Role of Instructional Coaches

In many school districts, I've seen various types of instructional coaches in many different schools. I've worked in schools where there were four different instructional coaches for each of the major content area subjects. I've also been in schools where there is only one instructional coach and that instructional coach is responsible for everything in terms of instruction. As a teacher and department chairperson, I sometimes have a hard time understanding the need for an instructional coach. This is probably because I am not serving in an administrative role and I do not know the relationship between school administrators and the instructional coach. I guess my question becomes what exactly should be the role of an instructional coach in a school building when you only have one instructional coach allotment? I currently work in a school where there is only one instructional coach and that person is responsible for things like looking over lesson plans and providing feedback to having professional development sessions targeting different things. But to really improve teaching and learning in the classroom what should the instructional coach be doing? What should school administrators require of the instructional coach in order to improve teaching and learning? I wholeheartedly understand that this would probably vary from district to district and different districts will require different things of school instructional coaches but I'm not so sure that the minute tasks that instructional coaches are being charged with are effective in terms of teaching and learning. For example, I have a hard time with instructional coaches providing feedback on lesson plans and I'm not so sure that that is an effective use of time. Furthermore, I think that if you are going to provide feedback on lesson plans then there is a certain thing that you are to be looking for. But regardless I'm not so sure that lesson plan feedback is the best approach in order to improve teaching and learning. So I guess I've just been wondering about and the role of instructional coaches in the instructional process

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