Do you have a habit of collecting data around your practice as an instructional coach?
How do you use data to support your coaching partners?
If you’re not thinking about this yet, now is a great time to get started!
Collecting data around your practice, and from the classroom of your coaching partners, is a great way to ground your work in evidence and facts.
When you begin implementing data collection in your work, you will uncover so many different opportunities to refine your practice.
But sometimes it can be hard to figure out where to start.
That’s what today’s post is all about!
This episode is a highlight from one of my favorite episodes from a previous season, featuring Anne Marie Chow, who at the time was Middle School Vice Principal and English teacher at United World College Southeast Asia, East Campus in Singapore.
INot only is Anne Marie amazing but if you’ve been watching or listening to #coachbetter this season, you know we’re talking a lot about measuring your impact – including this recent QuickTips episode.
Because instructional coaching is a non-teaching position, it’s so important for coaches to be proactive about measuring and sharing the impact of their work. It’s a role that’s both challenging to find the budget to hire for, and one that’s easy to cut if school leaders don’t see the intended outcome. The more coaches can do to collect and share data around their work, the easier it will be for school leaders, and teachers, to see the value of coaching.
Today’s episode highlights the experience of coaches at UWC Singapore when Anne Marie was there, and the actual types of data they are collecting. If you’re an instructional coach, curious about getting started collecting data, there are some great ideas here – and hopefully this clip will inspire even more ideas that will work just right in your school context.
If this is an area where you would like to grow, make sure to check out our mini-course, Measuring Your Impact as an Instructional Coach (part of our Essentials Series), which digs much deeper into this process.
What’s YOUR level of coaching mastery?
All coaches go through various stages of coaching mastery. Once you identify where you’re at, you can begin to build the skills needed to move to the next stage.
This quiz is based on real-life case studies compiled from years of working with coaches inside The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program!
When you receive your results, you’ll also get your matching case study from the STRIVE Case Studies to see where you fit in the stages of coaching mastery.
Ready to tackle your challenges and move on to the next level in YOUR coaching practice?
The STRIVE Model of Coaching Mastery quiz will help you identify your level of coaching mastery by matching you with case studies compiled from years of working with coaches inside The Coach Certificate & Mentorship Program so you can easily see where you fit!
When you complete the quiz, you’ll get:
- Your matching case study,
- Specific strengths & challenges aligned to your result;
- Suggested next steps for each stage;
Plus the Case Study Document includes:
- Case studies leveled by coaching mastery;
- A framework to identify essential stages of professional growth & key areas to focus on in your professional learning;
- Alignment with the THRIVE Model for a Successful Coaching Culture;
- Space for you to reflect & prioritize so you can take action immediately!
You’ll go straight to the Quiz, and get the Case Studies by email.
What kind of data are coaches collecting?
Right now, the data our Digital Learning Coach is collecting is all about making sure she’s getting a broad view of what learning looks like in the middle school. Tracking which classrooms she visited, returned to, and which ones have led to specific coaching work. She’s tracking to make sure that she’s seeing everyone.
She’s working with me to think about what kind of data she might want to intentionally collect, in terms of moving forward. We will look at how that connects with school culture and strategic plan. My hunch is that it will be around student agency & personalized learning. We will be looking for what’s already happening, as we think about next steps.
In the past, when I was a literacy coach, the data I was collecting initially was around basic structures that we had put in place through PL (like workshop model), data around those specific structures (how long mini lessons take, etc), feedback to the teachers & they reflect on the recent PL.
How are coaches collecting data?
Using digital tools to collect data, video & audio recording. The data becomes is a third point for the teachers to reflect on. Video data allows teachers to see for themselves what is actually happening.
What happens when schools may not have as clear of a strategical plan to align data collection?
Consider what can you connect it to? Find a way to to put a frame around what you’re doing. Some ideas could be:
- Teaching standards, or
- Learning principals.
As a coach, you’re wanting to build a culture of who you are and that coaching is self directed practice, so finding a way of connect your work what they know and what they’re already familiar with, helps frame that work. This makes it easier to find synergy for connecting across departments as well.
Making Connections
It’s always helpful to hear what this looks like in different contexts, to get ideas and inspiration for our work.
If you’ve been watching / listening to #coachbetter, you know we’re talking a lot about measuring your impact this season. That’s because it’s a topic that comes up time and time again in my conversations with school leaders and coaches.
The reality is that collecting data around coaching is complex – and there isn’t really a one-size-fits all approach that all coaches can just pick up and do. As I mentioned on this recent #coachbetter QuickTip episode: Measuring Your Impact, it’s an iterative process and the most important part is just to get started.
That’s why we include measuring your impact in ALL of our courses for coaches – at the level that’s right for your experience.
Not only do we have a mini course: Measuring Your Impact as an Instructional Coach that goes much deeper into this topic, that you can start today, but each of our global cohorts includes a section on measuring your impact – tailored to your experience level. We offer one global cohort each year – for each of our three courses.
Each of our three global cohorts will help you take the next step in measuring your impact – either as a brand new coach in Getting Started as an Instructional Coach, or as a current coach in The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program, or as a coach who’s ready to lead in Coaches as Leaders.
Watch the Video
Free Workshops for Instructional Coaches
If you’re ready to keep learning, try one of our FREE workshops where you’ll be able to dig deeper into the concepts in this post, and get a peek at all of our courses for coaches.
We have workshops (and courses) to support coaches at every stage of their career: from new and aspiring coaches making the move from classroom to coach; to current coaches ready to be more intentional and strategic in their practice; to established coaches leveraging their coaching experience to lead.
You can them all on our coachbetter website at coachbetter.tv/workshops
If you’re curious right now, you have questions, please reach out. You can leave a comment below, join our #coachbetter Facebook group, or find us on social media at Eduro Learning and send me a DM. I’d love to support you on your coaching journey. See you next time!
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