What does it take to be curriculum coordinators or instructional coaches?

Yujiro Fujiwara Head of STEM and Mathematics Lead, Concordia International School Shanghai

Yujiro Fujiwara draws a research-based profile of the effective curriculum coordinator and instructional coach

The role of curriculum coordinators and instructional coaches, known in some schools as the teaching and learning team (TLT), is misunderstood and frowned upon by some educators, particularly veteran teachers (Kane & Rosenquist, 2018). International schools are not an exception. While mandated curricular tasks are sometimes necessary, ineffective TLTs downgrade themselves from being the sentinel at the lighthouse for drifting ships to the smashing rock at the shipwreck site.

For example, ineffective TLTs may spend their time solely e-mailing teachers reminders about completing curricular maps, asking for purposeless data on assessments, requiring useless lesson plans, posting dull lists of professional development opportunities, and leading in-school teacher training via lifeless lectures, ironically, on innovative instructional practices. The list is extensive, but these are only some of the practices that erode teacher trust in TLTs.

This article addresses the dispositions displayed by effective TLTs and may serve as a guide for superintendents and principals in screening and assessing TLT performance. Furthermore, the following five dispositions are based on research and observations and may also provide guidance for TLT members to maximize long-term results in a school.

Effective TLTs possess a high level of emotional and social intelligence

Effective TLTs have the ability to appreciate, respect, and learn from diverse viewpoints

Since the role of TLTs is not that of the traditional leader (for example, superintendent or principal), it is not easily accepted by teachers. Thus, in such a professional environment, TLTs must break ground by demonstrating high social and emotional intelligence.

TLTs with high social and emotional intelligence communicate effectively by defining clear curricular and instructional goals, performing progress checks, and sharing the responsibility for results. Furthermore, in terms of listening skills and being empathetic, effective TLTs have the ability to appreciate, respect, and learn from diverse viewpoints, and to strengthen collaboration to achieve goals.

Effective TLTs understand their colleagues as professionals

First, for TLTs to be effective, they would need the support of the principal. Studies on the effectiveness of TLTs (instructional coaches) suggest that TLTs have greater access to teachers when principals actively support their role (Gibbons, Wilhelm, & Cobb, 2017; Kane & Rosenquist, 2018).

Effective TLTs will serve as consultants or mentors. TLT members are not evaluators of teachers’ performance. It is important to note that although TLTs must provide professional development and coaching—which could be aligned to performance evaluation—they must not act as judges of teachers’ performance. Any remark seen as an evaluation may jeopardize the mentee–mentor trust relationship built (Goldstein, 2006). In such cases, teachers may resist coaching sessions and become less likely to seek support on instructional matters (Woulfin & Rigby, 2017). Additionally, any tension between teachers and principals could hinder coaches’ efforts to serve as drivers of instructional change.

Thus, it is crucial for TLTs to work as a team with other senior leaders to develop the most effective relationship with teachers.

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Effective TLTs are aware of their student body’s cultural and curricular needs

The job of TLTs, particularly coaches, becomes more effective in attaining long-term instructional goals when they are given more time to train teachers and less on short-term goals attending to student needs such as working as substitute teachers or helping meet learning support needs (Kane & Rosenquist, 2018).

Instead, TLTs should spend most of their time attending to the instructional needs of teachers, implementing curricular directives, working on scope and sequences, and demonstrating exemplary engagement through their own professional development. Concurrently, since TLT members will be engaging directly with teachers, they must have a broader perspective on school goals, including the curricular needs of the student body.

While effective TLTs must be abreast of innovative advances in curricula and instructional strategies, they also need to have a sound knowledge of their student body’s diverse cultural landscape. The cultural aspect becomes more challenging in international schools, where culture plays a central role in the school’s curriculum.

Effective TLTs have skin in the game. They are held accountable

A large body of literature supports the personal and professional benefits of the informal and formal evaluations of TLT members

The aphorism to have skin in the game is commonly attributed to the successful investor Warren Buffet to refer to someone who invests in high-risk endeavors while achieving a high-stakes goal if successful or having much to lose if not.

Similarly, TLTs have explicit goals and responsibilities, given by the superintendent or principals, which delineate how they will be held accountable for achieving instructional outcomes in partnership with teachers.

Having skin in the game strengthens collaboration with teachers and positions TLT members as partners. Moreover, a large body of literature supports the personal and professional benefits of the informal and formal evaluations of TLT members (Boston et al., 2016). Thus, having skin in the gamesolidifies the needed collaboration between TLT and teachers.

Effective TLTs walk the walk. They lead by example

No one should become a general if they have not been a soldier first. They must know the battleground and, most importantly, their fellow soldiers. Effective TLTs demonstrate expertise as highly effective teachers. Being a curriculum coordinator or an instructional coach is often considered a desk job. These positions are thought to be filled by teachers who do not enjoy teaching or lack expertise. On the contrary, TLT members, including instructional coaches, are and have a track record of being effective core teachers who know the nuances of the teaching landscape.

Effective TLTs must be master teachers, engaging facilitators, passionate leaders, empaths, organizers, and many other roles. The high number of competencies and high degree of knowledge is to be filled by the expert teacher, who can navigate through complex curricular directives while facing resistance to change. School leaders must be aware of this when appointing TLT members, supporting them in their endeavors, and holding them accountable for their goals.

References and further reading

Boston, M. D., Henrick, E. C., Gibbons, L. K., Berebitsky, D., & Colby, G. T. (2016). Investigating how to support principals as instructional leaders in mathematics. Journal of Research on Leadership Education. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1177/1942775116640254

Bucha, A. I., & Ferreira, A. (September 3, 2020). The role of the department coordinator: Leadership and supervision. EMAN 2020–Economics & Management: How to Cope with Disrupted Times, 149.

Gallucci, C., Van Lare, M. D., Yoon, I., & Boatright, B. (2010). Instructional coaching: Building theory about the role and organizational support for professional learning. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 919–963. DOI: 10.3102/00028312103714

Gibbons, L. & Cobb, P. (2017). Focusing on teacher learning opportunities to identify potentially productive coaching activities. Journal of Teacher Education, 68(4), 411–425.

Goldstein, J. (2006). Debunking the fear of peer review: Combining supervision and evaluation and living to tell about it. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 18(4), 235–252. DOI: 10.1007/s11092-006-9022-3

Kane, B. D., & Rosenquist, B. (2018). Making the most of instructional coaches. Phi Delta Kappan, 99(7), 21–25.

Kane, B. D. (2016). Design conjectures for preservice teachers’ concept development about rigorous and equitable writing instruction. Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education, 5(1).

Kane, B. D., Cobb, P., & Gibbons, L. (2018). Supporting ambitious instruction at scale: The role of instructional coaching. In P. Cobb, K. Jackson, E. Henrick, T. M. Smith, & the MIST team. Systems for instructional improvement: Creating coherence from the classroom to the district office. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Maulding, W. S., Peters, G. B., Roberts, J., Leonard, E., & Sparkman, L. (2012). Emotional intelligence and resilience as predictors of leadership in school administrators. Journal of Leadership Studies, 5(4), 20–29. DOI: 10.1002/jls.20240

Woulfin, S. L., & Rigby, J. G. (2017). Coaching for coherence: How instructional coaches lead change in the evaluation era. Educational Researcher, 46(6), 323–328. DOI: 10.3102/0013189X17725525

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