Building an Effective Instructional Leadership Team

Instructional leadership teams (ILTs) are an essential part of a thriving school community. Ms. Carlin Coffey, Lead Coach at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, is doing her part to ensure that her school has a strong ILT. In fact, one of her colleagues has commended her approach to helping the ILT move in the right direction. 

Thanks to Ms. Coffey’s planning and leadership, the school has implemented impactful learning cycles and is using rigor walks to observe teachers. This is creating a culture of professional development, leading to the school’s various department chairs approaching their work with a renewed sense of purpose and excitement. 

We connected with Ms. Coffey to learn more about her efforts. Get to know her more below.

Did you always see yourself as a lead coach? 

I’ve always been passionate about teacher retention. I have been an English teacher at Clemente for a number of years, and, when this role became available, I felt like it was a cool opportunity to work in a new capacity. I still teach one class, which I love because I get to have my boots on the ground and still have the teacher experience. At the same time, I’m also helping retain teachers and grow teacher leadership in our school. 

What have you accomplished so far this school year, and what are your goals for the rest of the school year? 

We’ve created a culture of trust in the building where we can go into people’s classrooms, give feedback, and just be really visible. That used to not happen, and now it’s become almost casual, and that has been a huge step forward in terms of collaboration. Now, we’re focused on aligning our work with our Continuous Improvement Work Plan (CIWP) goals, as well as enhancing instruction to better prepare our students to achieve postsecondary success. 

How do you ensure that collaboration remains central within the ILT? 

I’ve been moving toward more of a distributive leadership model by bringing in other people so it’s not just me running that space. Other leads have helped co-plan and then co-run the meetings with me. This collaboration helps ensure that we are all working toward the same goals, and also all involved in the planning of those goals. 

What advice would you give other lead coaches in terms of creating an effective ILT? 

Take the time to identify and recognize everyone’s strengths. This has been so important within our ILT. For example, we know which person to lean on when we have to get into the nitty gritty of data analytics. Or we know who to turn to when we need to boost our morale. By focusing on this, we are able to work better together. 

How does it feel to know that your work is being noticed and appreciated by your colleagues? 

I feel really flattered. This recognition captures how important teacher leadership is to a school. It directly connects to our school’s mission, and I’m excited to see this work continue.