“Proving Our Worth”: Discourses of Teacher Evaluation in Literacy Coaching

There is increasing evidence that literacy coaching is an effective method for supporting teachers’ professional development. At the same time, teacher evaluation systems have intensified in response to reform initiatives, raising questions about what happens at the intersection of teacher evaluation and coaching. Despite the potential of coaching to promote deep reflection and professional growth, discourses of teacher evaluation can disrupt teacher-coach relationships if accountability is privileged over professional learning and coaches are positioned as experts who judge and report on teachers’ performance. The purpose of this study was to explore how dominant discourses of teacher evaluation influenced the professional learning cultures and coaching interactions of practicing teachers enrolled in two sections of a Reading Masters course focused on literacy leadership and coaching. Data included written documents from a situated coaching cycle assignment, in which students recorded, analyzed, and reflected on a coaching interaction, and semistructured interviews designed to elicit participants’ stories about their experiences with the assignment. A multiphase qualitative analysis of the data revealed teachers’ affective responses to the discourse of evaluation through the themes of enforcement of “good” teaching and professional status. The discourse of evaluation negatively influenced coaching interactions within cultures of accountability. These findings have implications for how coaches and administrators can work together to rebalance the relationship between accountability and professional growth in their school’s teacher evaluation processes.