Volume XI, Number 4, Winter 2005/2006

Issue Topic: Professional Development

Promising Practices

Coaching for Quality

Sarah Jonas describes the Children's Aid Society's model of site-based coaching for quality after school programming and the supports they provide to build the capacity of their coaches.

The Children's Aid Society's (CAS) after school programs are committed to providing high quality youth development, a key feature of which is helping young people achieve academic success. Our view, that academic support and enrichment are essential components of a comprehensive after school program, is not new. However, we have become more intentional about this work in recent years, as we have watched youth we serve struggle with basic skills and post low scores on standardized tests. Taking a page from our colleagues at L.A.'s BEST, who developed a model whereby central staff fanned out to programs to provide on-site support, we created the position of a site-based education coordinator (EC)—a teacher or staff developer from the school who works part-time in the after school program as a coach and serves as a bridge between school and after school.

Working closely with the after school program director at each site, the EC coaches after school staff by providing regular feedback and training on how best to implement academic programs to support children's achievement. Based on formal and informal observations, the EC may seek out an individual group leader to share ideas (such as tips for reading aloud), model program delivery, cofacilitate an activity, or develop a workshop for the entire staff. This intense, daily academic programming support for staff is something the after school program director—who spends her time focused on program planning, scheduling, staff supervision, and helping children and families address behavioral and developmental concerns—is unable to offer.

CAS provides support to the ECs in the following ways:

• Individual supervision. The CAS director of education, who works to develop and support educational programming across CAS's 20 after school programs, meets regularly with the ECs when she makes her own site visits to programs. This interaction provides a forum for the ECs to communicate concerns and seek guidance on how best to support site staff and at the same time allows the director of education to understand what issues are common across sites and to attend to these issues by making curriculum modifications or providing staff training.
• Attendance at staff trainings. Whenever we introduce a new educational curriculum, we expect the ECs to attend any training we offer for staff. In this way, the coordinators learn about the curriculum alongside those whom they support and build their own capacity to train staff. For example, when we first introduced the KidzLit curriculum, the CAS director of education trained the staff. However, in subsequent years, we have asked the ECs to deliver this training. In some sites, ECs have coached veteran group leaders in effective facilitation skills so that they can train their peers.
• Peer networking. When CAS introduced our core literacy curricula—KidzLit and Foundations, Inc.—into our after school programs, the director of education brought together the ECs for a series of monthly meeting to discuss implementation issues and concerns. These meetings provided an opportunity for troubleshooting and sharing of best practices. In the past few years, CAS has hired several former teachers as program directors, and some core returning group leaders have become so skilled at implementing the curricula that they have assisted the ECs with supporting newer staff through mechanisms such as joint lesson-planning. As site-based expertise has grown, we have experienced a decreasing need for these meetings.
• Communication with site managers. At each site, the EC meets regularly with the after school program director to assess the curriculum implementation process and make adjustments as needed. One EC, who observed that the staff at her site was struggling with youth behavioral issues, spoke with the program director. Together, they made the decision to jointly offer the staff additional training on class management.

This coaching model requires a financial investment, both for the ECs and for a central position, such as the director of education, that supports the ECs. At CAS, we believe such an investment is worthwhile because it enhances program quality. A year after we instituted the model, an external evaluation conducted by the Education Development Center found that the CAS after school programs had become more engaging to children and staff, that staff reported an increase in the amount and quality of training they received, and that students (and their parents) felt the program helped them to be better prepared for their school classes. Such feedback, along with our own observations, has convinced us of the tremendous return on our investments.

Sarah Jonas
Director of Education Services
The Children's Aid Society
105 East 22nd Street, Suite 908
New York, New York 10010
Tel: 917-286-1553. Fax: 917-286-1580
Email: sarahj@childrensaidsociety.org