Phillip WoodFollow

Date

12-2013

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

David Holder

Keywords

Coaching, Instructional Coaching, Mentoring, Professional Learning

Disciplines

Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Leadership | Teacher Education and Professional Development

Abstract

Quality teacher training and continued learning is essential to providing the high quality education that yields adequate levels of student success. Though called by many different names, academic coaches appear to be the answer to the continuing problem of creating a positive learning environment that meets the challenges of educating students with varying abilities and needs. Driven by the analysis of student performance data, academic coaches train teachers in the best instructional practices and build teacher content knowledge to support improved student learning. Additionally, academic coaches offer support during the implementation of content learned through staff development. This study utilized the APS teacher perceptions survey, along with a survey of principals regarding how they utilized coaches in their schools, to determine if the method of coach usage at the schools influenced teachers' perceptions of the three dependent variables-teacher perception of coaching effectiveness, teacher perception of the school personnel-academic coaching affiliation, and teacher perception of overall coaching quality. The quantitative data analysis involved using ANOVA to detect if there were any differences between the groups of teachers on how they viewed academic coaching, then using Tukey's post hoc test to determine which groups differed specifically. The results indicated that the manner in which academic coaches are used in 3 elementary schools do influence teacher perceptions of academic coaching, but explain only a small amount of the variance between the teacher groups.

Download

Share

COinS