Building instructional capacity in urban classrooms: A design development study of middle school instruction and individualized teacher coaching
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This study sought to examine the benefits of individualized coaching on highly effective and culturally relevant instructional practices within an urban school and classroom context. The achievement gap which exists between minoritized students living in poverty and their more affluent White counterparts has been studied and documented over decades. In order to close this achievement gap, it is necessary to focus on adult behaviors (instructional practices), with the target being to build the frequency and efficacy of implementation of highly effective and culturally responsive instructional practices within the classroom. It is also necessary to build on the teacher's sense of self-efficacy when implementing these instructional practices. Through individualized and targeted coaching embedded within observation and feedback cycles, this study focused on building upon teachers' self-awareness and use of these highly effective and culturally responsive practices. This study was conducted using an insider action research model, while utilizing a design-based approach to develop the intervention based on the needs of the campus in the study. This action-research utilized classroom observations, and pre- and post- conference sessions with teachers to identify specific targeted areas of instruction to focus on, while also building knowledge of cultural responsiveness through discussion and targeting student-specific needs. The findings of the study show that individualized coaching of teachers can help to build teacher knowledge, confidence, and ability to implement culturally responsive practices within their classroom.