Conference Overview

What is the purpose of this institute?

Across the country, many school districts are hiring instructional coaches or onsite professional developers to lead school reform efforts. Consequently, hundreds of educational professionals are finding themselves in high-stakes, critically important roles in their schools, with little or no professional development to prepare them for successfully performing their tasks. The lack of professional learning for coaches places schools at risk. Decision makers in districts need to learn how to set up coaching programs so that they can save time and implement change efficiently. Districts also need to know what good coaching looks like so that they can create programs that really do improve the quality of students’ lives. The Instructional Coaching Institute will provide a foundation upon which a solid, effective instructional coaching program can be built. The content of the institute is based on more than eight years of research on instructional coaching conducted by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning.

What content is included in this institute?

The Instructional Coaching Institute will provide a definition of what instructional coaches do, distinguish between effective and ineffective coaching practices, and provide an overview of the current state of research on coaching. The institute addresses the following questions:

• What is instructional coaching and how does it differ from other forms of coaching?
• What can a coach do to foster internal commitment in others?
• What is the theoretical foundation for instructional coaching?
• Which specific communication strategies can a person use to build healthy relationships with other professionals?
• What are the various activities instructional coaches do (enrolling teachers, preconferencing, observing classes, modeling in and outside the classroom, and debriefing), and what are the effective ways in which they should be conducted?
• What does research say about effective coaching practices?
• How can coaches build coherence and disseminate ideas across schools?
• Which leadership skills enable coaches to lead reform efforts in their schools?

How will this institute work?

This session will be facilitated through the use of Partnership Learning (www.kucrl.org/partnership), so all professional learning is designed to be “hands-on” and practical and to encourage meaningful dialogue, reflection, and action planning.

Participants will:

• learn numerous coaching skills that they can use right away in their professional practice.
• discuss each strategy, principle, tool, or idea with other coaches to gain multiple perspectives on the learning that is shared.
• practice selected communication skills with other participants.
• hear about best practices that are being implemented by coaches across the country.
• create specific implementation and communication plans to take back to their schools and districts.

Participants should leave each session with practical materials that they will be able to use right away, and everyone will have ample time to plan how to use the strategies, skills, tools, and other materials that they are most interested in using.