Coaching from Causes to Possible Solutions

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Last week’s post offers a protocol for diving into assessment data and determining possible root causes. Now, it’s time to think about making a plan to address those causes.
 
Assessment data has the potential to guide purposeful instruction and intervention. But data doesn’t make decisions. People do. As instructional coaches, we can support the work of moving from data to decision to action.
 
After teachers have spent time understanding what the data is telling them, digging beneath the surface, and narrowing the focus, there’s an important question to answer: What are we going to do about it?
 
It can be tempting to answer that question quickly. Someone suggests a familiar strategy, another person remembers a resource that worked last year, and before long, the team has a plan. But just like getting to root causes, taking our time to get to solutions pays off. Because there are no quick fixes. When we move from data to decision, I try to slow down everyone’s thinking so we can make a plan that matters. Here are a few ideas to help teachers generate possibilities, consider them carefully, and choose a productive path forward.
 
Generate Possibilities
 
The first suggestion works best with a larger group – at least 6 people – and is a great one for the full faculty, especially if you’ve just spent a meeting or a PD day looking at data. When you’re ready for action, try a Snowball fight. 😊
 
The snowball fight stays on-topic but lightens the mood. And it generates lots of possible solutions. Here’s how it works:
 
Give everyone a full sheet of paper and ask them to write down one possible response to something the team has noticed in the data. What might we try? What change in instruction, intervention, grouping, practice, or support could address the need we’ve identified? They should write this potential answer (just one) in large print on their sheet of paper. If they have another idea they really want to suggest, they can grab another sheet of paper. One per page.
 
Once everyone has completed this task, we go to a large open space, paper in hand, and line up in two groups facing each other. Then I ask everyone to wad their paper up into a ball—and we have a snowball fight! After throwing your “snowball,” pick up one that has been lobbed your way, unwad it, read it, wad it, and throw it again. Call a truce to the blizzard when you start getting repeat snowballs. The snowball fight will get the thinking going, giving everyone the chance to consider multiple possible solutions.
 
Have everyone gather snowballs and bring them to the table. Teachers then call them out and we generate a list that includes all of the ideas (there will likely be repeats on the snowballs, shortening our list). If you want to skip the snowball fight, you can go straight to brainstorming and get your list that way. The next step is to see which ideas rise to the surface.
 
Narrow the List
 
After all the ideas are on the table, it’s time to narrow the list. Affinity mapping and dot voting are two of my favorite ways to do that.
 
Affinity Mapping
To begin narrowing options, each participant picks their favorite ideas that have surfaced from previous protocols and writes them down, one per post-it note. Everyone sticks their post-its on a wall and works to group similar ideas together and then label each group. You could talk this through or use the Affinity Mapping protocol for a silent version of this activity (groups should be 8 or smaller). In the silent version, you give the instructions, and then the “no talking” rule begins. Participants move the sticky notes around, forming groups that they think go together. If someone disagrees, they can move a note to another location. Once the notes settle, with no more movement, the “no talking” rule is revoked. Teachers then decide on a label for each group, write it on a sticky note, and use it as the heading. Those headings are action ideas you take to the next step.
 
Dot Voting
Another approach if you’ve got a long list and a lot of teachers (whole faculty or a team) is dot voting. I give everyone 3-4 small stickers (I use the blank garage-sale price tag kind); the longer the list, the more stickers you should give each teacher). Teachers place their dots next to the solutions they think are most worth exploring. They can load up their favorite with all their stickers or spread the wealth among ideas. The goal isn’t to choose a winner. It’s to identify the ideas that deserve a closer look.
 
Look Closely
 
Once you have a short list, you’re getting closer to action, but you’re not there yet! Instead of asking, “Which one are we going to do?”, create space for teachers to consider these most-promising options. One way to do this is with a fishbowl interview. With this protocol, you “interview” a volunteer teacher about a potential solution while everyone else silently listens in, taking notes about interesting ideas that are shared. Your questions can uncover what needs to be considered before making a decision. You might ask:
 
*  What intrigues you about this possibility?
*  What might this look like in actual classroom practice?
*  What makes you think this could address the need we identified?
*  What questions or concerns do you have?
*  What would teachers need in order to try this successfully?
*  What might get in the way?
*  What are your hunches about this option?
 
If you’re in a large group, you can follow this initial fishbowl by asking groups of 3 to discuss the remaining possible solutions, with one interviewer, one interviewee, and one note-taker. The note-taker from each interview trio then shares out to the whole group.

 

Choose an Action

Now that the narrowed list of solutions has been thoroughly considered, it’s time to make a choice about what course of action to take. Open dialogue should precede decision-making. Be sure to talk about any necessary funding (and whether you could get it) and the time that might be required. This part of the process is especially important because an idea can sound wonderful in the abstract but become more complicated when we start considering what it would actually require:

*  Does it fit the need we identified?

*  Do teachers have the time and resources to implement it?

*  Is professional learning needed?

*  Is there a cost involved?

More broadly, is this something teachers can realistically translate into instruction that benefits students?

Those questions aren’t meant to shoot down ideas. They help the team choose with its eyes open.

Once you’ve reached a decision about which solution to move forward with (or if you’re having trouble deciding between two), it could be helpful to have a second fishbowl interview, especially one that might offer a different point of view. The final call can be made with dot voting, gradients of agreement, or a consensus discussion,

Make Commitments

Making a decision is an important step, but it only matters if teachers consider their own roles and commit to moving forward. Ask participants to write about the difference they believe they can make and what they will do, individually. Then share. Identify what happens next. What will teachers try? What support will they need? What evidence will the team pay attention to? Before wrapping up the meeting, set a date to reconvene and report back.

Protocols in Action

Of course, you won’t need to use all of these protocols with all groups, but you’ll probably use more than one to help you get to the best options for instruction and intervention. Pick and choose those protocols that best fit your context. A grade-level team might need only a quick round of possibilities and a short consensus conversation. A faculty making a larger instructional decision may benefit from several opportunities to generate, investigate, narrow, and discuss ideas. The purpose is to offer just enough structure to help teachers do their best thinking. Which of these protocols could help the group turn data into meaningful action?

Yes, these data analysis processes take time – but you’ll be sticking with the solution for weeks and impacting many students. Time you invest up front in determining the best solutions reduces time wasted in unfruitful change. Choosing the best solutions from the start is more efficient and effective than chasing changes without results.

When the chosen path has been conscientiously selected, everyone feels more-confident about it.  And, since teachers have invested in the process, they’ll be more-invested in the solution.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

This “Circle of Viewpoints” activity helps participants to explore a text or event from a variety of perspectives:
 
https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Circle%20of%20Viewpoints_0.pdf
 
 
Setting up a symposium to differentiate PD:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/back-to-school-professional-learning-empowers-teachers
 
 
Having trusted adult relationships at school matters:
 
https://www.k12dive.com/news/trusting-relationships-in-schools-support-student-outcomes-study-says/831184/ 
 
 
Does classroom arrangement align with teaching beliefs?
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/room-for-beliefs-linking-classroom-design-and-what-we-value/
 
 
Keys to productive struggle:
 
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2019/09/productive-struggle-elementary-mathematics
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: SEP2026 for 15% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!