School change coaching tools
The coaching process was one of the Initiative's most transferable contributions. This catalogue gathers the tools and protocols that School Change Coaches drew on, each cross referenced to the strand of the School Change Rubric it supports.
A paper written as the Initiative drew to a close explains how the coaching process came about and how it worked in practice. It covers what a School Change Coach does, how far the role reached into small schools, and the reflective, inquiry based framework that guided coaching across the Initiative's network of schools. The catalogue below turns that framework into a working library.
The four rubric strands are abbreviated in the table as structure and culture, teaching and learning, leadership development, and community engagement. A tool may support more than one strand.
| Tool | Purpose | Structure and culture | Teaching and learning | Leadership development | Community engagement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACE Observation Tool | A structured way to record what happens during a lesson. | ✓ | |||
| Asset Mapping Protocol | A stocktake of a school's programmes and supports, laid out visually so that gaps and overlaps become easy to see. | ✓ | |||
| Backward Design | A planning process that starts from the result a teacher wants students to reach. | ✓ | |||
| BayCES Coaching Cycle and Model | A framework setting out the stages of a coaching relationship. | ✓ | |||
| Bloom's Taxonomy | A classification of learning behaviours used to pitch tasks at the right level. | ✓ | |||
| CES Small Schools Strategic Plan Outline | The components that belong in a small school strategic plan. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Chalk Talk Gallery Walk | A silent discussion process that surfaces the thinking of a whole group. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Characteristics of a Small School | A framework describing the learning environment a small school aims to create. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Charter School Decision | A structured look at the reasons a community might choose to charter, or not to. | ✓ | |||
| Coach Roles and Responsibilities | A description of the tasks and duties a coach takes on. | ✓ | |||
| Coach Work Plan Template | A sample work plan used to set out coaching interventions. | ✓ | |||
| Collaborative Assessment Protocol | A process for examining student work and drawing out the implications for teaching. | ✓ | |||
| Community Agreements | Sample norms for how a group will work together. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Community Agreements for Young People | An adaptation of group norms written for students. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Compass Points Protocol | An exercise that helps team members recognise their own working style. | ✓ | |||
| Connections Protocol | A process for helping a group connect before beginning work together. | ✓ | |||
| Constructivist Listening Protocol | Guidelines for a structured listening process. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Consultancy | A process for helping an individual or a team think through a concrete dilemma. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Consultancy Chalk Talk Protocol | A silent dialogue that lets a group share thoughts about a specific dilemma. | ✓ | |||
| Continuum for Collaborative, Reflective, Public Practice | A continuum showing progress toward opening classroom practice to colleagues. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Conversion Task Grid: Building Curriculum | A way to organise the curriculum work that a conversion demands. | ✓ | |||
| Creating Group Agreements | Steps a team can follow to write its own working norms. | ✓ | |||
| Critical Friends Groups | What critical friends groups are, and how they help teachers learn from one another. | ✓ | |||
| Cross Cultural Constructs | Dynamics to consider when working across cultures. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Crossover Options Chart | A school's philosophy for courses shared across a campus. | ✓ | |||
| Crossovers: A Coach's Reflection | A coach's reflection on shared access classes on a conversion campus. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Differentiated Instruction Sample | A sample lesson that makes the steps of differentiated instruction visible. | ✓ | |||
| Equity Council Description | A sample equity council drawn from one partner campus. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Establishing Proficiency Based Student Performance Levels | The levels a student can reach, described in plain terms. | ✓ | |||
| Evidence of Teaching and Learning: Learning Walks | Structured prompts for walking through classrooms as a group. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Failing and Struggling Students Template | A template for assessing the needs of students who are not thriving. | ✓ | |||
| Feedback Nightmares Protocol | A protocol for addressing the fear of giving and receiving feedback. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Final Word Text Protocol | A turn taking format for discussing a shared reading. | ✓ | |||
| Five Finger Share | A simple decision making process a group can run quickly. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Four A's Text Protocol | A set of prompts for working through a text together. | ✓ | |||
| Futures Protocol | A process for envisioning possibilities in school design or redesign. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Gap Analysis Blank Template | A template for strategic planning work. | ✓ | |||
| Gap Analysis Model | A visual planning tool for clarifying objectives, current reality and next steps. | ✓ | |||
| How Do I Grade | An exercise that asks teachers to examine their grading practice. | ✓ | |||
| Humanities Proficiencies | An example set of student proficiencies drawn from a history unit. | ✓ | |||
| Implications of Curricular Autonomy | Questions to weigh when a school controls its own curriculum. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Implications of Leadership Autonomy | Questions to weigh when a school controls leadership and governance. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Implications of Scheduling Autonomy | Questions to weigh when a school controls its own schedule. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Implications of Staffing Autonomy | Questions to weigh when a school controls its own staffing. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Improving Relationships Within the Schoolhouse | A reading on professional relationships among adults in a school. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Instructional Framework | An outline of why instructional frameworks matter and what they share. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Instructional Frameworks Presentation | A presentation on developing an instructional framework. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Journey Map Directions | Directions for building a visual map of a school's key events and milestones. | ✓ | |||
| Journey Map Sample | An example journey map drawn from one partner school. | ✓ | |||
| Kiva Process Summary | An interactive dialogue that helps a large group discuss key issues and challenges. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Leadership Learning Matrix | A matrix relating adult actions to student outcomes. | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Learning Visit Questions to Consider | Prompts for structuring a learning visit. | ✓ | ✓ |
More from the toolkit
Equity tools, site visit materials and the School Change Rubric itself are gathered in the Initiative Toolkit.