Coaching Quality in Pre-kindergarten Classrooms: Perspectives from a Statewide Study

Abstract

Forty-nine coaches, 947 teachers, and 189 administrators in a state-wide prekindergarten program responded to survey questions about coaching dosage and activities. The survey responses were aligned with the Coaching Quality Framework, an organization of characteristics of quality coaching proposed by the authors, and analyzed to identify similarities and differences in stakeholders’ perspectives of coaching. The vast majority of coaches, teachers, and administrators surveyed agreed that coaching was an effective professional development strategy for supporting teachers’ use of evidence-based practices. Coaches and teachers responded similarly to questions of dosage and many of the coaching quality indicators. Coaches and teachers disagreed on some aspects of the coaching activities, particularly planning for coaching, that may affect the perceptions and effectiveness of coaching. Qualitative analyses of coach and teacher responses reveal programmatic planning components that support or impede coaching. These results have implications for how coaches, teachers, and administrators prepare for large-scale coaching.