earlier, do so. Teachers will be all the more prepared.
- This list of action steps is by no means exhaustive! After mastery of these initial practices, leaders may be interested in developing teachers in additional questioning techniques, how to deliver high-quality feedback that motivates students, or how to respond more effectively to limits in student background knowledge. We’re building out this list of action steps for veterans – stay tuned in a future post!
We recommend school leaders take stock of the needs of their teachers (returning teachers based on spring 2025, and new teachers based on the initial days of summer preservice), then cross-check these needs with their professional learning plan from now until December. Instructional coaches can do the same for each coachee and try to embed a few mini practice cycles of the highest priority skills before school starts.
Once the school year begins, a leadership team school walkthrough can be a simple yet powerful way to create alignment. Observe each classroom, ask members of the team to identify the top strength and top action step using the Action Step Guide, then spar and land on an aligned area of focus. From here, all instructional coaches should carry this guide with them during classroom observations to focus their attention on these priority areas for action steps and teacher practice.
Beginning-of-Year Observation Checklist
The Beginning-of-Year Observation Checklist offers instructional leaders observable metrics to assess levels of time on task and student engagement for each teacher they coach. Ensuring high levels of on-task and engagement is particularly critical in the opening weeks of the school year when teachers establish the foundations in their classrooms that enable rigorous instruction and transformative learning to thrive.
We recommend that school leaders share these metrics with their full teaching team, and then review this tool with their instructional coaches, asking them to observe classrooms with this checklist in hand 2-3 times in the opening weeks. From there, coaches should run regular feedback meetings with their teachers around areas for improvement.
These checklists can also be used in the aggregate: for example, grade-level leads can determine the needs of their grade-level team, or school leaders can review them to identify trends to address in whole-staff professional learning. (For more, there’s also our blog post from last fall on how best to leverage this checklist.)
How you start the school year sets the tone for the year to come. Committing to clear and consistent coaching is a gift to yourself, your team, and most importantly, your students in January, February, March, and beyond.
So try them out and let us know how it goes! We’re wishing you much success.