A. Part of what we offer is training in a model of coaching that helps teachers and administrators come up with their own solutions. Coaching is not sitting around and talking about what we would like to have happen, but rather a process for creating an action plan with measurable goals, timelines and accountability. It is the teacher or administrator’s ideas and their implementation, putting the teacher or administrator in a much better position to own the action plan and own the results. Participants feel empowered because they have systematically moved from where they are currently to where they want to go.

Using a model enables the process to be reliable and replicable. This model of coaching offers transferable skills, meaning that they can be passed along to others. One of the benefits is that the students, of teachers who have been trained, can learn how to self-coach. This battery of skills can follow them through their academic career regardless of who their next teacher might be.

Q. How does your work address the new guidelines for the No Child Left Behind legislation?

Title IX, Part A, Section 9101 indicates that “professional development includes activities that are of high quality, sustained, intensive and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and the teacher’s performance in the classroom; and are not one-day or short-term workshops or conferences.”

Encompass Learning provides high quality training that is based on current educational application of the neurosciences. Cutting-edge brain research is used to structure the content and format of each training session. Participants leave with strategies that they can apply immediately to increase their performance in their classroom or administrative working environment.

We provide ongoing coaching to support all of our training programs. Our coaching is of the highest quality and our trainers are certified as professional coaches. The training they have received is accredited by the International Coach’s Federation. Our coaching process is sustained and intensive in that it is taught over time, usually over at least a 6 month period. The process continues to be used and refined long after the training period is complete. All of our training is classroom-focused because this coaching model can be used to:

• set goals
• reach goals
• remove obstacles to success
• build communication skills
• acknowledge and adjust for various communication styles
• establish milestones and timelines
• listen effectively
• build accountability
• transfer coaching skills to students thereby directly impacting classroom dynamics, performance and achievement.

Q. Is coaching considered professional development?

Our coaching model meets many of the activity descriptions found within the No Child Left Behind definition of professional development:

Q. Is there any research to indicate that coaching works?

Yes, there has been quite a bit of research in the business arena.

Coaching has just begun to appear within education. An article that appeared in “Soaring With Their Own Life Coach”, Journal of Staff Development, Spring 2002 employed coaching with 50 principals and superintendents. They found that "Schools and districts will be more productive learning environments for both students and educators if their leaders are clear about their goals, know how to develop multiple paths for achieving those goals, have the interpersonal skills to build deep relationships and understand how language impacts their actions, understand the power of listening without an agenda or giving advice, are able to honor others, and have the unconditional support of a life coach to achieve those goals" (study participant)

When they discussed the qualitative results that flowed from their coaching experience, the participants realized that coaching had helped them to:

Address difficult professional situations in ways that they would not have without the support of a coach.

to stand firm for the academic success of students

Shorten their meetings

To spend more time with teachers and students

To talk confidently with teachers in a way that builds their sense of efficacy and responsibility

To understand their own problems and to clarify what they wanted to have happen

to find better solutions

to become more “real” on the job

As one participant said, “Leadership is the key to student achievement, yet we’ve been out there alone. Coaching provides the support to help us become a leader of adults because it gives us a sounding board, a mirror to our own actions and thoughts. I don’t have to do it alone anymore. I have a coach who is my unabashed, unconditional supporter, my personal cheerleader, my analytic critic, and the keeper of my dreams for my school and my students.”

Q. How are you usually paid?

Most schools have funds set aside for professional development and grant money is sometimes used to pay for outside training and coaching.