Riverside Elementary School District 96 is expanding its new instructional coaching program.
At its April 17 school board meeting, the board of education unanimously approved hiring one additional one instructional coach, to bring the district’s total number to three. The district plans to add another instructional coach in the 2025-26 school year, bringing the number to four.
Instructional coaches are full-time employees, typically experienced teachers, who work with teachers to help them be more effective. D96 hired its first instructional coach in the 2021-22 school year, and then moved to two coaches the next year.
However, the position has had a lot of turnover. One, Sara Hickey, had to take over a second-grade class at Central School in February. The other is an interim employee.
D96 Director of Teaching and Learning Angela Dolezal told the school board that despite the turnover, she has seen positive results since the district started using instructional coaches.
“We have seen that coaching has produced growth in student outcomes,” Dolezal told the school when presenting the ask to the school board at a Committee of the Whole Meeting on April 3.
According to Dolezal coaching provides time and support for teachers to reflect, explore, talk about and practice new ways of educating students. The instructional coach observes the teacher and meets one and one with the teacher to talk about what worked in the classroom and what didn’t work. They may come up with new approaches or modify what the teacher is doing.
Dolezal said that coaching improves teaching through reflective discussions about processes, increases organizational trust and results in shared decision making. It also decreases the isolation that teachers sometimes feel. Teachers rarely have fellow professionals observe their classroom and their teaching.
Coaching in District 96 is usually done in four-to-six-week cycles. The instructional coach will co-plan and sometime co-teach with the classroom teacher. They will typically set standards-based goals.
The increase in instructional coaching will help next year when the district implements new English Language Arts and science curriculums. The increase in instructional coaches will also allow the district to save $28,600 it has been spending to have a consultant come in and help with professional learning in teaching math. The cost of the new position next year is estimated to be between $50,000 and $75,000.
School board members were easily convinced of the need for more instructional coaches.
“This seems to make a lot of sense,” said school board member Joel Marhoul.
School board president Wesley Muirheid also liked the idea.
“I’m big on coaching, I’m on board,” Muirheid said.
The administration decided to only add one instructional coach this year and then add another one in the 2025-26 to gradually ramp up the program so that teachers are comfortable with it.
The three instructional coaches next year will be Hickey, current Hauser math teacher Melanie Arazy and current third Central third grade teacher Samantha Crowley.
Participation in instructional coaching will be voluntary. Teachers can request coaching and a school principal can suggest coaching. The coach teacher will move from its current one coach for 71 teachers this year to one coach for 47 teachers next year and one coach for 35 teachers in the 2025-26 school year.