Dive Brief:

• Maine Township High School District 207 Superintendent and Chicago Coaching Center Founder Dr. Ken Wallace writes for eSchool News on the importance of coaching on teacher efficacy — and how districts don't necessarily need to look beyond their own existing resources to provide it.
• Wallace writes that his Chicago district uses teachers as coaches, with their time split between the two roles, to establish credibility and to facilitate a "Leadership 2.0" path to administrative positions.
• To further meet the goal of providing regular coaching opportunities for every teacher, the district is also adopting a platform to allow teachers to use video to study themselves for evaluation purposes.

Dive Insight:

Most in education agree that professional development is valuable, even if differences remain on how best to deliver it. Utilizing veteran teachers as coaches to deliver consistent professional learning opportunities to newer educators is perhaps one of the most effective ways to ensure growth on a daily basis beyond more targeted personalized opportunities. And it has the added advantage of placing the experience in a regular day, as opposed to relying on a rote, less-engaging seminar lecture.

And in some cases, younger educators may be able to seek out veterans experienced in areas where they have a personal interest, much as they would using micro-credentials. That's not to say that a coaching model like this should overshadow or replace those more formalized and individualized PD experiences. But it can help streamline a district's professional learning strategy to better target other approaches.