Data: The Key to Impactful Teacher Coaching

Research has long demonstrated how instructional coaching drives teacher growth and improves student outcomes. A coaching program involves many moving pieces unique to the district or school implementing it. But every coaching initiative relies on data to succeed, regardless of its context.

Instructional coaching without data is like hiking without a compass, a map, or any mile markers—it leaves an explorer to wander without direction or guidance, making it unlikely they will ever reach their destination. 

In this article, we will unpack why data is critical at every stage of coaching to drive bigger student (and teacher) gains, from isolating coaching needs to analyzing the educational returns on these initiatives.

Data as a compass: Identifying coaching needs

Every coaching effort begins with clarifying what a teacher, school, and even a district needs to gain from it. Data from student assessments and teacher observations guide educators towards the best opportunities for instructional improvement, much like a compass points a traveler toward their destination.

Student Assessments

Academic data reveals gaps in student learning that coaching may help close. At the school level, coaches can examine data trends to identify where groups of students struggle, whether it’s with a specific standard or content area. Coaches can also use this data to collaborate with principals and discuss which teachers may most benefit from coaching. 

Achievement data further helps districts align teacher growth activities, like coaching, with specific goals outlined in their strategic plans. It is especially powerful when districts can coordinate coaching across campuses to target, for example, reading instruction to boost district-wide reading scores, rather than rely on schools to determine how to address this goal individually. 

Observational Data

Observational data complements achievement data by further clarifying coaching needs for individual teachers. Whether through in-person visits or video-recorded sessions, observations offer a baseline understanding of a mentee’s instructional strengths and areas of improvement needed.

Examining both student assessment and teacher observational data gives coaches a holistic perspective on coaching needs before they even meet with teachers.

Data as a map: Tracking goals and coaching fidelity

After needs are identified, data is still critical for setting individual coaching goals within a coaching framework. This shared “map” helps all stakeholders move collectively toward the desired student outcomes.

First, coaches and teachers use data to set clear, quantitative, and rigorous growth goals for their time together. Data collected against these goals will inform all subsequent coaching support, including targeted feedback, sharing best practices, reviewing exemplary instructional resources, and more.  

Research also shows that, beyond individual goal-setting, how coaching is implemented across a building greatly impacts its success. With this in mind, school and district administrators need data to assess if coaches, teachers, and other involved staff are following program implementation with fidelity, and whether the implementation itself needs to shift. 

Implementation data includes the target dosages of feedback or observational sessions, frequencies of coaching meetings, individual coach capacity versus teacher coaching needs, etc. Centralizing both individual coaching activities and broader program data like this is key for districts to ensure a program is implemented with fidelity across all sites. 

Level Data’s Grow platform does precisely that. Learn how this solution amplified a school’s data-driven coaching for staff, bringing stronger student achievement as a result.

Data as mile markers: Realizing instructional gains

Ultimately, a district needs to answer the big question about its coaching efforts: Are they improving student learning?

This means revisiting student assessment data and looking for meaningful changes that align with the original coaching goals set, much like a hiker seeks mile or trail markers to ensure they are still on track. Regularly reviewing this data also offers opportunities for coaches to tweak their supports for teachers and for administrators to make adjustments to the broader implementation of coaching.

Student achievement linked with coaching goals can also inform performance evaluations by telling a quantitative story about a teacher’s development. However, it is essential to keep the coaching process itself separate from evaluative practices, as this protects the trusting relationship between a coach and teacher.

Did you know?

Our Talent Management platform seamlessly integrates core employee activities across performance evaluations, district strategic goals, licensing, recruiting, and more. Combine it with the Grow solution to further accelerate teacher growth and retain top talent. Learn more.

A step further: Measuring the eROI of coaching

Some districts may stop here with analyzing data in a coaching program. However, there is one more step necessary to understand the impact of coaching: quantifying the “educational return on investment” (eROI).

eROI isn’t the simple profit-to-cost ratio that the business world uses. In education, this metric also accounts for the student learning outcomes associated with a particular program, like coaching. 

Districts have a responsibility to their community to use their funds wisely to help students thrive, especially as K-12 education federal funding and other monetary sources freeze or shift. eROI clarifies whether the dollars spent on teacher professional learning—like coaching programs—are yielding the academic results desired. 

However, districts struggle to quantify eROI for their investments, thanks to issues with data accuracy, disparate datasets, and faulty connections between data systems. Level Data’s Return On Instruction platform removes these barriers by centralizing funding, student outcomes, and participation data within one solution. Watch this webinar to discover how this solution saved one district over $400,000 while simultaneously improving student learning gains. 

Cultivate educator and student growth with Level Data

Through consistent implementation, clear goals, and ongoing progress monitoring, coaching helps teachers achieve long-term student gains. With Level Data, districts can depend on accurate, timely, and centralized data to guide their instructional coaching, professional development, and other growth initiatives, as well as justify the funds behind them. Contact us to see our ecosystem in action.