ALIGNMENT AND MISALIGNMENT IN TEACHER-COACH INTERACTIONS: APPLYING THE INSTRUCTIONAL TRIANGLE TO MATHEMATICS COACHING.

Coaching is increasingly seen as a critical component of teacher professional learning programs. However, questions persist about approaches to coaching in mathematics that might better foster teacher buy-in and support scalability. Our study adapted the instructional triangle (Cohen et al., 2003) to the context of math coaching to investigate teacher-coach interactions across nine different school groupings in the context of a school-mandated curriculumembedded professional learning program. Our findings showed that coaches often described teacher mindsets as a barrier to their work, while teachers focused on their need for content expertise. We also addressed differences between school-based versus district-based coaching approaches, and generalist versus math-specific coaching approaches, suggesting implications for the design and use of math coaching as a lever for instructional reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]