The effects of coaching on English teachers’ reading instruction practices and adolescent students’ reading comprehension

ABSTRACT

Although the use of literacy coaches is becoming more common, few research studies have shown positive effects of coaching on teacher practices and student achievement. In the current study, a cluster randomized design was used to evaluate usefulness of coaches for teachers of struggling high school students. High schools were randomly assigned across three experimental conditions: professional development workshops, workshops with written lesson materials, and workshops with lesson materials and coaching. Participants in this three-year study included 130 ninth-grade teachers and 3,160 ninth grade students. Recommended literacy practices included teacher modeling, student team discussions, and self-selected reading. Findings indicated that coaching improved teachers’ use and quality of recommended literacy practices and increased student reading achievement over the period of a year.

KEYWORDS:

• Literacy Coaching
• Reading Comprehension
• Collaboration
• High School

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Ann Maouyo for her support on this project.

Additional information

Funding

This report is based on work supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, under Grant Number 5R01HD046090-05. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.