Community Teamwork, Inc. in Greater Lowell helps nearly 50,000 individuals from 63 cities and towns in northeastern Massachusetts gain greater economic independence. One arm of the organization focuses on children and families through its early learning programs. As an organization focused on support and growth, the Components of Coaching that Community Teamwork utilizes builds collaborative partnerships and leads to positive outcomes for children.
Community Teamwork offers four center-based Head Start/Early Head Start early learning programs in Lowell and Dracut and the home-based Home Visiting Program for Early Head Start and Head Start where the focus of service delivery is in the home.
Caring for and educating these children are expert teachers. Working with the teachers are coaches who follow Community Teamworks’ original and unique Coaching Principal.
There are five components of the Early Learning Coaching Principal. These components are derived from the most current research regarding effective coaching models.
- Building Collaborative Partnerships
- Shared understanding
- Support
- Communication
- Shared Goals and Action Planning
- Assessing needs (using data and educator input)
- Set goals for coaching
- Create action plan to guide coaching
- Review/update goals and action plan throughout coaching partnership
- Focused Observation
- Gather and record information guided by current action plan goal
- Gather data
- Plan feedback about implementation of action plan
- Reflection and Feedback
- Discuss and reflect on observation progress
- Give and receive feedback
- Problem solve
- Identify additional supports and resources
- Effective Teaching Practices
- Ongoing implementation of the specific statements of actions and behaviors of educators that support child learning
Further, Community Teamwork has explicitly stated expectations of coaching and notes to coaches of what coaching is not.
Successful Coaching:
- builds a collaborative partnership with educators to support their professional growth, by engaging in active learning and reflection.
- will help educators use evidence based teaching practices with confidence and competence.
- provides personalized support based on goals and identified needs of the educators being coached.
- is neither evaluative nor judgmental and will not involve the supervision of coachees.
- leads to positive outcomes for children.
The role of the Coach does not include:
- Serving as Program Administration
- Evaluating or Supervising Educators
- Taking primary responsibility for the collection and preparation of student data
- Serving as a substitute educator
- Taking primary responsibility for the instruction of a specifically assigned group of children
- Reporting back to educator’s supervisor, unless a violation has occurred
Community Teamwork’s system of Coaching supports the educators who are directly supporting children with the goal of impacting the lives of families through help them achieve their full potential and increase their ability to thrive and succeed in life.
For more information about the coaching model at Community Teamwork, contact Meghan Siembor, Deputy Division Director: Child & Family Services at msiembor@commteam.org.