Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

David Weintraub

Abstract

Instructional coaching, a multifaceted form of job-embedded professional development in education, is widely spreading across the United States as a means of improving staff performance and student learning. The problem was that there was a decrease in 8th grade student achievement in mathematics in this school district. The purpose of the intrinsic qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of middle school math teachers about the role of instructional coaches in supporting math instruction. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Knowles' andragogy adult learning theories formed the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions focused on mathematics teachers' perceptions of the role of instructional coaches and their experiences working with coaches. A case study design was used to capture the insights of 5 mathematics teachers through semistructured interviews. Emergent themes were identified through open coding, and the findings were developed and checked for trustworthiness through member checking and a peer audit. The findings revealed 5 themes: collaboration, observations with feedback sessions, data analysis sessions, professional development, and student achievement. A professional development project was created to provide and improve collaborative skills between teachers and instructional coaches. This study has implications for positive social change through the creation of a plan to build stronger teacher-coach connections to improve student learning opportunities.

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