Joellen Killion identifies ten different roles for coaches. I’ve summarized them below (Knight, 2009, pp. 9-14).
| Type | Data coach | Resource provider | Mentor | Curriculum Specialist | Instructional Specialist |
| Description | Helps teachers make sense of data to improve learning | Provide additional resources to meet student needs (e.g. preferences, interest, academic ability) | Support new teachers in learning professional norms, policies and practices at a school. May also assist in teaching about curriculum. | Help teachers understand what the adopted curriculum is. | Helps teachers determine the teacher styles and approaches appropriate to the curriculum and for the particular students. |
| Impact | Changes in curriculum and instruction
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Additional resources
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Helps new teachers become comfortable with routines and expectations at the school, and possibly provide support with curriculum, instruction and the overall classroom. | Teachers understand the scope of concepts, pacing, sequencing of activities for learning, what successful learning looks like, developing appropriate assessment. | Differentiate instruction to support the learning needs of all students. This includes consideration of types of activities, student groupings, classroom norms and expectations, use of resources. |
| Challenge | Creating trusting and safe environment for thorough data analysis | Can be time intensive – coaches must manage the amount of time spent on this task in relation to other tasks. | Balancing support (dependence) with building capacity in the new teacher (independence). | Limitation of experience or subject knowledge may make it difficult to support certain teachers. | It is a challenge to have a broad enough base of instructional strategies to meet all students. |
| Type | Classroom Supporter | Learning Facilitator | School Leader | Catalyst for Change | Learner |
| Description | Works with teachers in the classroom to model teaching strategies, observes, gives feedback, co-teaches. | Provides opportunities for teachers to build their knowledge and skills to improve student learning. | Advocate for new initiatives and assist teachers in implementing them. | Analyzes practices and routines for opportunities for improvements that will help meet school goals. | Coaches work on their own learning to strengthen coaching practices. |
| Impact | Collaboration between coach and teacher:
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Student achievement data is used to determine the needs of teachers. Resulting opportunities may be workshops, book studies, action research, pilots, etc. | Collaborate with others, modeling how to be a professional educator; usually called on to chair committees, teams or task forces. | Dissatisfaction with the status quo leads to analysis and reflection that will keep practices meaningful and current for the curriculum and students within the given context. | Attend workshops and conferences to develop skills in coaching; write to model learning and to develop understanding; reflect on and report on learning and working as a coach with the aim of providing the best support possible to teachers. |
| Challenge | This is an intrusive role that may threaten some teachers. | It is difficult for a coach to meet the needs of all teachers; professional learning communities help resolve this challenge. | Coaches are teachers rather than supervisors but may be called upon to perform administrative tasks. | It is difficult to know what is the right amount of uncertainty to create for (positive) change rather that (negative) disruption. | It is easy to push this role aside with the variety of other roles that coaches have to play. |
I sometimes find it challenging as a coach to balance my roles because different teachers need different roles at different times. However, it is important for me to consider the context such as the time of year and what else teachers are responsible for in considering how to best support them through coaching. It is also important for me to work with other coaches in elementary so that we can support and balance each other in supporting teachers.
Joellen Killion gives the following example of how coaching roles may change over the course of the year (Knight, 2009, p. 15).
Coaching teachers also depends on how long both the teachers and the coach have worked in their particular role, and how long they’ve worked together. Coaches who are new to a school must first establish their status and build a relationship with teachers. They also need to demonstrate their skills so that teachers trust their competence. Still, the role that a coach is called on to play will depend on the experience of the teacher. Sometimes a teacher does not welcome the role that a coach would like to play; it is up to the coach to come up with an alternate approach for the desired outcome. In general a coach is more successful if well supported by the principal through communicating expectations to teachers and coaches, and regularly meeting with coaches to assess their progress. Many criteria contribute to creating the particular culture that a coach may find herself working in; it is important to get to know the culture to determine which coaching roles and approaches will best work with teachers in the culture.
This post is based on Chapter 1 of the following book: Knight, J. (Ed.). (2009). Coaching: Approaches and perspectives. Corwin Press.