Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Maryanne Longo

Abstract

Instructional coaches help improve teacher effectiveness to ultimately help improve student performance. The roles of instructional coaches often vary depending on the leadership or recent trends of a school district. This inconsistency impedes the instructional coach’s ability to improve teacher effectiveness. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore elementary-level Title I instructional coaches’ perspectives on their roles and how these roles improved teacher effectiveness. Organizational role theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. This study consisted of a convenience sampling of 7 Title I instructional coaches in one school district in a Southern state. The research questions were used to identify instructional coaches’ perspectives on their roles and how their roles improved teacher effectiveness. Qualitative data were collected using semistructured interviews. All data were analyzed thematically using open and axial coding. The interpretation of the findings revealed how instructional coaches perceive their role to be a classroom supporter; however, the participants also found that their roles are undefined and inconsistent compared to those of other instructional coaches in their school district. This study contributes to positive social change by providing instructional coaches and school leaders a common language on the roles of instructional coaches. Administrators can use the findings from the study to create a job description including clear expectations on instructional coaches’ roles. Classroom teachers will benefit by becoming more effective educators through the work with the instructional coach and students will benefit academically by having a more effective teacher. This will change the role of the instructional coach by providing clear expectations.

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