Rethinking How Leaders Support Teacher Growth

School Leadership 2.0 | Summary for Educators

Original Article:

Author: Toni Faddis Source: MiddleWeb, September 22, 2026 Topic: Instructional Leadership | Teacher Coaching | Professional Growth

THE BIG IDEA

School principals frequently lament that they simply don't have enough time to coach teachers effectively. Between classroom observations, meetings, student issues, and administrative responsibilities, conducting formal coaching cycles with every teacher can seem impossible.

But Toni Faddis, former principal and coauthor of The Art and Science of Teacher Coaching, challenges the assumption that meaningful coaching requires lengthy observations and formal conferences.

Her central argument is that coaching should be understood as a way of leading, not merely as a scheduled activity.

Every classroom visit, hallway conversation, and interaction with a teacher offers an opportunity to strengthen instruction. What matters is not the length of the conversation but the quality of the instructional thinking it generates.

Faddis proposes three levels of coaching—micro-coaching, short-cycle coaching, and long-cycle coaching—each appropriate for different instructional needs. Successful leaders recognize when a brief conversation is sufficient and when sustained professional support is necessary.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Micro-coaching can take less than two minutes.

A principal visiting a classroom might notice students explaining their mathematical reasoning. Rather than offering generic praise, the principal identifies the teacher's specific instructional decision and asks a reflective question.

For example: "I noticed students explaining why their strategies worked. What did you do to encourage that kind of thinking?"

This brief exchange recognizes effective practice and encourages reflection.

2. Short-cycle coaching addresses specific instructional challenges.

Some teaching practices require more than one conversation. Over approximately two to four weeks, the teacher and leader identify a goal, experiment with strategies, examine student learning, and make adjustments.

Faddis recommends the COACH framework:

• C — Connect with the teacher.

• O — Observe instruction objectively.

• A — Ask reflective questions.

• C — Collaborate on solutions.

• H — Hold Accountable through agreed-upon follow-up.

3. Long-cycle coaching supports complex instructional improvement.

Developing sophisticated practices—such as formative assessment, academic discourse, or differentiated instruction—may require months of collaboration.

These partnerships include planning, observations, reflection, and refinement. Importantly, the coaching relationship remains non-evaluative, providing teachers with a safe environment for professional experimentation.

4. Instructional noticing is an essential leadership skill.

Effective principals look beyond whether students appear engaged. They identify the teacher decisions responsible for student learning.

Instead of simply observing a quiet, orderly classroom, they consider whether students are reasoning, questioning, discussing, and demonstrating understanding.

5. Coaching is everyone's responsibility.

Instructional coaches are not the only educators capable of improving teaching. Principals, assistant principals, department chairs, and teacher leaders all have opportunities to initiate meaningful professional conversations.

6. Coaching should respond to teacher needs, not administrative calendars.

The appropriate coaching approach depends on the complexity of the instructional challenge and the support the teacher needs—not on a predetermined number of meetings.

WHY IT MATTERS

Many schools devote considerable resources to teacher evaluations and formal professional development while overlooking the instructional conversations that occur naturally throughout the day.

Faddis suggests a different approach: Make professional growth part of the school's daily culture.

Consider a principal who visits five classrooms each morning. If each visit produces one specific observation and one thoughtful question, that principal can initiate approximately 25 instructional conversations each week.

Over a 36-week school year, that represents roughly 900 opportunities to encourage reflection and improve teaching.

Not every conversation will produce measurable improvement. However, the cumulative effect could be substantial.

The implication is particularly important for school leaders who believe their administrative responsibilities prevent them from functioning as instructional leaders.

They may already have the opportunities they need. The challenge is using those opportunities more intentionally.

LEADERSHIP ACTIONS

1. Redesign classroom walkthroughs. Encourage administrators to identify one specific instructional decision and its apparent impact on student learning during each visit.

2. Replace generic praise with actionable feedback. Rather than saying "Great lesson," describe something the teacher did and invite reflection about why it worked.

3. Establish a micro-coaching expectation. Challenge every administrator to initiate several brief, meaningful instructional conversations each day.

4. Match the coaching model to the need. Use micro-coaching for immediate reflection, short cycles for targeted improvement, and long cycles for more complex professional learning.

5. Protect coaching from evaluation. Establish clear distinctions between supportive professional learning conversations and formal teacher evaluation.

6. Follow up consistently. Return to classrooms to see whether agreed-upon instructional adjustments are making a difference.

7. Develop instructional noticing skills. During leadership team meetings, practice identifying teacher decisions and evidence of student thinking from classroom scenarios.

LEADER REFLECTION

If every classroom visit in your school ended with one specific observation about instruction and one thoughtful question about student learning, how might the professional culture of your school change over the course of a year?

The Bottom Line: Great instructional leaders don't necessarily find more time for coaching. They recognize that some of their most powerful coaching opportunities are already embedded in the school day. The essential shift is from observing teachers to helping teachers think more deeply about their practice.

Adapted and summarized for School Leadership 2.0 from Toni Faddis, “Rethinking How Leaders Support Teacher Growth,” MiddleWeb, September 22, 2026.