Clearly Define the Role of Coaches and the Scope of Their Work

The amount of time teachers and coaches spend together is one of the most important factors in a successful coaching program. However, coaches’ time for coaching is often threatened by other responsibilities. In a Digital Promise survey conducted among education practitioners and leaders to learn about the coaching landscape in the United States, we found that many coaches throughout the country serve in multiple roles both within and outside the classroom. Moreover, in order to expand the coach’s reach, they are often asked to support large caseloads of teachers in multiple schools, which limits the amount of time they are able to dedicate to each teacher. In application, however, these strategies diminish the impact of coaching while also decreasing the coach’s job satisfaction.

Other Roles Held by School-Based Coaches

Other Roles Held by District-Based Coaches

Tips for success:

• Before assigning a coach tasks that are unrelated to their coaching responsibilities or assigning them to coach teachers in multiple buildings, districts should verify the coach will still have adequate time to collaborate with individual teachers.
• Likewise, coaches need to advocate for their time and clearly communicate to leadership that accepting additional responsibilities necessitates deprioritizing their collaboration with teachers.
• Learn more about how district and school administrators can ensure that coaches have sufficient time for coaching.