Reframing Literacy Coaching as Collaborative Inquiry

Some teachers believe that coaching for student impact involves acting upon meaningful formative assessments and challenging discourse between coaches and teachers to inform instructional decisions. Advocating for teachers and for the literacy needs of students remains critical because teachers’ and students’ voices are often silenced by high-stakes accountability policies. With the pressure to impact student achievement, literacy coaches can feel the weight of expectations, with the reform effort often framed as a means of fixing both teachers and students. One dominant narrative assumes teachers will adopt “best practice” literacy pedagogy through participation in coaching, and consequently student achievement will increase.But does it? This article shows that it can, by using student-led practices.