Implementing a Virtual Coaching Model for Teacher Professional Development

Over the last two decades, the use of instructional coaching has surged in PreK-12 education settings as one way to support the implementation of instructional best practices in a wide range of disciplines. However, not all educators have access to high-quality instructional coaching due to multiple factors, which typically include isolation (geographic and otherwise), limited financial support, and limited professional development time. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic brought long periods of quarantine and social isolation where educators were scrambling to teach in an unfamiliar medium, and virtual coaching was the only way they could receive professional development. For these reasons, many districts are exploring virtual solutions to provide professional development and coaching support.

Implementing a Virtual Coaching Model for Teacher Professional Development addresses how to effectively implement virtual coaching in the field of education and discusses how technology can provide more equitable access to job-embedded and personalized professional learning (through virtual coaching) across all educational institutions. Covering a wide range of topics such as sustainable learning and cognitive coaching, it is ideal for professional development professionals, corporate trainers, education leaders, principals, teachers, researchers, practitioners, academicians, and students.

About the Author

Suzanne “Suzy” Myers is a Research Associate at The Center for Research on Learning at The University of Kansas. She joined the Center from the Kansas State Department of Education, where she was the Director of Kansas’ LiNK grant, a $27 Million award to the state through the federal Striving Readers initiative. While serving in this capacity, she was also the Coordinator for State Academic Standards, and prior to that served as the K-12 ELA State Supervisor for Standards and Assessment. Suzy has worked as a high school English teacher and Curriculum Coordinator. She holds bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and English Education, a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction, and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction. Her research interests include curriculum and instruction in asset-driven classrooms and redesigned schools, the role of habit in educational systems change, and alternative models of educator professional learning.

Amber Rowland, PhD, is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning and Director of Professional Learning at ALTEC. She specializes in collaborative, practical and engaging adult professional learning with an emphasis on instructional practices and the powerful integration of technology. Currently, her research and development efforts center around supporting all students in the development of writing skills and the use of social media.

Martha D. Elford is Lecturer Emerita in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas. She served as Program Designer for the online High Incidence Disabilities Teacher Education Practicum program. Dr. Elford has experience as a classroom teacher, a reading specialist, and an instructional coach. Dr. Elford earned her Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of Kansas as a doctoral fellow with L-TEC, Leadership in Teacher Education Core. Dr. Elford is the co-author of GET Feedback: Giving, Exhibiting and Teaching Feedback in Special Education Teacher Preparation. Currently, Dr. Elford serves as non-tenure-track faculty at Southern Illinois University Department of Teaching and Learning.