Mathematics Coaching for Conceptual Understanding: Promising Evidence Regarding the Tennessee Math Coaching Model

Rigorous college-and-career readiness standards require significant shifts in typical mathematics instruction. Many schools and districts employ coaches to support instructional changes. Although there is evidence that coaching programs can support teaching improvement, research has yet to identify high-leverage coaching practices. In collaboration with a network of state leaders and coaches, our research team refined a model for math coaching and documented the practices coaches employed in one-on-one work with teachers. Analysis of videotaped coaching conversations and teaching events suggests that model-trained coaches improved their capacity to use a high-leverage coaching practice—deep and specific prelesson planning conversations—and that growth in this practice predicted teaching improvement, specifically increased opportunities for students to engage in conceptual thinking.

Emotional Presence in a Relationship of Inquiry: The Case of One-to-One Online Math Coaching

Emotions have been confirmed to be a critical component of the process of learning. In the online Community of Inquiry theoretical framework, and the recently suggested online Relationship of Inquiry framework, emotions are considered a subsection of social presence. In this study, the concept of emotional presence is examined. This examination occurs within the Relationship of Inquiry framework, developed to analyze one-to-one online coaching. A survey of online coaches and a transcript coding procedure from the online coaching service Math Coach provide the data for the study. The results indicate that a Relationship of Inquiry framework consisting of cognitive, social, teaching, and emotional presence enhances the exploration of one-to-one online coaching settings. The interpretation of these results identifies emotional presence as an essential and distinct part of one-to-one online math coaching.