Author Henry Louis Gates, Jr. states, “Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community.”  As coaches and other school leaders, we are always looking for stories to share about how well a particular model, method, or technique works in schools.  We want to know if our attempts at school transformation are worth the time and effort we have invested in implementation.  In order to know what works well and what needs to be refined, we need to collect carefully crafted research and excellent data and then share that data with the school communities.

One of the online commentaries in Education Week, November 29, 2010, is entitled, “The Science of Teacher Development.”  In the article, the author echoes our PIIC motto… “Improving training and support for teachers is key to improving student learning.” As educators, we know that the point of impact for improved student learning is at the classroom level. Helping teachers refine their practices is the only way to improve the landscape of teaching and learning.

In every classroom across the nation, terms like teacher evaluation, teacher assessments, performance assessments, classroom evaluations and teacher observations create anxiety on the part of the teachers. What coaching aims to do is to remove the evaluative terminology, generate an atmosphere that is conducive to teacher learning, and provide support in a risk-free environment.

Becoming accustomed as a coach to not having your own classroom or your own students was probably challenging. I am sure, however, you quickly engaged in conversations with your colleagues about offering to demonstrate or co-teach some lessons to those teachers willing to share their students with you. Although alien at first, I’ll bet it was very rewarding to work with students again and feel that great “high” that a teacher feels when the lesson worked well.