For two decades, researchers at the University of Kansas have conducted studies to better define, validate, and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of instructional coaches. The result of all this work is the impact cycle (Knight, 2018), a model coaches can use with teachers to help them masterfully create positive classrooms. The impact…

Many school leaders are committed to providing coaching to teachers, but coaching doesn't come together in their school because they haven't taken time to communicate a clear definition of coaching to the school and, especially, set up a clear structure for a coaching program. Aguilar, an education consultant and respected author on coaching,…

"One teacher resists making appointments!" "My problem is with a teacher who says 'Why should I have to change my teaching when most of my students are proficient?'" "Teachers act as if I'm too young to know anything." Instructional coaches, principals and others responsible for leading change in schools find teachers…

When it comes to professional practice, getting a clear picture of how you're teaching in the classroom is easier said than done. The instructional coaches and teachers whom the author interviewed as part of a study on using video in professional development were, in almost all cases, surprised by what they saw in a video of them teaching. In many…

Discussions of relevant teacher effectiveness research, feedback from a teacher-coach, and group and individual self-evaluations were the three major techniques used in a staff development program aimed at improving the classroom performance of first-year teachers in a suburban high school district. (PGD)

The availability of several effective teaching models that allow the teaching of thinking skills and subject matter simultaneously proves that intellectual processes and content are not incompatible subjects for instruction. These models differ significantly from traditional models, and adequate training in them will require a thorough commitment…

A 1981 national survey revealed that members of both the Council of Professors of Instructional Supervision and the National Staff Development Council strongly supported the Readiness, Planning, Training, Implementation, and Maintenance (RPTIM) Model for designing inservice programs for professional educators. Support was also high for the…

Delineates a model staff development program based on adult learning theory and requiring both specified instructional techniques applied in structured and flexible ways and the provision of follow-up support through clinical, on-site supervision. (PGD)

The well-known GenYES (www.genyes.com) mentoring model, which originated in Washington State's Olympia School District in 1996, makes teachers and students collaborative partners in learning. This program has developed and implemented an instructional technology support model that includes authentic involvement of students in grades 3-12. Instead…

The seven-step Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) outlines the stages people move through when adopting an innovation. The 4Mat System applies learning style research and research on brain dominance to teaching practices. When combined, the two systems form a comprehensive model for staff development. (PGD)

As a high school principal, the author came to realize that the traditional teacher observation and evaluation model did not help teachers become reflective and improve their practice. Because his own use of brief, frequent principal walk-throughs had given him valuable insights into the need for instructional improvements, he decided to offer…