Coaching Clarified
In a past blog post I wrote about coaches being the secret sauce to successful MTSS implementation. Specifically, I identified a number of activities that fall under the role of an effective coach. A few of the possible job responsibilities of a MTSS coach that I mentioned include:
Set agendas for regular schoolwide MTSS leadership meetings
Facilitate the sharing out of data results at leadership meetings and with other stakeholders
Support the action planning process at district, school, and/or grade levels
Assist in data interpretation
Guide goal setting and dissemination of district or school-level goals
Coordinate professional learning and coaching efforts
Listen to teachers and other instructional staff to learn how MTSS is/is not working, communicate that information with policy makers
The above items could be considered to be aligned with the role of a systems coach. It’s clear however there are a range of jobs out there with the name coach. Recently I’ve met multiple people who tell me their job title is MTSS coach but when they describe their job they are actually an intervention coordinator and an interventionist actually delivering some instructional small groups. This is a valuable role as well but it narrows down the focus of the potential impact of MTSS. Let’s quickly clarify some definitions.
MTSS Systems Coach Defined
MTSS systems coaches collaborate with school leadership, teachers, and support staff to analyze data to inform decision-making, to align the systems required to deliver high quality instruction and intervention. Their role also involves sharing information between the school and the district so that district level administrators can establish policies and procedures that support building-level practices. They also work with building leadership to foster a culture of continuous improvement. MTSS systems coaches are also key coordinators of professional learning and coaching, helping to review data from teachers and interventionists to determine where additional educator supports are needed. A MTSS systems coach or a group of coaches working together can keep that bird’s eye view on the overall MTSS implementation.
MTSS Intervention Coach Defined
MTSS intervention coaches also collaborate with school leadership, teachers, and support staff but their role is much more focused on interventions only and not on classroom instruction or necessarily how that classroom instruction is integrated and aligned with interventions, although it’s best if the classroom instructional coaching is coordinated with intervention coaching. Sometimes these coaches fall more into the category of an instructional coach with the goal of improving the quality of instruction by modeling and providing feedback to classroom teachers and interventionist in the instructional delivery. They might help teachers and paraprofessional improve their instructional skills or even classroom behavior management. They also work with the school MTSS team to ensure that all the intervention and instructional materials are aligned. These coaches should also sit on the intervention assistance teams at Tier 2 and Tier 3. In some schools these coaches may also be in charge of delivering direct services to students or leading an intervention classroom and supervising paraprofessionals and other interventionist. Intervention coaches are responsible for reviewing student progress monitoring data to ensure that intervention assistance teams are making timely decisions about moving students between interventions.
Not all schools and districts can include a person for each of these roles in their budgets so instead they may have a teacher on special assignment or a specialist like a school psychologist as a part-time systems or intervention coach. The key thing is to make sure the expectations for the people in this role and for people who are taking on these additional roles to clear their plate of other non-related responsibilities (as possible) so they have the best shot of supporting the overall system to sustainably implement MTSS which can lead to long-term successes for all.