Instructional coaching is correlated with higher student achievement and greater self-efficacy in teachers, helping to ameliorate the lack of sufficient teacher preparation. However, successful coaching implementation outcomes continue to be mixed. Coaching decision-making is a critical component of implementation, but it is rarely examined for potential improvement. This is made more difficult by the breadth and depth of decision-making literature, where points of potential intersection relevant to coaching remain unknown.
Utilizing a narrative literature analysis approach, this study systematically examined coaching and decision-making literature in order to identify themes between both domains via a coaching-centered theoretical framework. From these themes, conceptual mapping was used to synthesize both domains to identify common themes between them.
The analysis found that heuristic mental models were a common point of intersection across both areas of research. Coaches, working under time and societal pressures, rely on different styles of decision-making (e.g. rational, intuitive, spontaneous, etc.) to inform their mental models of the coaching process. This process is further influenced by social and emotional biases.
Coaching research would benefit from examining the decision-making styles of coaches, which was widely present in decision-making literature but largely absent from coaching literature. Coaching practitioners would benefit from greater reflexivity and action research strategies to better understand the styles of their own decisions.
