Evaluating Instructional Coaching: People, Programs, and Partnership

A clear and comprehensive guide to evaluating and supporting instructional coaches and coaching programs, including how to recruit, hire, and retain effective coaches.

With sound practices in place to evaluate coaching programs, instructional coaches will become better partners, teachers will become better mentors, and students will become better learners.

Few evaluation systems are specifically geared toward coaching roles. Ensuring that school districts have accurate information about both coaches and coaching programs is crucial to guide improvement in supporting classrooms, as well as in ensuring accountability. With sound evaluation processes in place, districts can effectively evaluate instructional coaches and coaching programs and use data to set goals.

Advance Praise for Evaluating Instructional Coaching:

It has arrived! The ICG team has pulled through again with a much-needed guide, providing a thorough process from how to hire, evaluate, support, and retain instructional coaches. This book will empower school leaders to be partners with instructional coaches by providing meaningful evaluation tools and effective coaching programs. Readers will walk away with ideas on how to help coaches grow to best serve students and teachers in their schools. Thank you, ICG. We needed your research, knowledge, and most of all your humble approach on how best to support coaches and coaching programs!
—Kelly Jacobs, District Instructional Coaching Coordinator, Lansing (Mich.) School District

Instructional coaches devote their time to growing teachers. One way to support instructional coaches in their professional growth is to ensure an effective evaluation system is in place for them. This book gives leaders several things to consider as they define the coach's role, hire candidates, and put an evaluation process in place.
—Michelle Lis, Coordinator, Instructional Coaching, Fairfax County (Va.) Public Schools

A joint publication of ASCD and One Fine Bird Press.

Sharon Thomas, senior consultant at the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), is a National Board–certified English teacher, instructional coach, student advocate, and writer. Along with her work in ICG workshops, Sharon coordinates the ICG Coaching Certification process. She is also a consultant for the Touchstones Discussion Project and a Certified SIM Professional Developer in the area of writing. She is the founder of the Cecil County [Maryland] Teacher Leadership Network and has presented at conferences across North America on the issues of secondary school literacy and teacher leadership. An account of her experience with teacher leadership in school reform was published in Principal Leadership. Sharon lives in Maryland with her family.

Jim Knight is a founding senior partner of ICG and a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KUCRL). He has spent more than two decades studying professional learning, effective teaching, and instructional coaching. Knight has written several books, and his articles on instructional coaching have been included in publications such as The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Teachers Teaching Teachers. He directs Pathways to Success, a comprehensive, district-wide school reform project in the Topeka, Kansas, School District and leads the Intensive Instructional Coaching Institutes and the Teaching Learning Coaching annual conference.

Michelle Harris, senior consultant at ICG, began teaching in El Cajon, California. She taught middle school English and social studies before serving as an instructional coach, Title I coordinator, student manager, and assistant principal at three middle schools, a K–8 school, and a 6–12 IBO school, all in Beaverton, Oregon. A seasoned staff developer, Michelle has presented and keynoted all over the United States and in Europe and Africa. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two sons. When not working, she enjoys reading, traveling, attending her sons' numerous sporting events, entertaining friends and family, and sitting in a chair on a sunny beach.

Ann Hoffman, senior consultant at ICG, is a professional development leader for the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KUCRL) with more than 30 years of experience. As one of the first professional developers for KUCRL and one of the first consultants with ICG, Ann has worked with thousands of teachers, coaches, and administrators in the United States and internationally. Ann is a recipient of the Gordon R. Alley Partnership Award and the Strategic Instruction Model Leadership Award, both from KUCRL. She is also the 2017 recipient of the Don Deshler Leadership Award from the Instructional Coaching Group. In addition, Ann serves as a founding member of the advisory board for the Belin-Blank Center for Gifted and Talented Education at the University of Iowa.