Title: Compiling the evidence: Coaching, leadership and school improvement' Experiences of graduate student
1Compiling the evidence Coaching, leadership and
school improvement.Experiences of graduate
student learners at the University of Victoria
- Dr. Catherine McGregor
- and Alison Brophey
- University of Victoria
- January 7, 2009
2PURPOSE OF STUDY
- How is school leadership preparation affected by
a facilitated mentorship experience in which
experienced and less experienced school
administrators/teacher leaders are matched over a
period of about 12 months? - What benefits accrue to the graduate student
learner? - In what ways do these partners attribute career
or school based successes as leaders to the
mentorship experience? - To what extent do these coaching/mentoring
relationships support wider learning in the
school context?
3What is CSML?
- Graduate certificate program for school leaders
- Focus initially on filling gap of needed school
administrators (close to 50 of enrolment are now
teacher leaders) - 6 units of credit, ladders into a Masters in
Education - Created in partnership with the BC Educational
Leadership Council - Has enrolled four cohorts of 20-26 students
- Completed over two summers and distance courses
between
4Unique elements of CSML program
- Coaching experience
- Focused on leadership inquiry
- Taught by well known and respected professionals
- Intensive, summer only model
- Curriculum is built around practice and
personal/collective inquiry rather than
subjects/themes or courses
5CSML (Certificate in School Management and
Leadership) Program elements
- Evidence based model
- Case study research
- Role school principals play in student learning
- Link between research and field focused school
based work - Leadership theory related to school improvement
- Distributed forms of leadership
- Power of learning communities and inquiry as
primary tools for learning leadership
6CSML Principles (continued)
- Networking to support professional learning
- Personally shaped inquiry processes
- Dialogue in self reflective thinking and meaning
making - Ethical commitment to a democratic learning
community - Knowledge produced and shared by learners and
teachers - Equity based practices
7Study Design
- Preliminary work
- Literature review and review of program history
- Consultation with program faculty/staff
- Review of program features and initial goals
- Review of earlier commissioned mentorship report
- Review of agreement with BCELC as primary funder
of study - Discussions with interested current and former
CSML students - Developing research framework focus of study to
reflect contemporary literature in school
leadership and school improvement
8Phases of the research plan
- Attend Coaching training session (August, 2008)
- Online survey (November, 2008 complete)
- Field visits (scheduled for spring, 2009)
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Discussions with colleagues/staff at school level
- Draft report sharing (June 2009)
- Final report (August, 2009)
9Survey Design
- Developed by team of researchers at U Vic
- The lead author developed a series of questions
designed to focus in on the specific elements of
the coaching experience - sought to establish the degree to which the
coaching partnership shaped emerging leadership
practices, as identified by participants. - Dr. Paul Shaw, a collaborator in this research
study, developed other questions designed to
probe for particular practices of leadership, and
in particular, to consider the school or district
conditions that either enabled or constrained the
practices of leadership for school improvement
10Survey data collected
- Respondents
- 70 female (reflective of demographic of
students) - Total respondents 60
- 95 Caucasian, European descent (3 people self
identified into other ethnic groups) - 71 of participants have been teachers for 11
years or more, with the bulk having spent 11-15
years teaching - 50 of participants were current school based
administrators the second largest group 41
classroom teachers - School districts 56.4 rural, 46.3 urban
11Respondents (continued)
- 25 of mentors who have worked in the program
participated in the survey - 40 of CSML graduates from the program
participated - Highest participation rates from 3rd and 4th
cohort (most recent graduates and many still
involved with U Vic Masters program) - More than half of the participants also identify
as participants in the Network of Performance
based schools (a government funded initiative
focused on using BC Performance Standards in BC
schools)
12Coaches as Lead Learners
13How do you formally support learning for new or
emerging teacher leaders?
14How do you informally support learning for
emerging or new teacher leaders.
15Structures or processes you use to for supporting
learning and teaching in your work context
16Other characteristics of Coaches
- 22/25 subscribe to educational journals such as
ASCD, Phi Delta Kappan, Journal of Staff
Development. - Women (95)
- 23/25 identified a range of professional
activities they engage in to support their own
continued learning - 40 participate actively in work related to
assessment for learning - 50 identified critical dialogues about learning
as central to their work as educational leaders - 2/3rds of the coaches were recruited by
instructors in the program
17How these coaches support leadership
development 3 categories
- Facilitating the emergence of new spaces for
leadership to emerge - A teacher comes up with an idea to improve
student learning, I stand and support them
thereby allowing them to opportunity to further
learn and lead - Allowing them to come up with their ideas when
they are brought to the discussion - Asking them to share ideas and learning with
staff in staff meetings and on professional
development days
18Sharing existing responsibilities or roles
in the school (formal task distribution)
- Giving teachers the opportunity to make
important decisions about program development - Creating a district teamand facilitating
their ability to run workshops for teachers in
their specialty areas - having teaches take on the leadership of teams
attending assessment for learning workshops - Encouraging individual staff members to lead
initiatives - Having different staff members run different
sections ofmeetings
19Modeling learning and leadership so teachers can
learn by example
- Leading by example, volunteering both at the
School and in the community - Connecting students to community events, Linking
teachers through learning inquiries, Initiating
change through teacher-leaders, and acknowledging
their contribution
20The Coaching partnership
- While close to 90 of the coaches were not
familiar with the coaching process used by Dr.
Robertson, nearly all followed the structure to a
large degree (75 of the times they met as
coaches and learners) - 60 of the time, these coaches report that they
followed the reciprocal shared learning model.
This means that both the coach and the learner
shared their experiences, challenges, and issues
to assist them in resolving issues
21The Coaching Cycle as reported by CSML learners
22The usefulness of the coaching structure
- 14/19 respondents say they used the reflective
questioning and active listening either all or
75 of the time, in order to give their learner
95 of the time to focus on their own issue and
how to resolve it. - The GROW model (what is your GOAL? What is the
REALITY? What are the OPTIONS? WRAP UP) was also
used as the primary structure to guide this
learning conversation (75-100 of the time this
was used by 10 out of 17 coaches)
23The Coachs voice
- Whenever possible I tried to have at least one
site visit and set up a reciprocal opportunity as
well I think the site visits were invaluable for
the learner and certainly clarified my vision of
the learner-in-action - The CSML learner introduced me to new resources.
After actively listening to the CSML leaner, I
often reflected on the gaps between what I do and
what I believe I should do. This was helpful. - As we communicated mostly by email it was
important to reread assignments and ask questions
when I was unsure. If we needed to talk to one
another that was also an option. We connected
each week, even when we were busy, so that we
both knew what was happening in our professional
and personal lives. This helped when planning for
the big assignments - Because both of my mentoring experienced
required travel, we met infrequently and were
often rushed by circumstances. I found it
impossible to use this model GROW, SMART over
the telephone or internet. I feel I requires the
coaching partnership to be physically together
there is so much to learn from body language and
voice inflection
24What benefits does coaching bring to you as coach?
25The Coachs voice
- Providing knowledge, but also learning from my
learner that learning never stops - Developing a relationship with another teacher
leader - The ability to learn from a colleague. I am an
experienced school principal and was able to walk
with my colleague as she took on that role for
the first time - We have so much to learn from each other
26CSML Learners Metaphors of their experiences as
leaders
- No mountain is too big to scale.
- Like an umbrella in a windstorm
- Its a jam session we are all dropping in and
out, but enjoying the music - Caught in a deep pool of reflection
- Gathering pollen
- Entering a new world with clarity of vision
27CSML Learner Profile
- 90 women
- mid-career, usually with 10-15 years of teaching
experience - 95 of them are heavily involved in other
professional development activities, including
working on a Masters degree, taking courses
through BCELC, engaging in district level PD
(often leading it), participating as
learning/literacy coaches, and the NPBS - 75 mention reading professional material
regularly - About 50 practicing school administrators 50
teacher leaders
28An emphasis on student learning
- 50 of respondents identified formative
assessment as the key school goal they were
engaged in working on - 25 identified strategies for team building to
improve teaching and learning - 25 identified the development of professional
learning communities
29Reflections on the coaching process
30Key components of the coaching process
- Active listening 14
- Giving feedback, not advice 9
- Conducting a focused conversation 9
- Questioning and clarifying questions 7
- Reflection 7
- Building trust 5
- Most important? LISTENING, REFLECTION and TRUST
31How the coaching process has impacted the CSML
learners leadership practices
32Self identified new leadership practices
- Communication
- Decision making
- Relationship building/interpersonal skills
- Team work
- School improvement
- Networking/professional relationship building
- Policy
- Managing student learning
- Inclusion/equity strategies
33Communication new strategies
34Decision making new strategies
35Relationship/interpersonal new strategies
36Team building new strategies
37School improvement new strategies
38Professional contacts new strategies
39Policy development new strategies
40Managing student learning new strategies
41Cultural and social inclusion new strategies
42The most significant benefit of the coaching
partnership was
43Some preliminary/tentative observations
- There appears to be a strong relationship between
the coaching partnership and the goals of the
program, and this influences CSML learners
leadership practices significantly. - There are two apparent gaps policy development
and cultural/social inclusion. This will be
something we will investigate more fully in the
next stages of the project.
44Preliminary Observations cont.
- There is also an important emphasis on learning
and ways of distributing leadership, both
indicators of conditions necessary for leaders to
influence student learning (Robinson, 2008
Robinson et al, 2008).
45Distributed leadership making the link to
student achievement
- Harris (2004) and Robinson (2008) both make a
strong case for linking distributed leadership
practices with improved student achievement - Robinsons (2008) discussion of the ways in which
distributed leadership operates focuses
researchers attention on how tasks are
distributed but goes onto consider processes of
influence, and the use of smart tools (p. xx) - Coaches and CSML learners responses in this
survey emphasize all three of these elements.
This theoretical and analytical lens will guide
our subsequent work with this data.
46Coaching a Smart tool for leadership and student
learning?
- As Robinson (2008) claims, smart tools are those
practices and strategies which allow for an
emphasis on student learning - We argue that coaching could be considered
similarly, as it allows leaders to focus on their
own development and learning while simultaneously
affirming its purpose as linked to school
achievement - This bridges the oft reported theory-practice gap
typical in many graduate programs designed to
prepare school leaders - It also doubles as a tool for distributing
leadership, given its capacity to influence
others practices and approaches to teaching and
learning - Finding evidence in schools and school districts
for how this is realized will be a next step.
47Images and References
- http//leadershipcoaching360.com/images/coaching2.
jpg - uk.geocities.com/ chamonixtrekking/MtB-5.jpg
- Harris, A. (2004). Distributed leadership and
school improvement leading or misleading?
Educational management, Administration and
Leadership, 32, 1 11-24. - Robinson, V. (2008). Forging the links between
distributed leadership and educational outcomes.
Journal of Educational administration, 46, 2
241-256. - Robinson, V., Lloyd, C., Rowe, K. (2008). The
impact of leadership on student outcomes An
analysis of differential effects on leadership
types. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44,
5 635-674.