Teacher practices and experiences are often tremendously different whether in terms of a novice versus expert teacher.  As we know, there is a massive teacher shortage in the United States.   With this being said, it is our responsibility as educational leaders to support novice teachers and diminish the divided knowledge between novice and expert teachers.   Novice teachers are placed into teaching positions in the United States with limited practice and experience in the classroom setting.   With these limited experiences, also comes limited planning practice and coaching feedback to support teacher growth.  Most novice teachers are entering schools from teaching programs where they are learning concepts around curriculum, standards, assessments, planning, and teaching, however, they are limited in the amount of experience they have in the classroom practicing these skills.  It is urgent to address this head on and assure that novice teachers are feeling supported while transitioning into the classroom setting.  Reach Institute for Instructional Leadership is working to ensure that novice teachers and instructional leaders who are heading into the field have the experiences and practices needed to succeed.   This Action Research Project is being completed as part of a Masters of Educational Leadership program along with the desired work towards Clear Administrative Credential. It is sought to improve teacher practice specifically through lesson planning and coaching, focusing on the anticipation of student needs (academic and behavioral) to reach desired outcomes for all students.  The three components of this project focus on designing a lesson plan template and training teachers to utilize this template as part of weekly planning, facilitating professional development related to the Gradual Release Model, and leading three coaching cycles.  The intervention changed throughout the research project to better support teachers with direct coaching. The findings within this Action Research Project were based on data collected through surveys, interviews, lesson planning outcomes, professional development feedback, and coaching cycles.   The findings of this intervention show that teachers who receive extended support in classroom, coaching and collaborative lesson planning, in turn improve their ability to reach the needs of a diverse group of students and build their confidence in the classroom. The findings also show greater progress with consistency and modeling in the classroom setting.

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