The heart of the matter: The coaching model in America's choice schools

Abstract

In this report, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) explores the role of coaching in first-year (Cohort 4) America's Choice schools in grades K-8 as it relates to the implementation of readers and writers workshops, referred throughout this report as the literacy workshops. The authors describe the America's Choice coaching model in detail, with the remainder of the report following from their understanding and investigation of different aspects of the coaching model: (1) the role of the coach; (2) the rollout of the literacy workshops in Cohort 4 America's Choice schools; (3) the various ways in which coaches work in class and individually with teachers; (4) the coach's role in facilitating group professional development; and (5) coaching in America's Choice schools in relation to the overall objective of fostering standards-based instruction. They summarize the factors influencing coach effectiveness, and conclude with some larger issues emerging from the research, as well as recommendations for the America's Choice design team. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 10 footnotes.)