COS Classroom is a coaching model, and collaborative coaching partnerships happen across systems. While the actual coaching happens in the classroom, the culture of safety needed starts in the front office. Without administrative support, even the most talented coaches and educators can feel like they are all alone swimming against the tide. Below is a breakdown of how those layers of support create successful implementation.
| Role | Key Contribution | Impact on Culture |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Resource allocation, policy alignment, and emotional "buy-in." | Create a Culture of Safety where coaches and educators feel supported to do both the hard work and to ask for help when needed. |
| Coaches | Bridging the gap between the goals of the agency and the educator’s day-to-day practice. | Provide the Secure Base for educators to explore and expand their competencies and a Safe Haven to reflect on their struggles. |
| Educators | Delivery of the approach and direct relationship building with children and their families. | Establish in the classroom the Secure Base and the Safe Haven needed for each child to learn and grow. |
Key Elements of the Hierarchy of Support
- Reflective Practice: Moving away from "What is wrong with this child?" toward "What is this child's behavior telling us about their need?"
- Parallel Process: Administrators treat coaches with the same empathy and curiosity that coaches show teachers, and teachers show students.
- Consistency over Intensity: Success in COS Classroom isn't about solving that behavior; it’s about the reliable presence of regulated adults.
- Ancestral Wisdom: Coaches engage in a reflective process and tap into the hardwiring of a committed educator to find caring ways to make a difference.
Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
Circle of Security International, Inc. is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and awards IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for its learning events that meet the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is internationally recognized as both a standards development organization and an accrediting body dedicated to advancing quality in continuing education and training. Rather than earning seat time, our courses focus on competency-based instruction that include assessments to measure learning outcomes.
| Course | CEUs | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| COS Classroom Foundations Course | 1.2 IACET units | 12 clock hours |
| COS Classroom Coach Training | 4.0 IACET units | 40 clock hours |
Frequently Asked Questions
Educators complete the individual on-demand COS Classroom Foundations course and coaches receive their initial training when they complete the hybrid COS Classroom Coach Training. Coaches receive ongoing coaching support by participating in regularly scheduled live event coaching support forums.
Often, agency goals focus on outcomes (test scores, attendance, behavior metrics), while COS Classroom™ focuses on processes (attachment, emotional regulation, reflection, and wisdom). The coach's challenge is to translate the quiet work of building trust across relationships into the loud language of organizational success across systems. The administrator's role is to assure the time required to do the job is built into the workday, understanding that an educator who feels safe and supported is an educator who feels confident to explore and reflect, and a child who feels safe and supported is a child who is ready to learn.
Practice-based Coaching resources recommend ratios based on the delivery format and intensity of the coaching needed.
- Group Coaching: A coach can typically manage a group of 6 to 8 educators. For this format, a coach should expect to spend roughly 12 to 15 hours per meeting cycle, which includes prep, facilitation of the group meeting, goal setting and action planning, individual observations in the classroom that may also include brief individual check-ins, then reflection and feedback.
- Individual Coaching: Individual coaching can vary from 20 minutes to 90 minutes per session. The time allocated is dependent upon both the needs of the educator, what’s happening in the classroom, and the amount of time available to allow for individual coaching.
- High Intensity Settings: When needs are high for educators and/or children, coaches may need to maximize the dose of weekly coaching and frequency of observation time directly in the classroom. New educators may also need more frequent coaching sessions.
Figure 1. Practice-Based Coaching Cycle. From U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Head Start (2020).
Practice-based Coaching (PBC) has emerged as one of the most effective frameworks for professional development in early childhood educations. Research consistently shows that adult learners in high stress environments (like classrooms) need more than theory, they need cyclic support. COS Classroom Coaching follows the built in cyclical process found in the PBC model.
Yes, Classroom Foundations participants earn 1.2 IACET CEUs (12 clock hours) upon completion and Classroom Coach participants earn 4.0 IACET CEUs (40 clock hours) upon completion.
The on-demand course is designed to offer flexibility in scheduling. Learners can engage individually, in small groups, or as whole teams while maintaining individual logins and progress for assignments and certificates.
Having a trained coach on staff can help you problem solve why use this approach? (checklist from manual). Foundations course tracks progress toward completion and awards certificate with CEUs earned.
Consider what format of delivery works best for your school/agency/center. Some options include:
- Group - The same group of educators meet together for coaching sessions. This may be same classroom teams, or mixed groups.
- Peer Review – Teams of educators meet together both at coaching sessions and outside of the scheduled time to support each other with COS Classroom implementation.
- Individual – The Coach sets a regular meeting time with an individual teacher or teaching team.
COS Classroom was developed to support educators working in the classroom with children. However, coaching may take place remotely or in-person. Either way, careful planning around frequency, intensity, duration, and confidentiality must all be taken into consideration. COSI provides a Remote Facilitation Decision Matrix to coaches for special considerations that may occur with online delivery.
Coaching frequency (how often you meet), intensity (how long you meet), and duration will vary. Remember that consistency over intensity is what matters. Success in COS Classroom isn't about time spent trying to solve that behavior; it’s about the developing capacities in educators that lead to the reliable presence of regulated adults in the classroom.
To complete one full practice based coaching cycle including shared goals, focused observation, and reflection/feedback, staff need to commit at a minimum 4-5 hours per cycle. Generally, a PBC cycle happens weekly or biweekly.
There are many examples of how understanding COS Classroom helps educators develop secure relationships with children in their care. An early adopter of the approach earned a Level 5 CLASS rating (the highest available from this classroom assessment scoring system).
Map of Regions
