'Bug-in-ear' teacher coaching shows promise

School districts are beginning to utilize bug-in-ear coaching tactics as a professional development tool, with a coach watching a teacher in action via livestream and making suggestions in real time through an earpiece, Education Week reports.Mary Catherine Scheeler, an associate professor of special education at Penn State University's College of Education, began researching the method in 2002 and claims its practicality is in its ability to address behaviors as they occur so they can be immediately corrected.Research indicates that educators coached this way are more likely to use evidence-based practices during instruction and that teachers continue to improve after the sessions have ended. Recent years have seen a rise in popularity for virtual coaching, where teachers record their lessons and coaches critique the video. But the bug-in-the-ear approach can save additional time and eliminate a step for teachers, allowing them to apply information in real time. Additional research has been conducted by Kathleen Artman Meeker, an associate professor at the University of Washington College of Education, and Nancy Rosenberg, director of the university's Applied Behavioral Analysis program, who created a coaching program to assist paraprofessionals in teaching students. They specifically assisted the paras while they taught students to make self-advocacy statements that expressed their needs. The immediacy of the feedback proved helpful and the duo considered the program a success.