Today's Coaches Prepare Tomorrow's Mentors: Sustaining the Results of Professional Development.

ABSTRACT School districts use a variety of professional development initiatives, many of them successfully. Unfortunately, teachers often return to their previous ways of teaching soon after the initiatives are over. Consequently, sustaining or growing the results of these initiatives is challenging. This case study examines one Mid-western metropolitan school district's professional development coaching initiative through the eyes of four coaches who described their roles as coaches, the perceived success of the initiative, and their perceptions of what was needed to sustain that success after returning to their classrooms. Data were gathered via survey, documents provided by the district administration, and individual interviews with the coaches. Results indicated that coaches felt there was a need for continued support from various networked resources following the initiative in order to sustain or grow the results. INTRODUCTION It is generally agreed that professional development is necessary in today's educational system where fast-paced changes present challenges to teachers who are responsible for maintaining high levels of student achievement. However, it is not agreed on what method is most effective for achieving this goal (Guskey, 1995; Lee, 2001; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003; Renyi, 1996). Various types of training programs and professional development approaches have been tried and tested throughout the years, many of them with great success. In 2000, The U.S. Department of Education published a report describing effective professional development approaches that have been linked to outstanding student achievement. These approaches included, but were not limited to, group problem solving, advanced degree programs, teacher self-assessment, coaching, and mentoring. Although there is little agreement on which method of professional development provides the best results, there is an emerging consensus about what qualities it takes to make it effective (Guskey, 1995; Lee, 2001; Little, 1994; U.S. Department of Education, 2000). For example, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (2003) stated: "A coordinated system of teacher recruitment, quality teacher preparation, clinical practice, induction, mentorship, and continuing professional development, with accountability built in at each stage, is essential for ensuring high-quality teaching for all students" (p. 143). Other qualities include creating a learning community with supportive leadership, offering an optimal mix of methods based on the contexts and experiences of teachers, and having the capacity and flexibility to continue over extended periods of time. Two approaches to professional development that seem to embody these qualities are coaching and mentoring. Coaching and mentoring are terms that often are used interchangeably; however, there are differences between the two. One difference is that, in practice, coaching, although it can last for extended periods, is temporary and often an inherent part of the role and responsibilities of a mentor whose job is long-term (Jones, 2001; Williams, 2001). A subtle yet important difference between coaching and mentoring, described by MacLennan (1995), is that mentoring is a relationship with someone to learn from, whereas coaching is a relationship with someone to learn with. MacLennan also pointed out that someone can unknowingly be a mentor but no one can unknowingly be a coach. Joyce and Showers (1980) defined professional development coaching as "Hands-on, in-classroom assistance with the transfer of skills and strategies to the classroom" (p. 380). Different types of coaching include peer coaching, cognitive coaching, executive coaching, and team coaching. In this study, cognitive coaching was adopted as the preferred approach to professional development. Garmston (1992) defined cognitive coaching as "a commitment to the development of the mind of the teacher as a central focus of a school's staff development program, and the promotion of a new school culture in which collegiality, risk taking, honest communication, and experimentation are continuing expressions of school renewal" (p. …