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Red Wing High expands literacy coaching and instructional leadership; coaches report classroom changes
Summary
The high school principal described a growing instructional leadership team and a pilot literacy-coaching model that gives two teachers one-hour daily coaching release; teachers and coaches reported increased use of posted language goals, sentence frames and learning walks tied to FastBridge assessment data.
Red Wing High School leaders told the school board on Dec. 16 that the school has expanded its instructional leadership team and is intensifying literacy work across content areas, using in-house instructional coaches to support teachers.
The high school principal told the board she created the instructional leadership team in her first year and expanded it from 11 to 15 members. The team conducts regular learning walks — peer classroom observations intended to surface effective instructional practices and identify professional-development needs — and has made literacy the schoolwide focus.
Stacy Schultz and Bethany Jason, who each serve one hour per day as instructional coaches, described their work with teachers on lesson planning, language goals, sentence frames, academic vocabulary and implementation of new curriculum. Schultz said she is a special-education teacher who spends an hour per day as an instructional coach; Jason said she is an English-learners teacher who also serves one hour per day in the coaching role.
The coaches said they are using FastBridge assessment data along with observational data from learning walks to measure progress. School leaders said they expect incremental gains and that the model is a step toward a full-time coaching position once resources allow. Teachers quoted in the presentation reported early classroom changes: one health teacher said the coaching work “is changing the student focus and how they engage”; a teacher said sentence stems helped all students reach deeper understanding.
The principal told the board that staff receive 30 minutes of professional learning at one monthly staff meeting and that the district aims to continue targeted, manageable professional development for teachers while expanding coaching and literacy supports. Board members encouraged the initiative and invited themselves to attend a January professional-development session.
School leaders said they will return with interim data in May to report progress tied to FastBridge and learning-walk measures.
