School Name | DBN
Inquiry coaching overview and samples
Date
Professional Development by District Public, district-public.com
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The Problem:
Schools invest significant time in inquiry projects, but too often that investment doesn't pay off. Teams get stuck in endless planning without ever trying anything. Proposed changes are too broad to implement quickly or measure meaningfully, and without real data, conversations stay at the level of generalities. The result is an inquiry process that feels more like a compliance exercise than a driver of instructional improvement—and teachers who are no clearer on what to do differently than when they started.
The Solution:
District Public's inquiry coaching cuts through the noise by getting teachers collecting data right from the start. Rather than over-planning, teams make real-time observations about how students respond to instruction, then use that data to power a rapid feedback cycle—testing small, targeted change ideas, seeing what works, and refining from there. A District Public coach guides the team through every step, keeping the work focused and the changes actionable. By the end of the program, teachers have made meaningful progress on a persistent instructional challenge—and have the experience and tools to keep the inquiry going on their own .
What are educators saying?
“[Our District Public data coach] was very flexible and informative with grade 5. Her organized data allowed us to see what skills/ standards we should focus on in math to try and help our kids succeed on grade level content. I most enjoyed how she worked with us to come up with an authentic technique (PIQ) that is tailored to our kids’ specific needs. The information she provided will be useful for the following years to come.” -teacher, Bronx elementary school
“It has been helpful to look at student data in depth and have the opportunity to make adjustments as a team to best fit the needs of our students. It has held teachers accountable with parts of our lessons (ie., Exit Ticket). It has given us the opportunity to brainstorm ways to implement meaningful instruction with our students (ie., staying on pacing with time, implementing and checking exit tickets, reviewing/reteaching skills and concepts to students). [Our District Public data coach] is extremely on point with time, and the needs of the team, making our meetings meaningful and valuable.” - teacher, Bronx elementary school
“It was helpful to think of change as something granular and focused, as long as data and changes are tracked. Not everything has to start as a paradigm shift.” - teacher, Bronx high school
Overview of Sample Inquiry Process
Process Timeline
| Topic of session | What school team will do after session |
Session #1 | Review assessment analysis Identify problem space we want to work in: Open-ended response tasks | Informal observations: how do students respond when you assign an open-ended task? What barriers to success seem to be involved? |
Session #2 | Discuss root causes important in problem space, brainstorm change ideas | Informally try out one or more change ideas and see how students respond (iteration zero) |
Session #3 | Select change idea and plan implementation and data collection | Test out change idea and collect data on results (iteration 1) |
Session #4 | Review data collected and revise change idea | Test revised change idea and collect data on results (iteration 2) |
Session #5 | Review data collected and discuss next steps | Plan to expand successes to broader audience and/or continue inquiry process using District Public templates |
A typical 5-session inquiry coaching program allows a team to identify a problem, explore root causes, and run through two cycles of testing change ideas.
Problem space we are working in
“Students have difficulty completing written open-ended tasks (such as essays, short answer, or constructed response) fully and with understanding.”
What would success look like?
Teachers (or leadership) generate a problem and success statement
Students can complete open-ended tasks fully and with understanding.
Goal
Students approach open-ended tasks with confidence.
Students understand how to complete the task.
PRIMARY DRIVERS
What conditions need to be in place to meet your goal?
SECONDARY DRIVERS
What comprises or influences the primary driver?
CHANGE IDEAS
Small instructional or behavioral shifts
Students have already experienced success with similar tasks.
Have students complete MC and then answer same questions as short answer
Students are willing to complete the task even when they’re not sure they have the right answer.
Students have the content knowledge needed to complete the task.
Protocol or checklist with steps to complete open-ended tasks.
Students have a workable strategy for tackling problems
Students understand expectations for responses (eg, complete sentences, showing work, etc)
Open-ended tasks are assigned frequently
Partial credit is given for pre-work like annotation
Use sentence starters to scaffold complete sentence expectations
Teacher modeling
Teachers generate a driver diagram to map solutions to the agreed-upon problem
Teachers agree on a change idea that can be implemented right away, and collect data on what they observed. District Public builds a data collection tool teachers can use to track data on their change idea.
% of students for whom the answer was ‘Yes’
After 2-3 weeks, District Public analyzes the results and facilitates a discussion on what was learned. Teams then abandon, modify, or continue implementing the change idea, and repeat the process.