Instructional Coaching

Lynn Barnes

Lynn Barnes, an IC at Jardine Middle School, has a total of 36 years of teaching experience. Of the 35 years, she has been an IC for 7 years and taught language arts for 15 years. Lynn won Topeka’s Middle School Teacher of the Year Award and is certified as a Strategic Instruction Model Content Enhancement Professional Developer, a Strategic Instruction Model Learning Strategies Professional Developer, and a Professional Developer for Randy Sprick’s Safe and Civil Schools program.

Devona Dunekack

Devona Dunekack, the Project Coordinator for the Pathways to Success Instructional Coaching Project in Topeka, Kansas, has been an educator for 25 years. She was a middle school teacher for 16 years and spent 4 years working as curriculum coordinator. She was an Instructional Coach in the Pathways to Success program for five years before becoming the Pathways to Success Project Coordinator. Devona is certified as a Strategic Instruction Model Content Enhancement Professional Developer and as a Learning Strategies Professional Developer. She is also a Trainer of Trainers for the Safe and Civil Schools CHAMPs approach to classroom management.

Jim Knight

Jim Knight, President of the Instructional Coaching Group, is a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than a decade studying instructional coaching, writing two books on the topic: Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction, published by Corwin Press & NSDC, and Coaching Classroom Management, written with Randy Sprick, Wendy Reinke, and Tricia McCale and published by Pacific Northwest Press. Jim’s articles on Instructional Coaching have been included in publications such as The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Teachers Teaching Teachers. Jim directs several research projects, including Pathways to Success a comprehensive, district-wide school reform project in the Topeka, Kansas School District. Jim also leads the coaching institutes and Annual Instructional Coaching Conference offered by the University of Kansas. Jim is frequently asked to guide professional learning for instructional coaches and has presented and consulted in more than 40 states, most Canadian provinces, and in Japan. He has also won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards.

Tricia McKale

Tricia McKale, co-author of Coaching Classroom Management, with Randy Sprick, Wendy Reinke, and Jim Knight, is a nationally recognized professional developer, who leads sessions on instructional coaching, coaching classroom management, and the Safe and Civil Schools curriculum. Tricia was an instructional coach with Pathways to Success at Robinson Middle School for five years after serving as a language arts teacher in North Ottawa County in Kansas.

Ruth Ryschon

Administration

Jenny Ryschon-Knight

Communications

Sue Woodruff

Sue Woodruff is a nationally recognized leader of school improvement efforts based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A leader of leaders for the Strategic Instruction Model and the Content Literacy Continuum, Sue spends her time identifying excellent ICs and mentoring them for their district. Sue was an IC at Muskegon High for 15 years. Muskegon High received national recognition when it won the Pete and Carrie Rozelle National Award from the National Center for Learning Disabilities for addressing the educational and social-emotional needs of all children, including those with learning disabilities.

Cameron Knight

Software Developer