University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education Reduces Coaching Costs & Increases Impact

When the instructional coaches at the The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk with the College of Education at UT Austin faced escalating costs and logistical challenges of traditional teacher observations, they knew something had to change. Frequent travel across the state, sometimes up to a 9-hour drive to visit various schools, was draining resources and limiting the effectiveness of their coaching. Determined to maintain high standards for teacher development while overcoming these hurdles, UT Austin turned to GoReact, a video-based feedback platform that aligned perfectly with the needs of their teacher preparation program.

Challenge

Before adopting GoReact, UT Austin’s instructional coaches, like Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz, senior field trainer/analyst with University of Texas at Austin’s Meadows Center for Presenting Educational Risk (MCPER), were grappling with significant logistical and financial burdens. Michelle, who is based in Dallas-Fort Worth, frequently traveled across Texas to observe and provide feedback to teacher candidates.

These challenges meant that opportunities for teacher observation were limited, and the effectiveness of coaching was often hampered by the delays between observation and feedback.

In addition to the logistical challenges, having an irregular observation schedule can be disruptive both to teachers and students. For Lambert-Yuhasz, many of the classes she was observing included students on the autism spectrum who often struggled with change and disruption to their norm so random in-person observations interfered with instructional delivery.

Solution

Through a federal research program, UT Austin’s College of Education transformed the way it was conducting observations by adopting GoReact. By switching to a video-based platform, the university was able to cut travel costs and enhance both the frequency and quality of their observations.

With GoReact, instructional coaches could provide timely feedback without the need for constant physical presence. “GoReact essentially brought the classroom to me. It was like being in two places at once, and that’s invaluable.”

Benefits of GoReact

In addition to reducing costs and logistical challenges of observations, GoReact offered several other key benefits that enhanced instructional coaching at UT Austin. 

• In-the-moment feedback: GoReact enables coaches to deliver feedback that’s directly tied to a specific moment in the lesson without being physically present for the lesson. Teacher candidates can then see exactly what coaches are referring to, in the context of what they were doing. This real-time alignment between feedback and instruction accelerated teacher development. 
• Coaching consistency: Comments and markers in GoReact helped maintain instructional and feedback consistency across multiple teachers. Using these feedback tools also saved coaches time and allowed them to focus on more in-depth and personalized instruction.
  

• Scalability and Resource Efficiency: GoReact enabled UT Austin to significantly reduce travel costs and reallocate those funds toward other critical resources, such as hiring additional personnel. This scalability not only optimized resources but also allowed for more frequent observations and interactions, ultimately improving the effectiveness of the instructional coaching process.

Impact

The adoption of GoReact at UT Austin has profoundly impacted the university’s instructional coaching model. Having a video tool and easy-to-use feedback features complements in-person coaching, offering tools needed to support teachers even from a distance. 

LeAnn McGraw, another instructional coach at UT Austin, also found GoReact invaluable in her work. “I’m responsible for a small K-12 school, and I simply can’t be everywhere all the time. GoReact allows me to be there when I can’t be there. It’s become an essential tool in my coaching toolkit.”

 GoReact has also empowered UT Austin’s teachers currently teaching to become more reflective practitioners. “I’ve seen teachers grow in confidence and skill because they can watch themselves, reflect, and apply the feedback immediately. It’s incredibly rewarding to see how quickly they improve when they have access to this kind of immediate, actionable feedback.”

To learn more about how GoReact helps teacher preparation programs support candidates and teachers, visit https://get.goreact.com/teacher-education/.