Collaborative Leadership Structures: Conduits To Instructional Coaching Success

Abstract

Educational research literature documents the positive effect instructional coaching has on teacher efficacy. This study investigated how instructional leaders coupled instructional coaches' daily work with the reforms outlined in district strategic plans. The problem is that leaders in K-12 education misalign the coupling of instructional reform goals to the daily work of instructional coaches. The study aims to uncover methods educational leaders use to couple daily instructional coaching work with instructional reforms. A qualitative multiple case study research design was employed to gather data to collect data concerning phenomena in organizational culture. The significance of the study is that the research highlights strategies that enhance coaching work to improve instruction and bolster student achievement. A sample of seven instructional coaches and district leaders was gathered during semi-structured interview protocols. A sample of instructional coaches and district leaders were interviewed separately to obtain points of view from different stakeholders. Details from varied perspectives revealed details about how the daily work of instructional coaches can adhere to systematizing instructional reforms. Strategic plans and other documents connected the research literature and interview data to bolster study reliability. The study findings indicate that specific organizational structures that bolster collaborative leadership help instructional coaches spread instructional reforms to classrooms. Collaborative leadership was an essential theme that helped couple the daily work of instructional coaches with instructional. The research question is: What perceptions do district leaders and instructional coaches have about instructional coaching program structures? A critical sub-theme surfaced was the School Leadership Instructional Team (SILT). According to study participants, the strength or lack of collaboration between the principal, instructional coaches, and other instructional leaders impacted the spread of instructional reforms in classrooms. In this study, instructional coaches acknowledged that collaboration between the instructional coach and other school leaders determines their daily focus on school reforms. District leaders in this study pinpointed collaboration as a conduit to coupling the work of coaching to institutionalizing instructional reforms.