PURPOSEFULLY COACHING MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS: THE CASE OF AN EXEMPLARY MATHEMATICS SPECIALIST

In this paper, we share results from a large-scale, mixed design study that describe the work of mathematics specialists in middle schools and their impact on teacher learning and student achievement. Within the context of the larger study, we highlight the practices of one exemplary mathematics specialist and how her collaborations with teachers in her building contributed to the practices that they engaged in to achieve the common goals of growing as professionals and supporting their students’ learning. We use a coaching moves-heuristics model that is based on West and Staub’s (2003) framework for lesson design and analysis to characterize the types of moves that this specialist made that contributed to and supported the productive and effective community of practice in this school building.