Led by Jim Knight and backed by 25 years of research and experience, The Instructional Coaching Group’s coaching experts work to help educators develop the skills and tools they need to make an unmistakably positive impact in students' lives.
Our research has helped us identify seven success factors that are essential for developing and sustaining a great coaching program. We help people in organizations learn and implement these factors through workshops, institutes, and consulting.
We have been studying instructional coaching for more than two decades. The goal of our research has always been improving education for every student.
View our researchWe host workshops and institutes to help coaches, teachers, and administrators learn and implement the factors, habits, and strategies they need to succeed.
More on professional developmentICG’s trained consultants are available to meet with districts to help create plans for developing and supporting highly effective coaching programs.
More on consultingAt its core, a partnership approach is about treating others the way you would like to be treated. We see coaching as dialogical. 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 7 Partnership Principles to guide all of the work we do.
While our consulting sessions are centered around a custom-made agenda, they often address the following areas:
One partner does not tell the other partner what to do; both partners share ideas and make decisions together as equals.
More on EqualityChoice positions teachers as the final decision-makers—partners who choose their coaching goals and decide which practices to adopt.
More on ChoiceCoaches who follow the principle of voice learn from their teachers, and teachers feel safe expressing what they think and feel.
More on VoiceCoaches who foster dialogue actively seek out others’ ideas and share their own in a way that encourages discussion.
Move on Dialogue“Looking back,” “looking at,” and “looking ahead” is engaging, energizing, and essential to professional development.
More on ReflectionAll professional learning needs to involve real-life application, ensuring that coaching is productive, meaningful, and helpful to teachers and students.
More on PraxisLearning is not a one-way street, so coaches should also learn during the coaching process, not just the coachee.
More on Reciprocity“We initially attended the Teaching | Learning | Coaching Conference in Kansas City last October to develop our coaching skills with our newly appointed task of evaluating teachers. We were very concerned—being district office administrators—at entering a building and having meaningful dialogue with our teachers concerning their teaching practices in a way that would produce fruitful partnerships. Our experience at the conference and in our roles since has been such a joy as a result of some of the practices we have applied since the training.”
