USING PARTICIPANT RESPONSES TO VIDEO OF COACHING PRACTICE TO FOCUS MATHEMATICS COACHING PROGRAMS

This article addresses what practices coaching experts and school-based coaches observed and did not observe when watching the practice of another coach. A coach is broadly defined as a person who works collaboratively with a teacher to improve that teacher’s practice and content knowledge, with the ultimate goal of affecting student learning. Definitions of coaching knowledge, coaching texts, and standards for mathematics specialists identify three primary aspects of knowledge for coaching: developing teacher content knowledge, promoting reflection by the teacher, and negotiating professional relationships. When we asked school-based coaches and coaching experts to assess the practice of a novice coach depicted in a video-recorded coaching session, surprisingly few of the respondents commented explicitly on these three areas of coaching practice. This indicates that professional development for mathematics coaches can focus specifically on how these three big ideas for coaching are enacted in practice. We offer recommendations for mathematics programs for focusing professional development with respect to these three practices.