Only by pushing through resistance can coaches help teams achieve necessary change, write Candice Bocala and RoLesia Holman. Head of the RIDES Project at Harvard, the authors describe how both technical fixes and adaptive solutions can help coaches elicit deeper, more meaningful discussions with staff about race.

Many instructional coaching and teacher training sessions center around myths that can actually hinder teacher and student growth. Authors Rashaida Melvin and Lauren Vargas discuss four of these myths and offer new practices to increase teacher efficacy and equity in the classroom.

For teachers to combine the all evidence they gather on a student's performance--including ratings on non-achievement factors like that one's effort level--into a single grade is as inadequate as if a physician summed up a patient's physical condition with one number. Instead of funneling all information on performance into one grade, Guskey says,…

Coach and ASCD author Cathy Toll knows that principals can face resistance and competing priorities when trying to make changes in schools. "Whole-staff coaching" is one tool to get all educators on the same page by putting teachers in control of planning, implementing, and evaluating change--and principals in charge of facilitating it.

The most important ingredient to a successful coaching process is to ensure coaches have a positive alliance (or relationship) with teachers. In this article, Jennifer D. Pierce shares three types of alliance-building strategies for instructional coaches--the same strategies that effective therapists happen to use with their clients.

In order for a coaching program to truly take off in a school, the leaders need to be aware of their starting point and what they need to create or change to make the coaching impactful. This article, written by a consultant who trains coaches, includes a checklist that school leaders can use to determine their school's readiness for coaching and…

Among the many elements that make up an effective educator, the most important is self-efficacy, writes ASCD author Chase Mielke. When schools support educators in developing a sense of efficacy, there's often a chain reaction.

Just like in an athletic coaching session, you get out of instructional coaching what you put in. Here, Nina J. Morel, author of "Learning from Coaching: How Do I Work with an Instructional Coach to Grow as a Teacher?" (ASCD, 2014), shares six tips for teachers to bring their "A" game to the coaching process--and improve their…

With more states and districts turning to veteran and retired school leaders to mentor and support new principals, the role of training for these leadership coaches is increasingly critical. Gill, a freelance journalist, highlights examples of training programs for principal coaches in Hillsborough County, Florida, New York City, and Prince…

College- and career-readiness skills can easily get lost if you don't have a clear school-wide plan for teaching them. While curriculum in schools is primarily meant to ready students for college and career skills, ensuring those skills actually transfer is another story. Andrew Miller lays out a system for teaching and assessing key…

When we think about instructional coaching, we likely envision a single coach observing a teacher and providing feedback. Perhaps we've been short-sighted, writes Michael Moody, cofounder of Insight Education Group. What if instead schools built a system of coaching that focuses on targeted and supported teacher reflection, without relying on…

The author highlights increasing district efforts to provide greater on-the-ground supports to help principals succeed as instructional leaders amid the many challenges of their job. The article looks in particular at district mentorship and supervision programs for principals that, according to initial studies and principal experiences, have…

Nearly every educational coach will encounter a teacher who is reluctant to partner. In this article, Cathy Toll outlines some of the reasons that might be behind this reluctance. She also gives strategies for developing coaching partnerships with reluctant teachers.

Gaps in teacher communication can cause confusion, especially when it comes to grades. To reduce asymmetries of information when grading performance tasks and projects, teachers should seek to honor each student's unique learning trajectory. Here, authors Eric Carbaugh and Kristina Doubet, present five ways to improve communication--and…

To create a coaching culture, school leaders have to make it a priority and support coaching at every level, and continuously. This article offers five "dos" and four "don'ts" for school leaders on how to support coaching at their schools, highlighting topics such as professional development for coaches, scheduling time for…