Types of Coaching

Coaching is one of the most fundamental types of professional learning. But what do we mean by the broad term “coaching”? Joellen Killion and Cindy Harrison describe different types of coaching, each with a distinct focus or purpose. These include:

• Challenge coaching: Coaches support individuals or teams of teachers in addressing persistent problems in their instruction.
• Cognitive Coaching: Coaches engage in conversations with teachers about planning, reflecting, and problem solving with the intent of building autonomy and interdependence.
• Collegial coaching: Coaches work as peers with individuals or teacher teams to strengthen their collegiality, collaborative skills, and instructional practice.
• Content-focused coaching: Coaches focus their interactions with teachers on content-specific instruction, planning and assessment curriculum, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge.
• Instructional coaching: Coaches interact with teachers on all aspects of instruction, including planning, assessing learning, and differentiating to meet learners’ needs.
• Mentoring: Coaches focus on supporting novice teachers to build their instructional expertise and support their acclimation to their school.
• Peer coaching: Teachers provide coaching support to one another, typically focused on a new area of learning, in a collegial, nonevaluative relationship to advance their individual expertise with the learning.

Source: Killion, J. & Harrison C. (2006). Taking the lead: New roles for teachers and school-based coaches. Oxford, OH: NSDC.

How To Set a Learning Agenda

To determine a focus for learning and action, ask these four crucial questions in order:

• What does an analysis of student achievement data reveal about students’ major learning problems?
• Which student learning problems are most educators not addressing effectively?
• What knowledge and skills do educators need to learn to more effectively address the identified student learning problems?
• What is the content and duration of professional development required for educators to learn the knowledge and skills they will use to more effectively address the student learning problems?

Learning Leaders Come From Everywhere

As an example of how learning leaders can be found in every area of education, here is a breakdown of Learning Forward members’ roles.

• District,central office – 38%
• External, technical assistance provider, organization – 20%
• Teacher,teacher leader,coach – 17%
• Principal, assistant principal – 15%
• None specified – 10%