Measuring Impact with the Results-Based Coaching Tool in the Google Suite

Written by Diane Sweeney and Chris Cutrona (https://www.edsightful.com/)

A persistent question in the world of instructional coaching centers on documentation of impact. We encounter many school districts that are rich in data, yet clarity around the impact of coaching can be harder to put a finger on. We believe this needs to change. 

In 2019, we began a partnership to develop a system for using the Results-Based Coaching Tool (RBCT) within the Google Suite. We worked together to develop a user-friendly dashboard that documents the impact of coaching cycles at the coach, school, and district levels. 

How It Works
When a district uses the Results-Based Coaching Tool Dashboard, each coach has access to a dashboard for their own school. To submit data from a cycle, coaches complete a customized Google Form that then populates the dashboard. When the cycle is complete, a Google Doc is automatically generated that captures information about how the students progressed as learners, the instructional practices that were used, and how the teacher and coach partnered together. If a coach works with more than one teacher in a coaching cycle, data includes each of the teachers who participated.

The dashboard (pictured below) is powerful because it allows a coach to easily see which teachers have received support, the number of cycles completed, the frequency/duration of cycles, and which cycles are open or closed. It is also easy for coaches to click and easily read the finer details about each cycle.

The system also provides graphs (pictured below) that summarize the impact of the coaching cycles, including changes in student performance and the frequency of coaching practices used.  This data can also be seen at the district level so that a district leader can view aggregated data across a portfolio of schools.

Coaches love the tool because it is simple to use while also capturing meaningful information about their work. It is also readily accessible within Google Drive and does not require an additional log in.  Many coaches even bring their dashboard to meetings with their principals so that their conversations about providing support to teachers are anchored in coaching data.

Here is a short demo video to see how this tool works.

How the Data Can Be Used 
There are many ways to use the data that is collected as a coaching team. Some school districts set goals for how many coaching cycles they hope to engage in with teachers across a semester. This can be an aspirational conversation that takes into account the conditions in different school contexts. Across the year, the coaching team can also engage in ongoing reflection based on the following questions: 

1. Who is participating in coaching cycles and where are there gaps? 
2. How can I reflect on my coaching practice to ensure that it benefits even more students?
3. What are my fellow coaches doing that I can learn from?
4. How much student growth is occurring during the coaching cycles that are taking place? 
5. What instructional practices are being implemented as a result of coaching cycles?
6. How many students across the school and district have been impacted by coaching cycles?  

In Closing
How school districts go about the task of measuring impact depends on the coaching model that is being implemented. For example, some take a teacher-centered approach to coaching. When this is the case, they focus on measuring changes in instructional practice. In comparison, we advocate for a student-centered approach and operate from the following principles:

1. Our coaching work must impact student learning.
2. Relationships are a critical component but are not the end goal of our work.
3. We need a tangible system for measuring our impact.

We’d suspect that you agree that each of these are worth measuring. They are also worth celebrating, and we believe that the tool that was created by Edsightful helps us do just that.

The Results-Based Coaching Tool Dashboard is available for districts to purchase. Unfortunately at this time, it isn’t available for individual coaches to use. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Chris at chris.cutrona@edsightful.com.