Coaching for Coaches
Staying on top of continuous learning can be difficult, frustrating, and ambiguous at worst. It requires strong habits and systems as well as attention to the adaptive parts of improvement.
That’s where relevant, timely, and actionable coaching can help. When connected to a shared vision for what students should experience, coaching can equip educators to work together to ignite new possibilities in learning.
🔧 But once your school or system has set intentions around coaching, there’s another important component to consider. How will you coach your coaches?
Self-Assess: How Does Your Coaching Strategy Measure Up?
What is Effective Coaching?
In our previous paper, “Get More Value from Your Teacher Coaching Program,” Nicholas Cains and Cristle Moorer noted that educators’ skills and knowledge grow more quickly and durably when they have tailored support from expert mentors who have been in their shoes.
Coaches are crucial in helping teachers shift their perspectives, deepen their subject area knowledge and skills, and reach their goals. Numerous studies highlight the benefits of curriculum-based coaching, but it’s equally important to understand what works best in implementation. Coaching is most effective when situated within a larger, coherent instructional strategy.”
When approached as a coaching system rather than just an active practice, it enables a few key benefits:
- Educators gain personalized support that helps them translate theory into practice.
- Teams experience a collaborative learning orientation that normalizes frequent, specific feedback on instructional practices.
- School leaders gain a strategy for operationalizing common goals and are better equipped to nurture instructional excellence across classrooms.
In this paper, we’ll delve deeper into an approach to building a strong coaching system with an examination of a recent partnership with DC Public Schools. We will also leave you with three reflection tools for identifying your next steps through multiple perspectives.
Download the Paper & Tools
Check out the previous piece to learn about common approaches and factors that often derail coaching despite great intentions.
Get Support
Are you looking for support around the growth areas you identified in your self-assessment? We can help. Talk with our team about your goals for next year!
