Instructional Coaching - Instructional Coaching - Are workshops a waste of time?

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Are workshops a waste of time?

Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 08:50PM

My colleague Jake Cornett and I recently wrote a chapter included in Coaching: Approaches and Perspectives, which summarized more than 200 publications discussing research on coaching. The one most obvious finding buried in all of those articles was that workshops without follow-up do not lead to implementation. The research we reviewed suggested that the best implementation rate you can hope for after a workshop is about 15%. In one study that I conducted, I found that the after-effects of a workshop can be negative if teachers leave sessions frustrated or disappointed. (If you'd like to read the study feel free to email me at jknight@ku.edu, and I'll be happy to send you a summary)

My recent experiences at the NSDC conference further eroded my faith in workshops. Again and again I heard educational leaders say that stand alone workshops are simply not good professional development. So what does this all mean? Should we stop leading and offering workshops?

This summer, when Michael Fullan was a presenter at our CRL Summer conference, I asked him this question. I was quite interested in his answer, especially since I am in the midst of writing a book about how to lead workshops. Michael said that workshops are still important because "they are a mechanism for introducing new ideas into a system." But, Michael explained, they have to be part of a broader systemic approach to school reform, one that might involve other approaches to professional learning such as instructional coaching, Professlonal Learning Communities, Japanese Lesson Study, focus, continuity,and principal leadership.

Given these concerns about stand alone workshops, I've started asking several questions when I am invited to work with a district to provide support for their development of a coaching program. If I just lead workshops about coaching (kind of an ironic thing to do, actually), my fear is that I may actually be part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. However, my hope is that if I advocate for high quality PD, my colleagues and I can make a real difference.

My questions are listed below. Let me know if you think we need to add or subtract any from the list or if you have any additional thoughts about whether or not workshops still matter:

1. How many schools are being served by this project?

2. How many coaches do you/will you have in place?

3. What are your students’ major needs?

4. What are your teachers’ major needs?

5. On which teaching practices and other interventions do your current professional development efforts focus?

6. Which teacher or student needs are/are not addressed by your current professional development?

7. Do your teacher evaluation methods and walk-throughs target your professional development focus?

8. Do you have too many, the right amount, or not enough teaching practices being implemented in your district?

9. What do your coaches know about coaching?

10. What do they need to know about coaching?

11. Do they deeply understand the teaching practices they share?

12. Do they need to learn more about the teaching practices they share?

13. Do they need ongoing coaching to develop their skills, or will workshops be sufficient?

14. What do the principals know about the teaching practices, the methods of evaluation, the coaching practices?

15. What do they need to know?

16. Is there some one to coach the coaches?

17. If yes, what support does that coach of the coaches need?

18. What do we need to do to ensure that coaches, administrators, teachers, and students learn what they need to learn to make this project a success?

19. What other issues need to be addressed to create an effective professional development plan for your coaches, administrators, teachers, and students?

Jim Knight |

11 Comments |

17 References |

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References (17)

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Instructional Coaching - Instructional Coaching - Are workshops a waste of time?

Reader Comments (11)

Jim,
Read the article above multiple times to understand what it was you were asking for or exploring, or sharing. I think I have it as a two-fold piece. 1-inquiry into the success of workshops and the sustainability of the learning (beyond the woohoo factor) and 2 - are the questions you ask prior to working with a group well rounded, getting to the root of challenge/opportunity or exposing the need/possibility adequately.

My response addresses the above and would be happy to hear from you if I have missed a key point.

Workshops - I believe in workshops as a value added piece for my clients and colleagues. I also believe that regardless of the curriculum a results management process is necessary for anchoring the learning. This can be as detailed or as minimal as you want and with the depth of information showered upon adult learners, given studies show it takes 5-7 times to hear something before trust/try (hearing it online is 9 times), some form of anchoring is really necessary for measurable success. Bottom-line, I believe in workshops and I know it is in the way they are delivered, the value in the content and the follow-up strategy that builds a well rounded approach.

Now, the questions you ask. If I understand it correctly, these are intake questions and they are to assess need/want from client - In my opinion there are too many closed (yes/no) questions. Coaching from the position that open ended questions extract the depth of information from the client so the client can get to the 'what' factor on their own is the goal (in my opinion.)

Along with that, some of the questions are rather leading in nature - so, what might we be missing if we lead the client to give the answer we "want" vs. the answer that is the best for the client. Lastly, there are several with the word 'need' in them. I wonder what would be opened up for the client if you shifted the wording to more possibility wording?

Here are a few reworked questions:

Q4: From your chair, can you identify your wish for the teachers?

Q6: What obstacles do you see in the of the development of your student/teachers?

Q8: On a scale of 1-10 (1:more than enough- 10:not enough) how would you rate the teaching practices being implemented in your district right now? please explain

Q10: From your chair, what will support the coaches in their role that when they get it, the staff will also see measured return? What will that look like?

Those are just a few off top of mind - You will see that my intention is to give the client full permission to choose the answers based on the view from their chair.

Thanks for inviting input. I look forward to hearing/seeing what others post in response to your request - i am interest in the notion that workshops are not effective.

Make it a great day!
Tammy

December 21, 2008 |

Tammy Redmon

Tammy,

Thanks so much for you response. I'm going to give this some thought and modify the questions based on your suggestions. I agree totally that the intent is to let the school leaders choose how they would like to share their own professional learning, which is consistent with our partnership approach to professional learning.

December 21, 2008 |

Jim Knight

I couldn't agree with you more, Jim! As an instructional leader, I am currently struggling with what I refer to as the "double-edged sword" of professional development. Research suggests that effective professional development for teachers positively impacts student learning. Effective professional development, according to research, is sustained, focused, and research-based, among other attributes.

Yet teachers do not want to be out of their classrooms in order to attend professional development. They do not want to put the job of delivering instruction into a substitute's hands with the pressure of standardized tests and other accountability measures. (Who can blame them?) And try to offer workshops before/after school and responsibilites of our busy lives get in the way. (Adios, "sustained"...)

Teachers would prefer to attend "make it and take it" sessions that allow them time to create tools to be used in their classroom as opposed to delving in to math content or brain-based research, for example. Ask me to choose between a dedicated hour or two to create interactive bulletin boards over discovering why pythagoras came up with a theorem and honestly, the gift I would be getting with the bulletin board would probably win. (Sianara, "focused"...)

Teachers are some of the busiest people on the planet. They want to hear from practitioners, those that have been in the trenches. What instructional strategies proved to be successful for a seasoned teacher? It is difficult to sell university experiments to many teachers. (Au revoir, "research-based"...)

What's a staff developer to do? That's why I love the coaching model...job embedded professional development! Bring the PD to the classrooms for teachers!

I think a question or idea that you might consider - What do teachers in your district perceive the role of professional development to be? Administrators? Parents?

Or maybe - What does the term "professional development" mean to teachers in your district? What does it look like?

I think you need to gather some background information (pre-assess) about an organization when going in to a district with the purpose of implementing professional development. I would love to read more about the research you studied. 15% is a discouraging statistic to those of us who's jobs center around delivering professional development.

December 23, 2008 |

Leslie

Being somewhat experienced as a middle school teacher (16 yrs) and as an instructional
coach (2 yrs) I have seen, heard, listened, and taken notes at hundreds of workshops
(or "sessions"). Do I love workshops?, yes. Do I think they are at the top of the best resources for professional development?, no. In my opinion, few teachers have the desire or feel the need to be 'taught' something new. It's an atitude thing. I believe that
teachers are so busy, so stressed, so pressured, that they just enjoy having time away
from school (in the name of professionalism) where they can have the freedom to "think".
To me, that is the bottom line. Having the time to just think. And that's where professional
development begins and ends. As the teacher works their own brain, they can begin to
recognize what works, what doesn't, what challenges can be remedied, what challenges are not worth the stress and what alternatives there are to certain challenges, what successes can be achieved, and how to handle situations where the
expectations have not been met. And on and on. What program is available that insures
the ability of the teacher to think? Instructional Coaching. The coaches focus on the
teacher and guides them through there own thought process. Cognitive Coaching is a
great resource for Instructional Coaches to use in this endeavor. A small percentage of
teachers go to a workshop with the direct intention to be taught something. Just look
around the room at a workshop some time, you'll see what I mean. But, if the 'workshop'
was less dominated by a presenter and more like a collaborative effort, you'll see a much
greater participation and engagement of the participants. It's not about letting everyone
have a chance to talk (although some take advantage of this), but it's about everyone
having the freedom to think, and ponder, and rationalize, and process information that will
help them become a better teacher. Workshops at the local levels led be trained coaches
can accomplish this more economically and more efficiently than sending groups of
teachers to costly conferences, workshops, etc., etc. Teachers demand respect for
what they know, and letting them think and giving them time to think about how they can
teach themselves, will go alot further in the long run.

March 24, 2009 |

John

Are we differentiating between workshops and training? I have been training schools in parent involvement for 17 years and have been slow to arrive at the concept of follow-up coaching (money being the biggest issue). I have posted a discussion on parent involvement coaching that I would love some feedback on -- wish I had read this posting before I posted mine. Thanks

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Notes on Instructional Coaching