Learning Forward’s Coaches Academy helps coaches become change leaders in their schools and systems.
Learning Forward helps coaches develop the skills necessary for improved student learning. Through Learning Forward’s Coaches Academy, school-based coaches develop essential knowledge and skills related to building relationships, leading professional learning, and individual and team coaching.
To learn about our Coaches Academy, continue reading for our recent FAQ with two senior consultants.
How does instructional coaching improve practice?
“The role of classroom supporter is one of the more impactful roles. It requires that coaches become skilled in demonstrating for teachers. It ends with teachers and coaches planning, thinking, and exploring solutions together.”
Senior Consultant Heather Clifton
How does instructional coaching impact teaching and learning?
“We believe that principals and coaches need to work together in order to implement the system’s priorities. So when the principal works with the coach, there is a certain level of coherence that happens. It also sets an expectation across the building that the coach will be there to help teams of teachers.”
Senior Consultant Valerie Mitrani
What skills do instructional coaches develop in Learning Forward’s Academy?
“We spend a fair amount of time teaching instructional coaches specific communication skills. We also teach coaches about specific roles they can take on to match needs that impact student learning. Facilitation skills are also key.”
Senior Consultant Heather Clifton
What role does instructional coaching play in a learning school or learning system?
“Instructional coaching is an integral part of becoming a learning system or school. The reason it’s so important is that we don’t usually transfer the knowledge and inspiration that we get from workshops to our classrooms unless we have someone to support us in that process. That’s where a coach comes in.”
Senior Consultant Heather Clifton
What is the relationship between instructional coaches and the teachers they support?
“The coach is there to help teachers explore alternatives to their practice, to improve their practice, to engage them in thinking and talking about teaching and learning in deeper ways, and to examine their practices to find ways to make students more successful.”
Senior Consultant Heather Clifton
What is Learning Forward’s coaching expertise?
“The trainers for the coaches academy all have experience with coaching. We have worked in a lot of different districts and schools and we have taken the knowledge we gained from working in a variety of places and synthesized it into what we think is really the best.”
Senior Consultant Heather Clifton
