The Visions Advantage: Instructional Coaching at Visions In Education
At Visions, we believe powerful professional learning happens when it’s grounded in practice, aligned to purpose, and enriched by continued learning. That’s the mission behind our in-house model for meaningful, customized instructional coaching.
And last spring, our Professional Learning & Innovation (PLI) Department deepened that mission by returning to the classroom themselves—this time at UC Berkeley’s International House, where they studied the transformative work of Elena Aguilar’s Art of Coaching Teams.
📚 Learning the Art of Coaching Teams
The multi-day intensive at UC Berkeley offered our instructional coaches hands-on training in building high-functioning, equity-centered teams. The content is grounded in Aguilar’s framework for trust-building, identity work, and team transformation.
Key learning included:
- How to build emotionally resilient teams
- Tools for addressing conflict and resistance
- Strategies to lead team development through a lens of equity
- Techniques to align coaching work with school and program goals
This experience directly strengthens how we support PLCs, facilitate coaching cycles, and facilitate collaborative learning environments across our academies.
A special thanks to Montoya Mayo, proud UC Berkeley alumna, who reminds us that learning is both a personal journey and a professional calling.
🛠️ Expanding Our Toolbox: Training from PCOE
In addition to Berkeley, PLI also participated in training with Placer County Office of Education (PCOE) focused on:
- Coaching for content-specific pedagogy
- Feedback strategies for adult learners
- Data-informed instructional decision-making
Together, these trainings sharpened our coaching skills and affirmed our core belief: when professional learning is paired with effective coaching, transformation takes root.
🔍 The Research is Clear: Coaching Works
Studies show that professional development followed by coaching has a far greater impact than PD alone:
- A meta-analysis of 60 studies that found teacher coaching yielded pooled effect sizes of 0.49 SD on instructional practice and 0.18 SD on student achievement was conducted by Matthew A. Kraft, David Blazar, and Dylan Hogan. Their research can be reviewed HERE.
- Educators are more likely to implement new strategies when supported by ongoing coaching (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017).
- Instructional coaching increases educator efficacy and leads to stronger student achievement outcomes (Kraft, Blazar & Hogan, 2018).
- Coaching builds collective educator efficacy, one of the most powerful influences on student learning (Hattie, 2019).
🗣️ What Our Educators Are Saying
At Visions, our coachees agree:
“I really appreciate the process of observation and reflection. This time we focused on strategies for increasing engagement in an online setting and I will continue to reflect on how my lessons went and what I could improve upon.” – Independent Study Educator
“With my coach, I developed some really specific documents and presentations that I will continue using and adjusting as I need to. I enjoy the process of thinking about a problem that I have or anything that didn’t work as well as I wanted it to or was expecting and talking through ideas with somebody to improve my teaching practice.” – Independent Study Educator
“I was looking for a little validation that where I was putting my energy was valid, and looking for some ideas (through collaboration) to improve my practice in this medium. My coach helped a ton in both regards.” – Home School Educator
Recent coachee data from September 2025 backs this up: The jump in understanding shows that coaching creates the bridge between learning and real-world practice.
Instructional Coaching Data for PLI
Average Scores on a scale of 1-5 as of September 5th, 2025
🔗 The Visions In Education Coaching Advantage
With a refreshed vision grounded in The Art of Coaching Teams, and bolstered by continued training with partners like PCOE, Visions instructional coaches are more prepared than ever to:
✔️ Collaborate deeply
✔️ Challenge respectfully
✔️ Build equity-driven learning environments
✔️ Equip educators for long-term growth
Sharing Our Story at CSDC
This fall, a few of Visions’ PLI Department staff will be presenting at the California Charter Schools Development Center (CSDC) Conference, showcasing our approach to in-house professional learning paired with instructional coaching and highlighting how we build systems that honor educators while driving student success. This opportunity reflects both the innovation happening at Visions and the growing recognition of our model across the state. You can learn more about our specific session HERE.
Instructional coaching at Visions isn’t just support—it’s strategy, reflection, and partnership in action. That’s the Visions Advantage.