Coaching For Achievement

Education has embraced the coaching model for improving teaching and instruction. Yet, there is little consensus around what educational coaching looks like in practice. Using lessons learned from highly effective athletic coaches, this book will help you gather tools and develop a game plan for instructional leadership.

Education has embraced the coaching model as a framework for improving teaching and instruction. Yet, despite the popularity of the paradigm, there is little consensus around what educational coaching looks like in practice. To address this ambiguity, Coaching for Achievement considers several questions. What can we learn from coaches—especially successful athletic coaches—that can be applied in classroom instruction, educational leadership, collaboration, and professional development? How can educators assess and develop traits embodied by these successful coaches? What specific, practical tools will aid in this application? To answer these questions, this book will take you to a “coaches’ clinic,” a gathering of the most effective athletic coaches in their respective fields. Using lessons learned from their successes (and failures), you will have the opportunity to develop your own game plan to use in your school or classroom.

Jim Garver, Ph.D., has experience at all levels of public education—from teacher to associate superintendent, kindergarten through high school, in small schools and large. Currently, Jim works directly with teachers and school leaders to improve learning for all students. He is also the author of The 10 Secrets to Higher Student Achievement and, with John Antonetti, co-wrote Focus on Learning: A Process for Personal and Collaborative Reflection. He and Mr. Antonetti have also designed Look 2 Learning (a learner-focused walkthrough process), Lessons 4 Learning (an online lesson design program), and PLC 4 Real (a practical framework for teacher collaboration).