"District Leaders who are leading and supporting Instructional Coaches, District Leaders considering initiating an Instructional Coaching Program ABOUT THIS LEARNING OPPORTUNITY Jim Knight has supported numerous districts in initiating and implementing an instructional coaching program. In this learning opportunity Jim will share stories about other districts coaching initiatives - what has worked and why, what has not been as successful and why."

"Richard Catrambone is a Professor in the School of Psychology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has consulted on instructional design and human-computer interaction topics for various organizations. His teaching and mentoring has been recognized by multiple teaching awards."

"Applies the concept of medical rounds to solving instructional problems and outlines the process of planning, organizing, facilitating, and implementing this innovative way to improve teaching and learning by having groups of teachers and administrators"

"In this issue's lead article, Bob Tschannen-Moran and Megan Tschannen-Moran ("The Coach and the Evaluator", p. 10) decry the approach of connecting teacher evaluation with efforts to help teachers grow and improve through a coaching cycle. They call into question such common administrator practices as using coaching to help a teacher achieve specific improvement goals. Although such practices are well-meaning, the Tschannen-Morans claim, they "typically generate little growth… Power struggles, rather than cooperative efforts…often ensue."

12 Self-Paced Modules

Instructional Coaching - Resources

"Atul Gawande's feature article The New Yorker this week, Personal Best: Top athletes and singers have coaches. Should you?, has sure sparked a lot of discussion this week on instructional coaches. I thought I'd bring together a few of what I consider the best resources on the topic."

Educational Leadership is a magazine for educators by educators and includes among its readers principals, teachers, and administrators of every grade level and subject area. With a circulation of 175,000, EL is acknowledged throughout the world as an authoritative and readable forum of discussion about practices, policies, research, and trends affecting prekindergarten through higher education.

I've been a surgeon for eight years. For the past couple of them, my performance in the operating room has reached a plateau. I'd like to think it's a good thing-I've arrived at my professional peak. But mainly it seems as if I've just stopped getting better.