The Experiences and Perceptions of Instructional Coaches in a Large Urban City

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the experiences and perceptions of instructional leadership for instructional coaches in a large, urban city. The theories guiding this study are Hallinger’s theory on instructional leadership, providing a lens for understanding how instructional leadership may be both perceived and enacted by instructional coaches, as well as Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, offering insights into how instructional coaches’ experiences of instructional leadership may impact their performance. A qualitative research design was used to allow for an in-depth exploration of the phenomenon. A sample of 10 instructional coaches across K-12 schools in a large urban setting in the northeastern United States were interviewed to examine the various experiences of instructional leadership within different organizational structures. A sample of 15 teachers who collaborate with the instructional coaches participated in focus groups to explore how the instructional coaches’ instructional leadership is perceived. Both sets of data were transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed. Three central themes emerged from the data, with findings indicating that standardization of instructional coaches’ responsibilities and inclusion in a distributive instructional leadership framework may support instructional coaches’ self-efficacy, success, and ultimately their experiences and perceptions of leadership.