Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction

The author describes the practical details of instructional coaching and provides all the tools needed to easily implement job-embedded instructional intervention.

The author describes the practical details of instructional coaching and provides all the tools needed to easily implement job-embedded instructional intervention.

Jim Knight is a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than a decade studying instructional coaching and has written several books on the topic including Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction published by Corwin Press & NSDC (2007). Knight co-authored Coaching Classroom Management. His new book, Partnership Learning: Scientifically Proven Strategies for Fostering Dialogue During Workshops and Presentations, will be published by Corwin Press in late 2008.

Knight edited Coaching: Approaches and Perspectives and has authored articles on instructional coaching in publications such as "The Journal of Staff Development," "Principal Leadership," "The School Administrator," and "Teachers Teaching Teachers."

Several research projects directed by Knight include an I.E.S. funded qualitative and quantitative assessment of coaching, and Pathways to Success, a comprehensive, district-wide school reform project for the Topeka Kansas School District. Jim also leads the coaching institutes and the Annual Instructional Coaching Conference offered by the University of Kansas.

Frequently asked to guide professional learning for instructional coaches, Knight has presented and consulted in more than 35 states, most Canadian provinces, and in Japan. He has a Ph.D. in Education and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards.