University of Southern California|University of Southern California|University of California, Berkeley
coaching become central strategy district school efforts build teacher capacity interpret respond student learning data despite popularity limited research implementation initiatives article begins addresses gap examining elements coachs practice appear build teachers skills knowledge use data guide instructional decisions drawing sociocultural learning theory interview survey data collected four middle schoolstwo strong coaches two developing coacheswe find coaching build datause capacity appears rely less official title model ie data coach vs instructional coach diversity coach practices well content area interpersonal expertise administrators play important role shaping work coach mediation political dynamics school article concludes implications coaching practice well suggestions guide future research theory development