Coaching: Key to Sustained High Performance
By Dr. Stephanie Wood-Garnett
ISA President
Coaching is the cornerstone of the ISA Approach. The ISA coaching method effectively solves the dilemma of how to embed, individualize, and sustain professional development as part of the authentic work of school staff. It also de-isolates the profession and ensures that teachers and school leaders receive non-judgmental, non-evaluative guidance from a master educator. Coaching the ISA way capitalizes on the best professional development practices and draws on the most effective forms of coaching including, supporting whole school change; building staff capacity school wide; improving teacher classroom practice; creating and supporting high performing teams; and increasing leadership ability at all levels. Because every coach is grounded in ISA’s mission, seven principles, and three overarching drivers, integrity of execution is possible in each coach’s actions and decisions, even across disparate sites.
Because the ISA coaching approach is customized and contextual, it is essential that the right coach is matched with the right school. “If you don’t have trust with teachers and administrators,” said one ISA coach, “you cannot be effective.” Coaches cannot have difficult conversations, rigorously observe teacher practice, or advise administrators on how to plan and implement more effectively and efficiently without having a productive, trusting relationship with the staff. I agree with Vince Lombardi, “Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players and motivate.” This is also true of ISA coaches. They are not just skilled technicians. They are knowledgeable experts who have successfully done the work of building effective schools. The ISA approach draws on each coach’s own experience, expertise, and judgment as leaders in the field of secondary school reform. The coaches understand that it is ultimately the collective capacity of a committed team that transforms schools into rich, rigorous, nurturing centers of achievement for all students.