about icg

We're dedicated to creating professional development for coaches, teachers, and leaders so students experience better learning, better lives.

100,000+
instructional coaches trained
45+
countries implementing
20+ Years
developing instructional coaching

Who We Are

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.

Photo of the Instructional Coaching Group team, posing in front of the TLC letters at the annual Teaching Learning Coaching Conference.

ICG is a Certified B Corporation

We’re proud to be a Certified B Corporation! As a B Corp, we’re part of a global community of over 7,000 businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental impact. Learn more about the movement on the B Corp website. View our B Corp profile here.

Our Principles of Instructional Coaching

How to Coach Administrators

Confidentiality

Resistance

A mother uses her laptop to participate in an online course from the comfort of her home, while her young child reads next to her on the couch.

Where we're working

We’ve worked with over 100,000 coaches from all around the world.

Work with us

A few of our partners

Logo for the Arizona Department of Education
Logo for Frisco Independent School District
Logo for Fairfax County Public Schools
Logo for New York City Department of Public Education
Logo for Hazelwood School District
Logo for Region 13 Education Service Center
Logo for The School District of Lee County
Logo for Northwestern University
Logo for National Education Association
Logo for Oklahoma City Public Schools

How we work

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.

Research

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 research

Professional Development

We 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 development

Consulting

ICG’s trained consultants are available to meet with districts to help create plans for developing and supporting highly effective coaching programs.

More on consulting
View all services

Our Partnership Principles

At 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:

Equality

One partner does not tell the other partner what to do; both partners share ideas and make decisions together as equals.

More on Equality

Choice

Choice positions teachers as the final decision-makers—partners who choose their coaching goals and decide which practices to adopt.

More on Choice

Voice

Coaches who follow the principle of voice learn from their teachers, and teachers feel safe expressing what they think and feel.

More on Voice

Dialogue

Coaches who foster dialogue actively seek out others’ ideas and share their own in a way that encourages discussion.

Move on Dialogue

Reflection

“Looking back,” “looking at,” and “looking ahead” is engaging, energizing, and essential to professional development.

More on Reflection

Praxis

All professional learning needs to involve real-life application, ensuring that coaching is productive, meaningful, and helpful to teachers and students.

More on Praxis

Reciprocity

Learning is not a one-way street, so coaches should also learn during the coaching process, not just the coachee.

More on Reciprocity

Stories of impact

“This was an impactful learning experience. I was able to reflect on my own communication skills and really think about ways to improve my interaction with others.”

Director
California