"Teachers helping teachers is a great way to create a powerful instructional staff. Knight has included very practical and useful tools to help teachers achieve excellence."
―Dale E. Moxley, Principal, Round Lake Elementary School, Mount Dora, FL
"Provides valuable insight for mentors who are in the field working daily with novice teachers."
J. Helen Perkins, Assistant Professor, The University of Memphis
An innovative professional development strategy that facilitates change, improves instruction, and transforms school culture!
Instructional coaching, a research-based, job-embedded approach to instructional intervention, provides the assistance and encouragement necessary to implement new programs that improve student learning. The product of more than eight years of study, this approach to professional development has been proven to help schools respond to the pressures of accountability and reform.
Experienced trainer, developer, and researcher Jim Knight describes the "nuts and bolts" of instructional coaching and explains the essential skills that instructional coaches need, including getting teachers on board, providing model lessons, observing teachers, and engaging in reflective conversations. Each user-friendly chapter includes:
- First-person stories from successful coaches
- Sidebars highlighting important information
- A "Going Deeper" section of suggested resources
- Forms, worksheets, checklists, logs, reports, and other ready-to-use tools
- A short summary of the main chapter points
This book is perfect for coaches, aspiring coaches, as well as the staff developers, trainers, teacher leaders, principals, and other educators who work with coaches and oversee coaching programs.
Now, Jim Knight is offering his expertise in an online professional development opportunity!
Dr. Jim Knight, Founder and Senior Partner of Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), is also a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than two decades studying professional learning and instructional coaching. Jim earned his PhD in Education from the University of Kansas and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards.
The pioneering work Jim and his colleagues have conducted has led to many innovations that are now central to professional development in schools. Jim wrote the first major article about instructional coaching for the Journal of Staff Development, and his book Instructional Coaching (2007) offered the first extended description of instructional coaching. Jim’s book Focus on Teaching (2014) was the first extended description of how video should be used for professional learning. Recently, writing with Ann Hoffman, Michelle Harris, and Sharon Thomas, Jim introduced the idea of instructional playbooks with their book on that topic.
Jim has written several books in addition to those described above, including Unmistakable Impact (2011), High-Impact Instruction (2013), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2018), and The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021). Knight has also authored articles on instructional coaching and professional learning in publications such as Educational Leadership, The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Kappan. Jim is also a columnist for Educational Leadership and.
Through ICG, Knight conducts coaching workshops, hosts the Facebook Live Program, “Coaching Conversations,” and provides consulting for coaching programs around the world.
