To address its goal of building a strong instructional coaching program throughout the district, Woodland (California) Joint Unified School District partnered with Learning Forward to bring Coaches Academy to a group of 20 participants from the English learner, special education, and teaching and learning departments. The Coaches Academy was customized to build on the district’s vision of instructional coaching and ensure it is shared by all teachers, staff, and administrators.

The building of that vision began with the coordinated efforts of Francine Whiteley, administrator of professional development, and Maria Medina, coordinator of English learner services, to create a unified plan for their respective teams, and it grew with the expansion of the plan across departments. The Coaches Academy will help the district with its goal of serving teachers across all school sites with job-embedded support, especially for teachers of students served by English learner and special education services.

To maximize implementation and foster sustainability, school site principals and district administrators will join the final Coaches Academy session to explore the unified coaching model and strengthen the administrator-coach relationships necessary for effective coaching.