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A superintendent shares her district’s best practices for inspiring teachers to keep learning as the district aims to improve instructional coaching

Instructional coaching can be a powerful framework for teacher professional development, but not all coaching is created equally. As a beneficiary of a Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program (TSL) Grant, the Marion County School District has been working to improve instructional coaching practices, with great success. Here are the changes we’ve made that have had the most impact.

 1) Focus your PLC meetings.

In the past, our professional learning community (PLC) meetings were fairly unstructured. Teachers would show up, and the meeting would sometimes turn into a staff meeting, or a department meeting, or a grade-level team meeting.

This year, we’ve implemented the Supporting Teacher Effectiveness Project (STEP) model, which is highly teacher-driven, but provides more focus and structure. It’s important to involve teachers in their own PD, to make them active decision-makers in the process, because they know what the bright spots and challenges are in their own classrooms.

Our new process preserves that autonomy, but has given those meetings a structure. Striking a balance between maintaining a framework and empowering teachers creates an environment in which collaboration can flourish.

To read the full article, visit eSchool News.