The Knowledge, Practices, and Learning of Leadership Coaches

The No Child Left Behind law of 2001 left schools failing to make Annual Yearly Progress for three consecutive years facing serious consequences, including job loss, restructuring, or closure. Schools receiving Title I funding were especially vulnerable to the sanctions because of their high rates of students in poverty and inequity of achievement based on ethnicity. In order to support schools in jeopardy, one Midwest state identified the lowest performing Title I schools to receive assistance from the State System of Support. Support involved receiving an experienced leadership coach to develop the school principal's capabilities to lead underperforming schools towards improving instruction, thus improving student achievement. Although the use of leadership coaches is a common practice for improving business executives' capacities, limited literature existed on using the practice with school principals, and no literature existed on how leadership coaches actually coach principals in the process. This book provides a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of leadership coaching in school settings using coaches' voice to narrate the knowledge, practices, and learning of coaches.