Invitation to Validate Mathematics Coaching Knowledge and Access Other Coaching Instruments

Project Title: Examining Mathematics Coaching

PI/Co-PIs: David Yopp, PI, Montana State University; Elizabeth Burroughs, Co-PI, Montana State University; John Sutton, Co-PI, RMC Research Corporation, Denver, CO

Project Update:  

The “Examining Mathematics Coaching” Project (EMC), a new five-year research study funded by The National Science Foundation, is approaching the end of its first program year and needs your help.  We have developed a number of instruments that can be used in other projects and are in the process of validating a Coaching Knowledge Survey through a pilot test.

We are inviting mathematics coach trainers, leaders, or professional development providers with contacts in the profession, along with their instructional coaching colleagues, to participate in our pilot test of the new “Coaching Knowledge Survey,” designed to gather information about the beliefs and practices of mathematics coaches.

The Coaching Knowledge Survey is critical to our research, which seeks to establish links between a coach’s knowledge and teachers’ knowledge and practice. (For more, see www.math.montana.edu/~emc/.) The survey contains about 50 statements for each instructional coach to rank on a scale expressing how much they represent current coaching beliefs and practices; seven multiple-choice questions; and a few questions about the coach’s background and experience. The survey is available online and takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Participation in this pilot test makes you and your colleagues important contributors to the exciting EMC Project, a groundbreaking research study with the potential for national impact in the area of mathematics coaching. By taking this survey, you are providing us with essential data that ultimately will support your own work as coaches.

You and some of your colleagues may have participated in our earlier pilot; if so, thank you! We used your responses to create this shorter version of the Coaching Knowledge Survey based on that pilot. We would be grateful to have your participation again on this new version.

As a small token of appreciation for your time and effort, we would like to provide all participants who complete a survey with a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate. (Any participant who would like to receive this gift can provide us with a mailing address at the end of the survey.)

You and any of your instructional coaching colleagues may take the pilot survey at any time using this Web link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G8J997B

 

In addition, to the Coaching Knowledge Survey, EMC also has available the following instruments:

Coaching Reflection and Impact Survey;

Coaching Skills Inventory;

EMC Teacher Survey;

Teacher Needs Inventory; and

Teacher Reflection and Impact Survey.

 

We hope that after reading this update, you will consider taking the Coaching Knowledge Survey yourself, or sending a message to your colleagues about the survey, or perhaps requesting copies of the survey or other instruments for use with your project.  If so, please contact John Sutton, Co-PI (sutton@rmcdenver.com), and let him know what you would like. John will gladly send to you an email message you can send out (or you can provide us with email addresses [which we will use only once and only for this survey] and we will send out the message). If you want instruments, John will send you a terms of use document, which you complete and send back, after which we will provide copies of the instruments requested.

Thank you for considering this important contribution to the growing field of research on mathematics coaching.

 

With sincere thanks,

 

David Yopp

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Montana State University, Bozeman

 

Elizabeth Burroughs

Department of Mathematical Sciences

Montana State University, Bozeman

 

John Sutton

RMC Research Corporation

Denver, Colorado

 

Principal Investigators of the EMC Project,

National Science Foundation DRK-12 Award 0918326