Coaching wIth Performance Feedback as Teacher Professional Development: A Single-Case Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Teacher coaching with performance feedback is widely used in single-case literature to train teachers to implement a variety of strategies and interventions in their classrooms. Meta-analyses of teacher coaching have been conducted in the group design literature and on studies examining the influence of coaching on teacher treatment integrity in the single-case literature. However, the present study is the first to examine the collective single-case effects of teacher coaching with performance feedback on generalizable and maintainable teacher skills that promote teacher effectiveness. A literature search and qualitative coding process yielded 52 single-case studies examining the influence of teacher coaching with performance feedback on teacher implementation of 13 categories of generalizable skills. Included studies used multiple baseline and multiple probe designs and were coded for a variety of qualitative study characteristics. All studies were rated for quality using adapted two-level standards from Ganz and Ayers (2018) and the What Works Clearinghouse standards. Log response ratios were calculated for effect size estimates. These effect sizes were then synthesized in three sets of multi-level models with random effects for studies and cases within studies. Overall, teacher performance feedback was found to result in a 227% change in teacher implementation of skills or strategies in the classroom. When multi-level models were subset by teacher skill, seven of the 13 dependent variable groups demonstrated significant results. Twelve predictors included in an overall model revealed non-significant moderating effects, including publication status and study quality. The present meta-analysis supports teacher coaching with performance feedback as an evidence-based professional development practice in the context of single-case research, although results may vary depending on teacher target behavior. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.