The coaching provided by the ICG is primarily tailored for educational leaders who are designing, implementing, or overseeing a coaching program. As such, our goal is to help leaders create highly successful coaching programs. Generally, our sessions address the following issues:

• revisiting specific practical aspects of content that participants have been exposed to in workshops
• inventing solutions to move through road blocks that inevitably arise when coaching is being implemented
• providing built-in accountability to help instructional coaches and other leaders stay on track
• supporting district leaders who often have no one to talk with about their challenges in guiding a coaching program

Just as teachers need coaches to help them learn and use new teaching strategies, coaches, administrators, and other educators need coaches to help them develop and support flourishing coaching programs. After studying coaching for more than 20 years, we are convinced that professional learning does not truly happen until it is being applied in the classroom—and often it is during application that educators especially need a coach.

During sessions, coaches partner with educators to help create highly effective coaching programs. To accomplish that goal, they discuss many topics, including:

• how Coaching Champions can use ICG tools to provide follow-up and support for coaches
• planning future professional development for coaches, teachers, and administrators
• co-developing coaching professional development plans with leaders
• co-planning weekly or bi-weekly professional learning meetings for coaches
• problem solving issues related to teachers, coaches, and administrators
• other issues that inevitably arise as coaching programs are rolled out

Coaching is provided by Jim Knight, Michelle Harris, and Ann Hoffman, each of whom has more than 10 years’ experience working with coaches. Get to know ICG’s consultant team on The ICG Team page.