New TORSH Survey: 78.6% of Teachers Say Coaching Influences Their Decision to Stay in the Classroom
The findings challenge a common view of professional development as a cost in time and money. Instead, educators say consistent, trust-based coaching gives time back: to teachers in the classroom, to coaches on the road, and to organizational employers in the form of educators who stay.
Key findings
Trust and retention. At a time when districts nationwide face a sustained educator shortage, 78.6% of teachers say coaching influences their decision to stay in the classroom. 50.7% say it influences them highly. The same share (78.6%) strongly agree their coach builds a trusting, safe and supportive relationship, and 82.9% report real agency, voice and choice in their coaching.
Time back for teachers. 84.3% of teachers say they reclaim lost instructional time every day using strategies from coaching. Four in ten (40.7%) reclaim 15 minutes or more a day, more than 45 hours of recovered instructional time per student over a 180-day school year.
Time back for coaches. 60% of coaches save three or more hours a week on travel by coaching in hybrid or virtual formats, and 12.7% save nine or more. Coaches say they reinvest that time first into more detailed, timely feedback for teachers (56.4%) and into personal and planning time that reduces burnout (49.1%).
Better classroom practice. 91.4% of teachers report improvement in their instructional practice from coaching, with 52.1% calling it significant. 74.3% say reviewing video of their own teaching improved their ability to self-reflect, and coaches name time-stamped video comments as the single biggest driver of teacher growth (45.5%).
"The number I keep coming back to is 45 hours. That's more than a full week of school given back to students in those classrooms, and it didn't come from a new curriculum. It came from a teacher and a coach working together," said Courtney Williams, CEO of TORSH. "That's the return we should expect from professional learning."
Teachers in the survey pointed to the coaching relationship itself as the reason coaching works. "This past school year was a rough one for me; it was my coach's timely interventions that kept me on track, providing needed support and guidance in a number of key areas," said one Pre-K teacher in a TORSH partner program.
Early childhood depth, K-12 momentum
Two-thirds of respondents work in early learning and Pre-K programs using practice-based coaching, including home-visiting and center-based models. That gives the report an especially deep look at early childhood, where TORSH has sustained multi-year coaching partnerships across the country.
TORSH's K-12 work is also expanding through research-backed partnerships. SESEBA powered by TORSH supports Dual Language Learners, where high-quality teacher-child interaction has been shown to improve student achievement gains by an average of 20% within one academic year. TORSH also has an upcoming launch in partnership with the Division for Early Childhood that will support educators and early interventionists who work with children with developmental delays and disabilities.
Get the report
The full 2026 TORSH Impact Report is available at https://www.torsh.co/press-releases/2026-torsh-impact-report/
About the survey
TORSH surveyed 195 educators (140 teachers and 55 coaches) across its partner districts and programs from July to August 2026. Most respondents work in early childhood and Pre-K settings, with a growing K-12 sample. All figures are self-reported.
Jamie Paulsen
TORSH
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