A Continuing Learning Community of Practice
Coaching for School Growth in West Virginia
A Year-Long Blended Delivery Professional Development for Coaches
Though coaches are very smart and quite knowledgeable in many areas, continuous school
improvement is an area in which they may not have had training. Fortunately, coaches are eager
learners and are skilled in reflective practice and action research that are foundational components of
coaching for school growth. Coaching for Learning leadership will provide a year-long blended delivery
PD and networking experience for coaches by scaffolding the levers of the West Virginia Continuous
Improvement Process.
Guided by the Coaching for Learning curriculum/training, coaches will put their learning into practice at
their respective schools (learning-by-doing). They, in turn, will support school teams with learning the
structures, processes and attitudes necessary to make changes throughout the school aimed at
increasing student learning. The coach is the person “on the ground,” in the school on a day-to-day
basis, and over time strategically introduces a collection of tools, processes and practices for the staff
to use.
Depending upon the current reality of the school(s) in which the coach is assigned, the coach may need
to assist with the process of creating the foundational structures for collaborative teaming. Over time,
the coach will gradually decrease his/her participation in the team meetings once the process has been
crystalized and capacity has been built.
Coaching for School Growth through the Continuous Improvement Process
A definition:
It is a “side-by-side” partnership approach where the coach works with the leadership team to
interpret school-wide student performance results to identify root causes and then collectively
decide next steps [SMART goals] and how to measure them. Next, using data, the coach works
with teacher collaborative teams to address the four critical questions of learning [DuFour] by:
1) engaging in the improvement cycle (determine current reality, plan, do, monitor and adjust);
2) begin the learning-by-doing process; and
3) increase the introduction of improvement strategies slowly but steadily.
The big picture:
Through focused listening and looking at data, the coach identifies short and longer term wins
and recognizes the need to start realistically. The coach stays the course, working with simpler
parts of the whole element(s). The collective efforts and learning of the staff increase in scope
and impact. Once the continuous improvement process has been embedded in the work of the
school teams, student achievement increases and the school culture subtly changes, morphing
into a continually improving learning community. The following cultural changes become
inherent:
1. Increases in staff efficacy, motivation, skill and sustainability
2. Decreases in retraining and need for external coaching assistance
Where the coach begins depends on the leadership team’s determination of the school’s
current reality:
A. Promoting School-wide Growth--Addressing School Culture
The coach leads activities to discover underlying beliefs and attitudes that drive the decisions
and behaviors that are the school’s culture (who they are). Hard data about such things as
student achievement, together with the perceptive data collected from teachers, students and
parents, are used to compile the current reality of the school. The coach is careful not to try to
tell the school who they are or where they are, but instead introduces the process and suggests
activities with data whereby educators can discover and draw those conclusions themselves. It
is also important for a coach to never tell a teacher or team what or who they should be, but
instead the coach facilitates activities/scenarios that lead to conversations & a process of
discovery.
B. Promoting School-wide Growth—Working with the School Leadership Team
The coach helps a school in need of the foundational components create the necessary and
logical structures to work and solve its own problems through a focused, research-based,
agreed upon process. Initial work is accomplished through the school leadership team that:
• manages the continuous improvement process and creates the plan – including reallocation of resources (plan is revisited often and revised as the data indicate)
 studies the best working structure for teaming and creates collaborative teacher teams
(school-wide)—every staff member is on a team
 schedules data workshops to:
o understand the cyclic continuous improvement process
 the four critical questions of learning
 the learning-by-doing approach (increasing in scope as staff
experiences efficacy)
o write school SMART goals
C. Coaching Collaborative Teaming Processes
The coach supports teacher collaborative teams as they meet to discuss student achievement
results and plan next collective action(s) that might include:
 shared agreement regarding protocols for addressing the four critical questions of
learning [DuFour]
 shared agreement regarding the first, best instruction for a lesson or unit of instruction
and student specific instructional strategies (intervention)


shared formative assessment ideas--measure student learning on a frequent and timely
basis
determining next steps (what to do about the results brought to the meeting -what
action research to do and bring back to next meeting)
D. Providing Technical Assistance to Individual Teachers (toward an identified goal):
 instructional strategies
 classroom management in terms of delivery of instruction
 assistance with any aspect of addressing the four critical questions of learning
A Continuing Learning Community of Practice
Big Ideas for May 29-31, 2012 Training and Year-long PD--guided by the 6
Levers of the West Virginia Continuous Improvement Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Creating Community – develops relationships & collaborative partnerships; practices skillful & intentional listening;
displays a consistently trustworthy & credible demeanor (i.e., promotes team-building & forming a school-wide
community of practice; continually works to improve professionally and to accomplish what is expected of their
assigned role)
Establishing Focus & Coherence – seeks strategic, data-based focus; fleshes out the most important; steers away
from overload; connects instruction to well-developed goals (i.e., leads others to use data to understand needs,
establish goals, and monitor progress)
Supporting Change – engages educators in transformational learning (change) and/or additive learning
(implementation of strategies or skills); anticipates resistance; uses reflective questioning; is facilitative, not
demanding (i.e., provides technical assistance with strategies and practices leading to highly effective teaching that
includes technology integration)
Building a Collaborative Culture -- facilitates collaboration through teaming processes; focuses efforts on continuous
improvement; promotes consistent collection, analysis and utilization of data as well as systematic documentation
(i.e., supports the effective use of teams in the continuous improvement processes—time/team structures &
addressing the four critical questions of learning [DuFour])
Maximizing Capacity – promotes collective leadership & data-informed decision making; supports team leaders with
teaming processes & effective questioning techniques; encourages accountability through transparency of practice;
provides descriptive feedback and technical assistance designed to improve professional performance
(i.e., promotes reflective practice protocols including strategic, specific descriptive feedback, technology integration
and follow-up critical conversation; gradually increase the scope and intensity of the staff’s collective efforts and
learning
Growing Professionally – continues to learn through data-based reflective coaching practice and networking with
peers through a community of practice; models a culture of learning (Year-long PD)
**While coaches’ manner of conducting themselves when relating to those with whom they are working has a more
direct implication in the “Creating Community/How to Coach” realm, it is continuously threaded through the other
levers as well.