Coaching and Consultation
Coaching is a form of job-embedded professional learning for all educators wanting to continue to refine and expand their skills, knowledge, and mindsets. TrueNorth’s Department of Professional Learning and Coaching has adopted Diane Sweeney’s guiding principles as the foundation for coaching (Sweeney & Harris, 2020):
- Coaching is not about “fixing” teachers.
- Coaching is a partnership focused on student learning.
- Coaching is about continual professional growth.
- Coaching is part of a robust ecosystem of professional learning.
TrueNorth Coaches partner with educators over a period of several weeks both within the classroom and outside of the classroom. During that time, the coach and coachee engage in planning, implementing strategies, and reflecting with an emphasis on student engagement and learning. The coaching areas of focus are rooted in academic and social/emotional standards, including supporting SEL/behavior (individual student, classwide, and systemwide), access to instruction, and teaming/collaborative skills.
TrueNorth Coaches partner with a wide variety of educators, including general education teachers, special education teachers, administrators, coaches, social workers, psychologists, problem-solving teams, paraprofessionals, and other student services personnel.
Why Engage in Coaching & Consultation?
The goal of coaching and consultation services is to improve outcomes for all students by partnering with educators to build and sustain best practices. Educators who have participated in coaching with TrueNorth overwhelmingly indicate that the coaching process contributed to their growth of knowledge and skills with a positive impact on student outcomes:
- 96% of coachees were more confident in implementing strategies identified through the coaching process
- 92% of coachees noted a positive impact on student learning
- 96% of coachees would highly recommend TrueNorth coaching to a colleague
How Might I Get a Coach?
Coaching is available for purchase by member and non-member districts.
Testimonials from educators who engaged in coaching with TrueNorth:
I truly value our time together and know that working with my coach has made me a better teacher. Having a thinking partner who supports me and empowers me to make decisions that I feel good about for my students is invaluable.
The coach was an incredible support to our classroom. She equipped our class with a variety of strategies, was very consistent in following up and provided empathy and compassion to challenging student dynamics. The coach was a partner through it all and I feel so grateful for the opportunity to work with her. She gave us a framework to build a consistent system to best support students. In turn, we have seen growth and students respond so well to this learning environment.
Working with my coach is the best professional development I've had. Every experience I've had with TrueNorth has been AMAZING! I'm so grateful for our district's partnership.
Working with my coach has been transformational and I am excited about the opportunities to work with her in the new year and continue to build my capacity and efficacy as a coach to support the teachers in the building and build student growth and achievement.