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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of instructional leaders in promoting culturally responsive practice in ways that make schooling more inclusive and humanizing for minoritized students and communities.

The data pull from a six-month long case study of a mid-sized, Midwestern school district that was attempting to implement culturally responsive leadership practices. After axial coding, findings emerged from interview data and field notes.

Instructional leaders can play significant and useful roles in promoting culturally responsive teaching and pedagogy in schools. Districts can establish positions in which instructional leaders can work to strengthen the culturally responsive pedagogy of every teacher in a district.

This study has implications for both research and practice. Culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) exists in multiple spaces and at various levels in a district. CRSL is not only a school-level function, but it can also be a district-level practice. Culturally responsive instructional leaders (in this case, not principals, but coaches) can have significant impact in promoting culturally relevant pedagogy.

This contribution moves beyond school leadership and examines how district leadership practices and decisions foster culturally relevant practices and the challenges in employing this equity work.

The purpose of the study was to provide an example of instructional coaching for inservice teachers within the context of community-engaged scholarship (CEP), involving professional learning communities (PLCs). This study seeks to encourage policymakers to allocate budgets for instructional coaches, as well as resources for schools.

An exploratory case study design was used to examine the factors that contributed to the partnership and how the PLC sessions impacted the inservice teachers' practices. Data sources included interviews, focus groups, written reflections, observations of grade-level teachers' meetings and administrative meetings.

The study uncovered important factors that impacted the community-engaged partnership (CEP) positively, such as partners having a unified agenda, a common focus on the school's needs and an understanding of the culture of the school. Principals are the gatekeepers in such partnerships.

This study yielded the description of a model of instructional coaching within a CEP that other universities around the world could replicate. The limitations of this study include the length of the study and the time frame in which the PLC content was planned. The study was conducted over 1 year to limited funding. The instructional coach developed the PLC content during the ongoing academic year and that impacted the teachers' initial perceptions and their commitment to the PLCs.

This study offers a new coaching model for CEPs that focuses on closing the gap between theory and practice by integrating PLCs, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and face-to-face visual support.

The paper provides analysis of the use of instructional coaching (IC) as a prevalent trend supporting new teachers in the English system and aims to inform ongoing policy development and implementation. The qualitative study examines mentors' conceptualisations and enactment of the role of instructional coach and the readiness of mentors to assume mentors' key stakeholder roles in the professional education of early career teachers (ECTs).

Semi-structured interviews with 37 mentors explored mentors' understandings and experiences of becoming instructional coaches as part of a pilot support initiative to support ECTs in England. Two rounds of interviews were conducted to generate data related to the first six months of mentoring on the programmes. Thematic analysis identified seven semantic themes which describe manifest content found within the data and identify mentors' perceptions of their role and practice as instructional coaches. Three latent themes were developed from mentors' accounts which indicate challenges in becoming an instructional coach in this context.

Concern to apply IC “correctly” according to the programme models was a strong feature amongst both novice and experienced mentors. A key finding is the lack of explicit knowledge of professional learning pedagogies amongst mentors and insecure understanding of how new teachers learn. Assuming the role of instructional coach presented both benefits of having a “model” to follow and disadvantages in fostering limited and over-prescribed concepts and practices related to the learning of new teachers.

The study investigated mentors during the first six months of a pilot programme and the paper reports on analysis of one type of data. The research results may lack generalisability, and a longitudinal study is necessary to further explore the validity of the findings.

Sustained, high-quality professional learning for mentors is crucial to mentors' role as instructional coaches to enable mentors to develop deep, critical understanding of how IC might support new teachers and how to exercise professional judgement in working with “models”. Judicious use of time and resource is needed to enable mentors to fulfil the potential of national mentoring programmes.

The study is timely in its examination of mentors that assume the role of instructional coach as one response to national policy development that makes support for ECTs mandatory. Such strategies have wide international relevance where the retention of new teachers is a policy priority.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the emotional intelligence (EI) of instructional coaches could be improved with training, as well as how instructional coaches perceived the relevance of EI to their success as coaches.

This mixed-method study was conducted in two phases. The quantitative phase examined pre- and post-test EI scores of 90 instructional coaches who completed a 20-hour coach training intervention designed to improve the coaching skills of educators working with teachers to improve their instruction. Of the nine instructional coaches interviewed for the qualitative phase, four had increased their EI scores while five had decreased. The study took place primarily in the USA, with two participants in the survey portion from countries outside the USA.

Statistically significant increases for EI were found in the full sample. Among the 44 instructional coaches who enrolled on the training course voluntarily, there were significant improvements in total EI, both the interpersonal and interpersonal composites, and all five subscales (i.e. self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills). The mean EI scored for the 46 coaches who were required to take the training did not increase. The themes that emerged from the interviews were increased awareness, improved listening, enhanced empathy, a focus on strengths, and the role of EI in success as instructional coaches.

Future research might examine the duration, intensity, and format of training that successfully increases EI scores. For example, comparing face-to-face formats with distance formats, such as the one used in this study, might yield interesting findings. This study would have been strengthened by the inclusion of a control group that received no training.

Both quantitative and qualitative analyses provided evidence that EI can be improved through training; thus, such training could be incorporated into initial preparation and ongoing professional development for educators. The differential outcomes for those who volunteered for the training as opposed to those who were required to take the training as part of their jobs highlights the important of the adult learning principle of choice. Thus, the element of choice should be taken into consideration in planning professional development.

The use of instructional coaches is an important form of professional development, designed to bring about improved teacher practices. This study provides both quantitative and qualitative evidence of the value of coach training, including statistically significant gains on a validated measure of EI. This study makes an important contribution because prior research on the question of whether EI can be taught has been largely anecdotal.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on the concepts of social capital in order to reveal the organizational conditions, including structural and relational factors, associated with reform-oriented instructional coaching (ROIC) in an urban school district.

An interpretivist approach was used to analyze organizational conditions enabling ROIC. Interview, observation and document data collected focused on coaching, leadership, and school-level organizational conditions. Qualitative data analyses, including coding and memoing, were used to summarize key information and quotes across data sources; this was followed by qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to identify combinations of factors associated with reform-oriented coaching.

The findings identified particular structures, systems, and activities enabling ROIC at the school level, with social capital playing a role in facilitating or impeding implementation of such work. That is, relationships, routines, norms, and webs of interaction enabled coaching. Principals’ prioritization of coaching as an improvement lever and their persuasive framing of coaching, coupled with principal-coach collaboration, fostered a positive culture for ROIC.

This paper points to the vital role of collaboration amongst administrators, coaches, and teachers. Principals play a significant role in defining coaching, setting up structures, and creating conditions supportive of the implementation of ROIC. By managing structures and routines, principals can encourage coaching aligned with reform efforts to yield positive outcomes.

This research advances the field’s understanding of organizational factors influencing the enactment of ROIC. It uses QCA to reveal the value of leadership in shaping structural and relational conditions in a school site.

The purpose of this study was to identify if and how K–6 teachers perceive that their literacy instructional coaches influence their writing teaching.

The authors employed a parallel convergent mixed-methods design with survey data. The authors used thematic analysis to identify patterns within short-answer responses.

K–6 teachers receive little literacy coaching specific to writing. However, when they do receive coaching, they believe it benefits their writing instruction. Sustained coaching through the coaching cycle, frequent collaborations, and support with writing instructional resources and strategies were reported as the most influential writing coaching practices.

Sample size was a limitation to this study. Of the 66 participants, 41 (62%) completed the entire survey.

This research provides coaches with valuable insights about coaching practices that teachers find to be the most effective in influencing their writing instruction. The increase in teachers' competence in writing instruction due to coaching provides evidence to administrators and stakeholders that coaching in writing is an area in need of attention.

This study adds to research specific to the coaching of writing within the K–6 context, which currently is sparse.

This study focused on unpacking the instructional coaching process, addressing key questions about what happens during a coaching session and what coaching elements predict teacher outcomes.

Using coaching observational data, the research examined critical coaching processes described in the literature: coaching practices (observation, feedback, reflective discussion and planning), the coach–teacher relationship, coaching strategies and coaching duration. The study also developed a path model documenting how coaching behaviors predicted teacher instruction.

Results showed that the coach talked more than the teacher and that most coaching time was spent in reflective discussion. The coach–teacher relationship was promoted by building rapport and reciprocal trust, with use of “we” language demonstrating that coach and teacher were working as a partnership. Most common coaching strategies were clarifying and the coach prompting the teacher to attend to teacher or student behaviors. Path model analysis showed that (a) the coach–teacher relationship quality predicted the level of teacher engagement in coaching and their instructional reflection and (b) the quality of coaching strategies predicted the overall quality of the classroom instruction.

The study provides empirical evidence about the active ingredients of coaching – those underlying processes that impact and improve teacher practice.

The purpose of this paper is to examine highly detailed “low-inference” transcripts (LITs) of peer coaching conversations, drawn from two public US high schools located in New York City, to explore the kinds of interactions that led peers to be more reflective about their instructional practice.

Using the constant-comparative method of analysis, highly detailed LITs of peer coaching conversations were analyzed to identify instances where peers had what the researchers identified as an “Aha!” moment, where the peer's prior belief or opinion about their instruction and/or planning shifted. Subsequent re-coding identified specific strategies that caused the shift.

Three kinds of interactions were identified as leading to an “Aha!,” all of which involved a thoughtful and strategic use of the LITs during the coaching conversation. Conversely, findings suggested that passive use of the transcripts was less successful.

Future research should explore the nature and staying power of the shifts in peer thinking, and the extent to which these shifts lead to instructional changes and improved student performance.

–LITs are a promising tool for instructional coaching. The evidence suggests when in the hands of a skilled coach the transcripts can shift teachers’ thinking in ways that are likely to improve instructional practice and thus student outcomes.

This study highlights the value of pairing strategic and thoughtful peer coaching with highly detailed LITs, and identifies specific kinds of interactions that lead to shifts in thinking about instruction.

In digital education curricular initiatives, some teachers are taking on key roles when appointed as instructional coaches (ICs) and become crucial in the sustainability of the initiative by coaching teachers. This study aimed to find out the difficulties ICs are facing when mentoring teachers in the development of the digital skills and to identify the coaching activities the coaches offer.

Employing a mixed-methods research design focusing on a qualitative approach, the research team conducted 6 focus groups with 38 ICs from 12 primary schools in Switzerland. Quantitative descriptive data were collected through a survey submitted before and after the focus group.

The results indicate that (1) the professional development (PD) activities offered to teachers vary greatly depending on the instructional coach characteristics and the school to which the teachers belong, (2) the in-service training of ICs should include coaching and leadership skills and (3) distributed leadership to ICs could facilitate the adoption of technologies by teachers and support change in the school.

Some ICs offer activities with a low involvement of the teacher. ICs' training programs should provide strategies to better take advantage of PD activities. The authors suggest training ICs in PD activities, aligned with Gibbons and Cobb's (2017) such as analyzing classroom video or lesson study involving a group of teachers working together with an expert to improve a lesson. District and school leaders should provide ICs with explicit guidance and more resources to achieve systemic change. ICs should also be empowered by being involved in the development of the school's continuing education training plans.

This study presents a new perspective about understanding and applying in-service teacher PD in the context of a digital education curricular initiative.

The study aimed to understand the effect of instructional coaching on teachers' implementation of a science teaching improvement programme and whether it varies in schools of different socioeconomic statuses.

The authors conducted an experimental study. A total of 59 seventh-grade classrooms from a representative sample of public schools from the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, were provided with research-based science educative curriculum materials (ECM) as resources to improve their teaching. A randomly selected treatment group received additional instructional coaching. Coaches met one-on-one with teachers on a weekly basis, providing pedagogical support to enact the ECM. After a 12-week intervention, the authors analyzed science teaching practices as evidenced in students' notebooks. The authors used a fidelity framework to understand the programme's implementation (with and without coaching), considering its adherence, dosage and quality, and compared how it varied across schools.

While teachers in both groups used the ECM in their science lessons (i.e. with high adherence), instructional coaching almost tripled science teaching time (i.e. the dosage) but did not increase the quality of implementation (i.e. the percentage of inquiry-based science activities taught). In low socioeconomic status schools, the effect of coaching on dosage was even more intense.

This study provides robust evidence on the impact of instructional coaching on teaching improvement programmes in science in developing countries, an under researched topic. The findings may contribute to developing targeted coaching interventions considering their effectiveness in different school contexts.