What are the responsibilities of a Title I Academic Coach?

The greatest common denominator in effective teaching and learning is personalization. The core role for Title I Academic Coaches is to provide personalized, job-embedded professional development designed to increase teacher pedagogy and ensure high-quality implementation of effective instructional practices and program interventions. The coaches provide side-by-side support, model evidence-based practices, and co-teach with teachers to facilitate continuous improvement. The coach works hands-on with teachers and instructional staff to address student achievement gaps and accelerate student learning by building teacher capacity by implementing a standards-based curriculum, using data to drive instructional decisions, and providing reflective feedback through peer coaching. All tasks and responsibilities will concur with Title I, Part A, and the school’s Title I Improvement Plan.

• Designed to enhance teachers’ content-specific instructional practices
• Defined by its intent of improving student learning
• Grounded in day-to-day teaching practices
• Integrated into the workday
• Requires active teacher involvement in cooperative, inquiry-based work
• Part of a coaching cycle of continuous improvement in which teachers assess and find solutions for authentic and immediate problems of practice through side-by-side coaching, modeling, co-teaching, and reflective practices.
• Aligned to the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP)

What is the Coaching Cycle?

A coaching cycle is a continuous series of steps an academic coach follows when working with teachers to improve their proficiency in the classroom. Instead of a linear set of steps, a coaching cycle is circular. This allows for a repetition of these steps so that the teacher gains the skills necessary to succeed independently.

• Coaching involves an ongoing cycle of goal-setting, learning, observation and data collection, and reflection. 
• Coaching cycles last six to eight weeks based on the teacher's needs. 
• Teachers learn through job-embedded professional development and practices such as analyzing student work, reading and discussing educational texts, observing best practices (e.g., model teaching, peer observation, use of video), co-teaching, and collaborative curriculum planning, instruction, and assessment.

Title I Academic Coaches Contact List.pdf