ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of each of these topics, with a major focus on instructional coaching. Coaching in schools has sparked growing interest for many reasons, two of which are especially relevant: a growing recognition that teacher quality is a critical factor in student success, and an equally growing recognition that traditional forms of professional development are ineffective. As recognition of the importance of teacher quality has grown, so has recognition of the failure of traditional professional development. Classroom management coaching empowers coaches to use a variety of data-gathering and teaching tools to assist teachers in creating safe and civil learning communities. The partnership approach is a highly effective method for enrolling teachers. Professional learning is more effective in settings where educators adopt a focused framework for instruction and target specific teaching practices that everyone will implement. A final factor that can accelerate or impede the success of coaching is alignment of professional learning within a school or district.
