Hiring Instructional Coaches: Getting the “Right” People on the Bus

In the classic book Good to Great Jim Collins says, "...to build a successful organization and team you must get the right people on the bus."  His focus is to get the right people in the right seats.  Most of us would agree that one of the shifts that need to happen in education is stronger support of teachers’ professional growth.  If good things are happening in the classroom, many of our plaguing problems such as lack of engagement and discipline fade or disappear.  This thinking has prompted many districts to build in regular collaborative time and hire instructional coaches to provide professional development.  All good moves! 

Now that you have allocated time for improvement, do you have the instructional coach who can actually lead that work?  Often, my experience is that coaches move up through the ranks of teaching and land in the position with little or no training.  Though many coaching skills can be developed over time, some entry capacities and dispositions should already be in place.  This is where a hiring framework can be helpful.  It is critical that district leaders know what they are looking for in a good instructional coach.  When you get the “wrong person on the bus” then you have an eager, good individual leading others down the wrong path.  The results can be devastating.  Teachers get confused, disillusioned and start slamming their doors shut!

Our Instructional Coaching Framework helps leaders sort out what beliefs, dispositions and capacities must be present in a candidate and which of those things can be learned. 

First and foremost, a good coach must be a good teacher.  The only way to know for sure is to actually watch a candidate teach!  I would only hire a coach after watching him facilitate an adult learning session where he models strong instructional practices.  In addition, I’d watch him teach students.  Being a powerful instructor is essential to good coaching.  A coach has to be able to “walk his talk” in multiple settings.

Equally important is the belief system a coach brings to the job.  District leaders must ensure that a new coach fully embraces the district’s vision.  Furthermore, you will want to know a coach’s beliefs about learning.  For example, do they believe all kids can learn at high levels?  Do they believe that each and every student should be prepared for college?  How do they think people learn best?  I once watched a coach unintentionally undermined much of the district’s goals by coaching for inequitable practices, curriculum and design principles in a school.  The result was painful for the coach and her leaders.  The interview questions must bring beliefs about learning to the forefront.    

Another entry capacity is a coach’s ability to connect and communicate well with adults.  More importantly, he must have a knack for helping teachers build relationships with each other.  Some of this capacity naturally emerges as you watch small group facilitation.  I also like to see how a coach might provide written feedback to a teacher’s lesson plan or idea as well.  A humble, reflective partner is what you are looking for—not someone to come in and “fix” another teacher.  A “deficit based” disposition doesn’t work very well in coaching.    

Finally, a coach must be nimble enough to weave in and out of roles such as model teaching, facilitating discussions and offering resources.  Coaches wear many hats and juggling those roles with intention takes a special person with a fairly thick skin.  Again, you don’t have to have every skill in place, but certain entry capacities and dispositions are essential to good coaching.  Our framework offers leaders specific guidelines for hiring coaches and interesting ways to see them in action.  If coaching is one of your key initiatives for improvement, then you want to get the right people on the bus!

Katy Karschney is a partner with Abeo School Change.