Coaching Elementary Teachers in Literacy: Does Feedback Type Matter for Low Implementers?

For literacy coaches and teachers, feedback is an integral component of effective coaching. Yet, little is understood about the interaction between feedback and high/low implementing teachers within coaching sessions. This multiple case study explored the types of feedback literacy coaches provided both high and low implementing teachers over a two-year period. In the first year, the literacy coaches provided at least twice as much instructional feedback as emotional feedback to low-implementing teachers. Those teachers not only received more feedback in general, but the feedback they received was primarily what they needed to do to improve. In contrast, during the same period literacy coaches provided high-implementing teachers more emotional feedback than instructional feedback. Low implementation, or resistance, observed in this study may have been tied to the overwhelming amount and type of feedback the low implementing teachers received.  Coaches seeking to enhance instructional practices could benefit from attending to the amount and type of feedback they provide their learners.