Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions of Instructional Coaching, Factored by Experience and Levels of Education

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate elementary teachers’ perceptions of instructional coaching compared to their years of experience and their levels of education. This researcher worked cooperatively with one rural school district in north, central North Carolina and used an online survey instrument with both open- and closed-ended questions to gather data. Two hundred sixty-three elementary classroom teachers were asked to complete the survey; 131 teachers did so with a response rate of 49.8%. Chi square statistical tests were run for the Likert responses on the quantitative portion, and open-ended coding was used for the qualitative piece. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in teacher perceptions of instructional coaching according to their levels of education and little significant difference in perceptions according to years of experience. Open-ended responses indicate that further research should be done to explore instructional coaching training needs, time limitations, other non-coaching responsibilities, and roles of instructional coaches