We’ve been researching and practicing instructional coaching for more than 20 years.
We believe coaching is the most beneficial training, leading to better teaching by educators and better learning by students.
What is an instructional coach?
Instructional coaches partner with teachers to analyze current reality, set goals, identify and explain teaching strategies to hit the goals, and provide support until the goals are met.
To put it simply… instructional coaching makes it easier for teachers to meet the needs of their students.
Need help designing a new coaching program?
Why is Instructional Coaching Necessary?
Traditional training just isn’t cutting it.
Source: The Public School Teacher Attrition Crisis
78% of U.S. schools report vacancies
Source: Learning Policy Institute: Teacher Turnover Report
Source: Learning Policy Institute: The Cost of Teacher Turnover
The loss of an educator is felt system-wide.
High turnover rates reduce achievement for those students whose classrooms are directly affected, especially in high-poverty schools, where turnover-induced loss of general and grade-specific experience is the main driver of declining student achievement.
Teacher turnover harms the morale of the whole school; not only the students, but also the teachers who are left to carry the burden of teacher vacancies. It’s a hardship schools can avoid by providing better learning opportunities for their staff and ensuring they have the foundation and support in place for a successful year.
Let’s develop a coaching program that supports your teachers.
How does ICG help?
We provide research-based professional development to build system-wide efficacy.
The coaching provided by the Instructional Coaching Group is tailored for educators who are designing, implementing, or overseeing a coaching program. As such, our goal is to help educators maintain successful and long-term coaching programs.
Developing new coaching programs
We offer expert-led strategies for designing effective coaching programs from the start. If you’re designing a new program, consider participating in The Instructional Coaching Institute.
Professional learning for coaches, teachers, and administrators
More on Professional Development
Consulting for leaders of coaching programs
How does ICG measure success?
When coaching is done well, it meets ICG’s 7 Success Factors
Partnership
The way we present ourselves to others—what we do and how we act—plays an important part in the strength of our relationships.
Communication Beliefs & Habits
Since coaching is, above all, a series of conversations, coaches need to be effective communicators. They also need to employ effective coaching skills that reflect healthy beliefs about communication.
Leadership
Leadership can be divided into two parts: leading yourself and leading others. 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, a combination of ambition and humility is needed—to be reliable and ambitious for change but at the same time responsive to teachers.
Coaching Process
While 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.
Gathering Data
Data is important within coaching because it provides a way to identify 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.
Instructional Playbook
When going through the coaching cycle, there can be so many factors at play that it’s easy to be overwhelmed. That’s why a central focus of instructional coaching is creating an Instructional Playbook to meet student-focused goals.
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 will often struggle to have any impact at all.
Learn more in The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching by Jim Knight
Does your coaching program meet the 7 Success Factors?
Who is Instructional Coaching for?
We offer engaging programs to provide support at every level of the coaching system; we have programs for administrators, coaching champions, instructional coaches, and teachers.
Administrators
Coaching Champions
Instructional Coaches
Teachers
Who Leads ICG’s Coaching Sessions?
Coaching is led by ICG’s founder, Jim Knight, and our senior consultants: Ann Hoffman, Michelle Harris, and Sharon Thomas.
Jim Knight
Founder, Senior Parter
Ann Hoffman
Senior Consultant
Michelle Harris
Senior Consultant
Sharon Thomas
Senior Consultant
Let’s design a research-based plan for developing or improving your coaching program.
Stories of Impact
“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.”
Instructional Supervisor
Tennessee