“Instructional coaches are essential for professional learning. Coaches help teachers take ideas and practices they are learning and bring them to life. Instructional coaches partner with teachers in respectful humane conversations so teachers can choose and implement research-based teaching practices that will help students learn more effectively.”

(adapted from Knight, Unmistakable Impact, 2011)



Coaches can get READY to build effective partnerships with teachers by embracing Jim Knight’s Partnership Principles:

• Equality: Teachers and coaches are considered equal colleagues.
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 Choice: Participant choice is implicit in every communication about content. The process used to learn content should be limited and include options for teachers.
• Voice: Teachers and coaches are free to express their opinions about learned teaching techniques.
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 Dialogue: Coaches collaborate with teachers in conversations that allow them to think and learn together.
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 Reflection: Professional learning involves numerous opportunities for participants to consider the practical implications of new ideas being explored.
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 Praxis: Teachers and coaches creatively adapt, shape and plan how to use interventions.
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 Reciprocity: Coaches value the teachers’ perspectives and abilities to invent useful new applications of the content.

(Knight, 2007)

Get SET for collaboration to incorporate high-leverage practices that have the greatest effect on teaching and learning using the Big Four:

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 Behavior: Coaches and teachers collaborate to help create a safe, productive learning community for all students.
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 Content Knowledge: Coaches and teachers use proven planning and teaching tools that, by design, facilitate strategic decisions regarding content.
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 Instruction: Coaches and teachers work together to target high-leverage instructional practices for increasing student understanding.
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 Formative Assessment: Coaches and teachers work together to ensure that the teacher knows how well each student’s learning is progressing, and, in addition, that students understand their own learning progress.

(Knight, 2007, 2011)

For additional resources and information, GO to:

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 Instructional Coaching: Kansas Coaching Project shares information about partnership learning, instructional coaching research and coaching resources.shares information about partnership learning, instructional coaching research and coaching resources.
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 Companion website for Unmistakable Impact by Jim Knight, provided by Corwin Publishing as a service to readers, houses PDF versions of the tools (The Impact Toolkit) contained in Knight’s book.
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 A Framework for Reflective Questioning When Using a Coaching Interaction Style (Rush, Shelden & Raab, 2008) provides an overview of reflection as a component of capacity-building and a characteristic of coaching practices. It shares a framework of reflective questions with an explanation of how it is used.
• Your TTAC library and check out some books, including these by Jim Knight:
  ° Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction (Corwin, 2007)
  ° High Impact Instruction: A Framework for Improving Instruction (Corwin, 2013)
  ° Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction (Corwin, 2011)

References:
Knight, J. (2007) Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Knight, J. (2011) Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Special Opportunity: Visit a Co-Teaching Demonstration Site in Region 4

The Virginia Department of Education has identified 27 co-teaching demonstration sites through the Excellence in Co-Teaching Initiative, including 6 at middle schools and high schools in Region 4. These demonstration sites provide opportunities for co-teaching partners throughout the state to observe inclusive practices in action. The co-teaching teams at the demonstration sites share their co-planning, co-instructing, and co-assessing practices that support successful outcomes for all students. For more information about the Excellence in Co-Teaching Initiative, or to arrange a visit to one of these demonstration sites, please contact Dr. Lynn Wiley, Director, VDOE TTAC at GMU at hwiley@gmu.edu or 703.993.4496.
This news brief is a collaborative effort of the Virginia Department of Education Training and Technical Assistance Centers at George Mason University and James Madison University. This issue was prepared by the staff of the VDOE TTAC at George Mason University. For questions about content, please contact Janet Ratzlaff at jratzlaf@gmu.edu or Judy Stockton at jstockt1@gmu.edu or call 703-993-4496.