Instructional Coaching Program Best Practices

Best Practices for Instructional Coaching

The Seven Factors Every Instructional Coaching Program Needs to Be Successful

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The Seven Factors for Coaching Success

We help schools/districts learn and implement The Seven Factors for Success; our research shows these factors are the foundation of instructional coaching best practices. Without purposeful development and support in all seven areas, your coaching program will not meet its maximum potential, educators will become discouraged, and those who are the most vulnerable—your students—will suffer the most loss.

01 Partnership Principles
Instead of dictating exactly what someone should do to improve, we believe a respectful and collaborative dialogue paves the way to positive change. We work from seven Partnership Principles to guide all the work we do: equality, choice, voice, dialogue, reflection, praxis, and reciprocity.
02 Communication Skills
Since coaching is, above all, a series of conversations, coaches must be effective communicators. Coaches should employ effective coaching skills grounded in healthy beliefs about communication.
03 Coaches As Leaders
To lead yourself, you must know your purpose and principles, how to use your time effectively, and how to take care of yourself. To lead others, you need a combination of ambition and humility—to be reliable and ambitious for change but at the same time responsive to teachers and their needs.
04 The Impact Cycle
Every coaching situation presents unique challenges. An established process for guiding the coaching experience ensures that instructional coaches have all the tools they need to help teachers set and achieve their goals.
05 Gathering Data
Data is important within a coaching program because it provides a way to set goals and monitor progress. Goals need to be measured frequently so that teachers can determine if what they are doing is working or if adjustments need to be made.
06 Teaching Strategies
Instructional coaches share teaching strategies with teachers so they can meet the goals they set. For that reason, coaches need to have a deep understanding of high-impact teaching strategies and instructional coaching best practices.
07 System Support
When coaches flourish, it is often because they work in settings where leaders are intentional and disciplined about providing the support that is required for coaching success to occur. The opposite is also true. Without support, coaches often struggle to have any impact at all.

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Partner with an ICG consultant to work privately with your school or district.

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Dive Deeper

5-day or 16-week Instructional Coaching Institute

With content designed for instructional coaches and administrators, our instructional coaching institutes provide the tools and resources to build and maintain a successful instructional coaching program.

Led by Jim Knight, this unique learning opportunity helps coaches and administrators not only establish a proven foundation for success, but also develop a deeper and complete understanding of the instructional coaching best practices and processes, cultivate communication skills for healthy conversations, deepen engagement in the classroom, and best utilize coaching tools and resources.