Joyce and Showers' technical coaching: a cyclical training extension for transferring new teaching skills

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 3 studies (1 quant-synthesis, 1 review, 1 qualitative), q2 · 1 of 3 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description

The paper analyzes Joyce and Showers' model, which borrows coaching from athletics and treats it as the next step after training. Drawing on their empirical work and a meta-analysis of training and staff development, they claim "the coaching process enables nearly all teachers to sustain practice and gain executive control over a large range of curricular and instructional practices." Effective training first has teachers study the rationale, see demonstrations, practice, and get feedback; coaching then supports transfer, first checking performance against an expert model with clinical assessment forms, then shifting to joint inquiry and collaborative lesson planning. Peer coaching can also build a professional learning community.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Peer coaching requires administrative support and adequate time and resources for teachers to learn to participate in this collegial activity; training for coaching should be folded into initial skills training

Constraints

• The model rests on a view that teaching can be broken into discrete skills mastered through training and transferred through coaching, implying a linear process, though the authors acknowledge boundaries between knowledge, skill and judgement blur in use

Target Learners

• experienced teachers in staff development, and peer coaches

Target Learning Objectives

• transferring newly acquired skills and strategies to classroom practice

Claims

• Coaching and expert support appeared in 30 of 35 studies, with coached classrooms showing larger gains in a randomized trial [+W]
• Teacher coaching programs improve teachers' instructional practice by a pooled 0.49 SD across 43 causal studies [+M] — attached 2026-10-13 from Kraft et al. (2018), which proposed "Theory of action for teacher coaching: individualized observation-and-feedback cycles translate teacher knowledge into classroom practice and student achievement"; tests this page's relationship.
• Teacher coaching raises student achievement on standardized tests by a pooled 0.18 SD across 31 causal studies [+M] — attached 2026-10-13 from Kraft et al. (2018), which proposed "Theory of action for teacher coaching: individualized observation-and-feedback cycles translate teacher knowledge into classroom practice and student achievement"; tests this page's relationship.
• Coaching effects on instruction and achievement are positively correlated, but large instructional improvements are needed for modest achievement gains [+M] — attached 2026-10-13 from Kraft et al. (2018), which proposed "Theory of action for teacher coaching: individualized observation-and-feedback cycles translate teacher knowledge into classroom practice and student achievement"; tests this page's relationship.

The evidence by question

• Does adding ongoing coaching or colleague collaboration to in-service professional development change teachers' classroom practice and their students' achievement? Teacher coaching programs improve teachers' instructional practice by a pooled 0.49 SD across 43 causal studies [+S]
• Which features of a coaching programme go with larger effects: what it is paired with, its dose, its scale, its target or its mode? Pairing coaching with group trainings is associated with larger effects on instruction and achievement; instructional materials with larger, and video libraries with smaller, effects on instruction [+M]

Related Theories

• Schon Reflective Coaching Dialogue

Examples

• Peer Coaching
• Instructional Coaching

Key Sources

• Feiman-Nemser, Sharon, et al. (1994). Guiding Teacher Learning: Insider Studies of Classroom-Based Work with Teachers. Craft Paper 94-1. National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED377169

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	theory
title	Joyce and Showers' technical coaching: a cyclical training extension for transferring new teaching skills
description	The paper analyzes Joyce and Showers' model, which borrows coaching from athletics and treats it as the next step after training.
status	review
canonical	True
generated	by claude/unspecified on 2026-09-25
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — feiman-nemser-1994

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