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The professional development strategy known as school-based coaching "generally involves experts in a particular subject area or set of teaching strategies working closely with small groups of teachers to improve classroom practice and, ultimately, student achievement," writes Alexander Russo in this article from the Harvard Education Letter (July-August 2004). The growing interest in the school-based coaching model is supported by research suggesting that "professional development must be ongoing, deeply embedded in teachers' classroom work with children, specific to grade levels or academic content, and focused on research-based approaches. It also must help to open classroom doors and create more collaboration and sense of community among teachers in a school." While school-based coaching shows "apparent promise," Russo writes, experts who have studied the phenomenon in a variety of U.S. school systems caution that "educators should be clear about their goals and expectations before making an investment." He quotes one researcher who found that in some school systems, leaders failed to invest "the time, thought, and resources necessary to launch and sustain a coherent program and to address other serious problems within schools or districts that create barriers for in-school staff developers."

 Citation: Russo, A. (July/August 2004). "School-based coaching." Harvard education letter. Retrieved from Edletter.org 2 Apr 2008. Link: http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/2004-ja/coaching.shtml

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