Teacher learning is a huge challenge in instructional change, but relatively little work has carefully examined the mechanisms by which teachers learn, in contrast to the extensive work on programs that help teachers learn and the high-leverage instructional practices that are strong predictors of student learning. Specifically, relatively little is known about how teachers learn to effectively implement these new instructional practices. Using a mixed-methods, case-comparison design, this study examines specific instructional coaching practices that support 4th–8th grade mathematics teachers in learning to implement ambitious instructional practices. The study leverages a large, state-wide representative dataset in order to purposively select carefully-matched contrasting cases for qualitative analysis from a starting sample of hundreds of teachers, which enabled selecting teachers that began in a very similar place but then progressed at different rates. In-depth qualitative coding was systematically conducted on detailed transcripts of coach-teacher conversations from these carefully selected cases. Finally, these codes were analyzed quantitatively to determine whether the content and form of these conversations predicted improvement in teachers’ instructional practices. Results showed that coach-teacher pairs who discuss when and why certain practices should be implemented, and provide more opportunities for teacher input, see larger gains in ambitious instruction in later lessons. Implications for a coaching model based in the cognitive sciences are discussed.

教师学习是教学变革中的一个巨大挑战，但相对较少的工作仔细研究教师学习的机制，相比之下，在帮助教师学习的项目和高杠杆教学实践方面的大量工作是学生学习的有力预测因素. 具体而言，关于教师如何学习有效实施这些新教学实践的知识相对较少。本研究使用混合方法、案例比较设计，检查支持 4 至 8 年级数学教师学习实施雄心勃勃的教学实践的具体教学指导实践。该研究利用了一个大的，全州范围的代表性数据集，以便从数百名教师的起始样本中，有目的地选择仔细匹配的对比案例进行定性分析，从而能够选择从非常相似的地方开始但随后以不同速度进步的教师。从这些精心挑选的案例中，对教练-教师对话的详细记录进行了系统的深入定性编码。最后，对这些代码进行定量分析，以确定这些对话的内容和形式是否预示着教师教学实践的改进。结果表明，讨论何时以及为什么应该实施某些实践并为教师投入提供更多机会的教练 - 教师配对，在以后的课程中看到雄心勃勃的教学有更大的收获。