POSITION TITLE: Instructional Support Specialist

START DATE: Immediately

DEPARTMENT: Teaching and Learning

LOCATION: District

FLSA: Exempt (Professional Staff- UDEA Position)

SALARY: As per UDEA Contract

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

Role of the Coach: The individual will assist in providing job-embedded and ongoing professional development for teachers, staff, and administrators. The position’s focus is to build the capacity of the school and its teachers to meet the learning needs of all students, enhance instructional practices at the classroom level, and raise the level of student achievement. The position requires the ability to establish cooperative team efforts and to maintain collaborative relationships with students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community; knowledge of state standards; and knowledge of effective instructional practices, with a focus on data-driven differentiated instruction.

Instructional Coach is Non-Supervisory

The role of a coach is separate and apart from the evaluative role of the principal, assistant principal, coordinator or other supervisors. The coach advocates for, facilitates, and supports the work of the teacher, but never performs supervision or evaluation. The coach should not confuse providing teachers with consultative feedback requiring professional judgment with supervisory or evaluative responsibilities of the principal. Evaluation, for example, includes completing the teacher evaluation form, PDE 13-1. The role of evaluator is the sole responsibility of a supervisor.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS:

The coach reports directly to the Director of Teaching and Learning and works collaboratively with the Curriculum Supervisors and Building Principals.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The coach collaborates with district and building leadership to provide job-embedded and ongoing professional development for teachers, staff, and administration. The coach provides support to the principal in data analysis and professional development decision-making. The coach provides professional development and guidance for teachers to improve their content knowledge, instructional strategies and data driven practices. Overall, the job of the coach is to build the capacity of the school and its teachers to meet the learning needs of all students. The coach’s goal is to ensure that school staff acquires the understanding and skills to:

1). Enhance instructional practices at the classroom level.

2). Raise the level of student achievement.

3). Assist in building a data culture.

4). The creation and implementation of curriculum.  

The effective coach spends the majority of the time working in classrooms with teachers (e.g.

modeling, observing, and co-teaching). The coach plays a very strong role in the analysis and

utilization of student achievement data to impact instructional decision-making. The focus of a coach’s work is to help teachers learn to use data for instructional planning that will have a positive impact on student achievement. In that role, the coach helps the teacher learn how to administer and interpret various assessment tools. The coach will be involved in the induction program to support and provide feedback to new teachers.  The coach may facilitate teacher study groups in which they analyze student work and lesson plans and plan for the enhancement of instructional strategies. The coach’s analysis of student work and teaching and learning data will inform what occurs during coaching sessions with individual teachers and in the teacher study groups.

The roles and responsibilities of the coach include:

• Participating in all required coach professional development. The coach is charged with acquiring the knowledge, skills, technology skills, and instructional strategies necessary to effectively impact the instructional practices of the teachers that are coached. The Coach must remain knowledgeable about current and past research in best practice, including literacy instruction across the content areas and other pedagogies relevant to the coaching role;
• Identifying teaching and learning needs, barriers and weaknesses by analyzing student data, and organizing and implementing problem-solving actions with teachers;
• Providing high-quality professional development in group settings, including induction;
• Working with teachers (in teams or individually) to refine their knowledge and skills. Professional development could include, but not be limited to, in-class coaching, observing, modeling of instructional strategies, guiding teachers in looking at student work, developing lesson plans with teachers based on student needs, supporting data analysis, supporting the integration of technology, co-planning with teachers, etc.;
• Monitoring instructional effectiveness and student progress using tools and strategies gained

through professional development;

• Building and maintaining confidential relationships with teachers. The conversations and interactions that the coach has with teachers must always remain confidential so that a high level of trust is created and maintained between the teacher and the coach. Exceptions to this include imminent physical, academic or psychological danger to the students;
• Completing required paperwork that tracks the various types of coach/teacher interactions;
• Meeting regularly with the Director of Teaching and Learning and/or Curriculum and Content Supervisors.

* This list is intended to be illustrative rather than complete. It serves to show major duties and

responsibilities while also differentiating the position from others in the district.