Program

Education Doctorate

Year Approved

2017

First Advisor

Ziegler, Annette

Abstract

Instructional coaching as a mode of professional development has gained popularity among school districts for its job-embedded, ongoing nature (Knight, 2012). Absent from the field is an effective method of measuring the impact of coaching. In attempting to isolate a variable that is high leverage, the reflective practice of teachers was examined. The study used a teacher survey to collect data on various aspects of a coaching program and teacher reflectiveness. There was not enough evidence to confirm that reflective practice makes any difference in coaching participation, frequency, or the perceived value of coaching. It is worth noting that almost every teacher rated themselves in the top two categories for reflection. Teachers in a school where all were required to work with an instructional coach found coaching to be more valuable and participated more frequently than those who work in a school where coaching was optional. Teachers newer to the profession also participate in coaching more often. Choice in regard to coaching experiences, timing, and purpose were found to be important to teachers. Further study is needed to examine the causes of these findings and continued efforts are needed to discover a method of measuring reflectiveness efficiently without using self-reported data.

Degree Name

Education Doctorate

Document Type

Doctoral dissertation

Terms of Use and License Information

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Share

COinS