Peer coaching for history teachers at Oakcrest High School

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the utilization of Peer Coaching as a tool for increasing teacher communication and promoting the sharing of methodology and content knowledge. Within a high-school setting, scheduling and multiple course-loads kept teachers from capitalizing on the greatest resource that surrounded them; each-other. This program allowed teachers to observe and be observed in a non-threatening, supportive environment outside the domain of supervisors and administrators. Originally designed to focus solely on the History Department, the study came to also include members of the English and Special Education Departments, who work with the history teachers through inclusion and cohort settings. Participating teachers were involved in pre-observation conferences, observations not lasting longer that one teaching period, and post-observation conferences to share their remarks and discuss their findings. Involved parties then completed a survey assessing the value of the process, made recommendations, and identified their desire for a personal interview. The process was consistently identified by participants as a positive step in evaluating performance and increasing communication among the staff. The next step would be to build a peer coaching model into the new-teacher development program and, with the assistance of supervisors, its inclusion as a best-practice tool throughout all departments