Shifting the Role of the Teacher to the Role of a Coach Through the Implementation of a Professional Development Framework

As the field of education has continued to grow and develop introducing new, innovative learning models, it has become critical to ensure educators have been prepared to personalize student learning rather than using traditional approaches. As the program manager of a hybrid microschool, my role has included providing professional development to our personalized learning advisors (PLA), a role that has been geared towards coaching and facilitating learning, rather than teaching content in a traditional manner. In this mixed-method action research study, I examined whether and how engagement in the professional development workshop sessions, one-on-one coaching sessions, and a community of practice affected PLAs’ perceptions of their (a) knowledge and (b) self-efficacy about their PLA role, and (c) relationships and collaboration among PLAs enhanced their sense of belonging on the microschool PLA team. Moreover, I examined how participation in the project affected PLAs’ interactions with students in the microschool setting. Quantitative results demonstrated increases in PLAs’ perceived knowledge and perceived self-efficacy with respect to their PLA role, and their sense of belonging on the team. Additionally, four assertions were derived from the qualitative data. Two of these were related to PLAs transitioning to their new role and building community with the other PLAs. The other two assertions were focused on how PLAs implemented their newly gained knowledge by building classroom community and personalizing learning for their students. Findings from the study validated the importance of comprehensive professional development and the usefulness of community as a means to support PLAs as they implemented their new roles. In the discussion, I described how the quantitative and qualitative data exhibited complementarity, they pointed to the same conclusions. I also discussed connections to theories and the extant literature to explain the outcomes. Notably, use of this comprehensive professional development model was effective and offered a new way for innovative education leaders to shift their educational staff members from a traditional teaching model to one led by guides and coaches. In addition to discussing the implications for practice, I also discussed implications for future research, limitations of the study, and personal lessons I learned.