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Whether we're talking about teaching or coaching, being effective is more than just giving instructions or advice. It requires a deep understanding of what motivates people and a well-defined process for achieving progress. This is where the coaching cycle comes in. Used extensively in education settings, this 3-step instructional coaching process can help drive student achievement to new heights-while serving as a type of "hands on," collaborative professional development for teachers to hone their instructional practices.

In this article, we'll explore the basics of the instructional coaching cycle and its role in education, including its benefits and how to apply it effectively. Whether you're an instructional coach looking for a tried and true method for helping educators thrive, or a teacher curious about taking your instructional skills to the next level, the coaching cycle is worth considering.

And before we dive in, here's something else to keep in mind: This same overall process holds powerful insight into how you can be more effective in any coaching scenario where your goal is to help people make important changes to their life. So if you coach others in some capacity-read on, and consider how you could apply this framework with your clients!

What is the coaching cycle?

Popularized in part by the work of Jim Knight, Founder and Senior Partner of Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), the coaching cycle is a structured coaching process in which a teacher and instructional coach set an instructional or student learning goal through a series of phases to develop strategies to reach that goal, monitor progress, and evaluate outcomes.

Or, to put it another way: The coaching cycle as a type of instructional coaching that uses a collaborative relationship between a teacher and an instructional coach (similar to a mentor and mentee relationship), where the instructional coach guides the teacher through a series of stages meant to improve their instructional practices-and by extent, improve student learning.

While there are many different formats, each coaching cycle tends to have three phases:

1. Co-planning between the instructional coach and teacher to set a goal.

2. Collaborative effort between the instructional coach and teacher is used to identify coaching actions for implementing and monitoring the plan. (This will vary based on the goal-and could include everything from formal test scores to student engagement, and more.)

3. Reflection that allows the instructional coach and teacher to assess the impact the process had on student achievement. In other words: This is where you ask "Did the instructional practices used help us reach our goal?

To illustrate how the three stages of the coaching cycle work in practice, let's say you're a new teacher working with a group of students who struggle with reading comprehension. Here's an example of how the coaching cycle might work in a high school setting using co-teaching and small group support.

In the first stage of the coaching cycle, you might assess the students' current skill level by having them read a sample text and providing feedback. In the next phase, you would work collaboratively with an instructional coach or experienced colleague to establish goals for student learning, such as using new strategies to improve comprehension. In the following phase, you might co-plan and co-teach lessons that incorporate these strategies and provide small group support to students who need extra help. Finally, you and the instructional coach would assess the outcome, monitor student work and progress over time, and evaluate the effectiveness of the coaching.

Important note:

As covered at the start of this article, while coaching cycles are most commonly used by teachers in an education setting, the potential benefits aren't limited to middle school or high school students. This framework can also be applied to almost any coaching role centered around a coach-client relationship, including coaching in the workplace, along with leadership, sports, health and wellness, fitness, career, academic coaching, and more. As you read on, think about how you could establish the same kind of mentor-mentee relationship with your clients that the instructional coach and teacher use in education to approach the setting, planning, and reflection of goals in a more collaborative way.

In the next section, we'll explore some of the main benefits offered by the coaching cycle in more detail.

Benefits of Coaching Cycles

At its core, the coaching cycle is designed to provide a clear, structured pathway for facilitating growth of the teacher and improving learning outcomes for their students. Similar to how a business aims to constantly be evolving in order to serve the ever-changing wants of its customers, the best teachers (and coaches) are constantly improving to meet the ever-changing needs of their students and clients. The coaching cycle is a process that fosters this growth. Here are some of the main benefits this provides-to both teachers and their students alike.

Promotes continuous improvement: The coaching cycle provides a structured process for ongoing professional development, allowing teachers to regularly reflect on their teaching practices and make adjustments to improve student learning outcomes.

Fosters collaboration: Through the coaching cycle, teachers work collaboratively with an instructional coach, often co-planning and co-teaching lessons, which helps to build a supportive and collaborative culture within schools.

Supports the implementation of new strategies: By providing teachers with opportunities to learn and apply new teaching practices, coaching cycles can lead to the implementation of high-quality instructional strategies that can positively impact student learning outcomes.

Increases teacher self-efficacy: The coaching cycle can empower and support teachers to take ownership of their own professional development and growth, building their confidence in their own ability to improve student engagement and student achievement.

Instructional Coaching Model Structure

The coaching cycle typically follows a structured process that helps guide teachers through their professional development journey. While there are variations in how the coaching cycle can be structured, most models consist of the following phases:

1. Goal setting: In this initial phase, teachers work with their instructional coach to identify specific areas for growth and set measurable goals that align with student learning outcomes.

2. Collection of data: Once goals have been established, teachers collect data through classroom observations, student work, and other relevant sources to help inform their practice.

3. Practice and reflection: Teachers then have the opportunity to practice new strategies and teaching techniques in the classroom, reflecting on their progress and receiving feedback from their instructional coach.

4. Goal review and next steps: Finally, teachers and instructional coaches review progress towards goals, celebrate successes, and plan next steps for ongoing growth and development.

By following the clear structure of a coaching cycle, teachers can experience the benefits of focused, collaborative professional development that positively impacts student learning. But how does this approach differ from traditional coaching? Let's take a closer look.

Difference between coaching cycle vs. traditional coaching

Traditional coaching typically involves a coach offering feedback and advice to a coachee based on their expertise and experience. While this approach can be useful, it does not necessarily lead to sustained growth and improvement. In contrast, the coaching cycle is a more collaborative and iterative approach to coaching that is specifically designed to build capacity and empower the coachee to become a more effective teacher through what is essentially a form of co-teaching.

One of the key differences between the coaching cycle and traditional coaching is that the coaching cycle is focused on specific goals and outcomes to enhance student learning. In a coaching cycle, the coachee works with the instructional coach to identify clear, measurable goals, and then the coach helps the coachee to develop a plan to achieve those goals. This plan is then implemented, and progress is monitored and evaluated throughout the cycle.

And, to apply this to coaching roles outside of education, the coaching cycle offers the opportunity to involve your clients in each step of the goal-setting and achievement process, creating more buy-in and, potentially, increasing their ability to cultivate skills that lead to long term, sustainable success. This is something often referred to as " client-centered coaching," and refers to a coaching style that empowers coaches to take the position of a "guide" to their clients success, rather than an authoritarian who simply tells them what to do-as is the case in more "traditional coaching."

Overall, the coaching cycle is a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to coaching that can lead to sustained professional learning, growth and improvement. While a more traditional approach to instructional coaching can be useful, it often lacks the structure and support necessary to help teachers achieve their goals and improve their practice. The coaching cycle, on the other hand, provides a clear roadmap for growth and improvement, along with ongoing support and feedback to help teachers achieve their goals and improve their practice over time.

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What is the Coaching Cycle - and How to Apply It | Practice

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Interested in becoming a more effective instructional coach or teacher? Discover how the coaching cycle can transform your clients' and students' success.

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[IARSS] Implementing Student-Centered Coaching from the Ground Up 

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Atul Gawande’s comment is often used to justify coaching. What people overlook in his comment, however, are the words “done well.” Coaching “done well” can

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Instructional coaching in EL schools increases the achievement and engagement of every student by bringing out the best performance of every teacher. Coaches use both student-centered and teacher-centered methods to help teachers improve the decisions they make about their instruction.

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How can I manage my time better to achieve all I want in life?

What should I do next in my career within the organization?

How can I reduce the stress in my job or my life?

How can I achieve a better balance between work life and home life?

What skills do I need to grow and develop further?

How can I improve my relationship with a specific colleague?

Golden Rules of Coaching

These are the fundamental "rules" of coaching:

Coaching is Founded on Confidentiality and Trust

Coaching can be successful only if coachees are able to discuss every aspect of an issue or challenge with their coach. The coach may need to listen to personal problems or private information that must be kept confidential. (Unless, of course, it involves criminal activity or activities harmful to the team, its clients or the organization; or affects the safety and welfare of other people.)

The Solution to the Coachee's Issue Lies Within the Coachee

This may sound unusual, but it means that the background of an issue and the options available are generally known to the coachee. The coach's job is to ask the right questions to help coachees arrive at their own conclusions. As we've said before, this is a very powerful way of helping people to change.

Of course, the coach can provide helpful input or suggestions, but the best answers usually come from the coachee.

There's no Judgment or Fixed Agenda, but Have an Agreed Goal for Each Session

For a coaching session to work well, there should be a lot of relaxed conversation, and the session should be free from the fear of judgment and should not follow any set pattern. At the same time, coaching conversations must be focused in order to be effective.

The coachee should have a general idea or outline of the objectives of the coaching, both within the specific session and in the longer term. The coach then helps the coachee arrive at that destination by whatever route seems appropriate. The coach should check with the coachee during the session to determine if they're both moving in the right direction.

Coaching is About the Whole Person

Although a coaching session will probably focus on one issue, coaches must remember that they're having a conversation with a whole person who has specific experiences, emotions, and patterns of behavior.

Workplace coaching will probably focus on workplace issues, but coaches must recognize that other factors and issues will likely enter the conversation.

The Coach and Coachee are Equal Partners

The best coaching conversations are set up so that the coach and coachee are equal partners, whatever relationship and hierarchy might exist in the workplace. The coachee will define the actual issue, while the coach will use his or her skills to help deal with the issue.

Coaching Looks to the Future and Next Actions

Coachees are typically looking for some change to their performance, career, or life direction. Determining the right path may require the coachee to look at past experiences and decisions.

However, the most positive coaching experiences are sessions that conclude with an agreed set of next steps or actions to take.

Key Approaches Used in Coaching

These are useful approaches that you can use in coaching sessions:

Structured Questioning

Most coaching is achieved by asking the right questions - the types of questions that coachees would ask of themselves.

With practice and experience, you can develop a sense of what the right questions are. But as a simple rule, start with open questions, and then ask more specific and probing questions once the coachee has raised an issue or concern.

Active Listening

Listen actively so that you pay attention to the fine detail of what coachees are saying, and how they're saying it. This is key to understanding a coachee's position at a deep enough level.

Is there a lot of emotion attached to the words that the coachee is using? If so, what emotion? Passion, fear, excitement, dread, anger, joy?

How does the coachee's body language compare with the words being spoken? We often use words lightly, but the underlying meaning may say a lot about what we feel or believe. For example, phrases starting with "I should do ..." or "I must do ..." are very different from phrases starting with "I will ..."

Summarizing and Repeating

During a coaching session, summarize where the coaching conversation, or part of the conversation, has led. This helps the coachee relax and continue, as they know that you have taken an interest, and see the whole picture.

You should also occasionally repeat what coachees say - particularly when it could help you understand how their behaviors or expressions might be seen by others.

Checking in With the Coachee

During a coaching session, it really helps to confirm with coachees that the session is going well for them and that it's covering what they want it to cover.

It's normal for coaches to give "homework assignments" to coachees. This does not mean the coaches are taking on the role of teacher. It simply means that both coach and coachee agree that some structured thinking time between coaching sessions is of value.

Example Coaching Questions

A member of your team has asked you to help them improve her time management. You schedule in a coaching session with her, and ask these questions:

Where are the key conflicts in your use of time?

What usually stops you from leaving work at a regular time?

How do you think you could address that problem and stop it from happening?

What stops you from getting up an hour earlier to do X?

What support do you have at home to do Y?

How could you get more support at home for Y?

How could you get more support at work for the regular tasks you perform?

How do you feel about delegating at work and at home?

What is the main priority for how you spend your time?

How do you deal with distractions?

These are simple, open questions. But the answers to these and other similar questions will often show that the real issue behind a time management problem, for example, has nothing to do with time management - but rather, something to do with how the coachee feels. If you have an issue with time management, try answering some of the questions above. Substitute X for an activity you believe you want to do, but never seem to make time to do it. Substitute Y for a home or family task that you always have to do yourself.

External coaches often have to deal with a coachee's major life changes and more wide-ranging career considerations. When managers act as coaches, they should think about whether to coach on these topics, depending on whether there's a potential conflict of interest with the manager's regular organizational role.

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What is Coaching? - How to be an Effective Coach

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Find out exactly what coaching is - and isn't; what the golden rules of coaching are; and learn useful approaches. Includes example coaching questions.

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Coaching research, evidence-based data, and teacher surveys show that coaching cycles are the key coaching action that improves student learning. However, if you're an instructional coach, you know all too well that we are often tasked with so many other responsibilities. These run the gamut from developing and leading traditional professional development sessions to collaborating with school teams, facilitating and organizing school-wide assessments, organizing learning walks and other forms of public teaching, and analyzing student achievement data.

Each of these activities can contribute to positive change in schools. The constant work that supporting these large-scale activities requires, though, oftentimes means that the one-on-one coaching cycle-the primary vehicle of instructional coaching-can all but disappear.

I'd like to make the case for why prioritizing coaching cycles over some other efforts will make a significant impact on student learning in your schools. In this post, I will explain how you can advocate for prioritizing coaching cycles to school leaders. I will also discuss a flexible structure for coaching cycles that makes them possible, despite the widely varying instructional coaching assignments and workloads each instructional coach may carry.

What is a coaching cycle?

There are many different models of coaching cycles used in education, but most can be boiled down to this simple definition: A coaching cycle is the process in which a teacher and instructional coach work collaboratively to set an instructional or student learning goal, make a plan for supporting the goal, monitor progress toward the goal, and then reflect on how well the plan supported the goal. Each cycle usually includes three phases:

1. A goal-setting and planning pre-conference

2. Coaching actions for implementing and monitoring the plan

3. A reflection post-conference to assess impact

Coaching actions in the middle phase can vary based upon the goal. They can include co-teaching, modeling, observation, co-planning, and the potential for other actions. The reflection post-conference is usually rooted in evidence to assess impact: student work, assessment data, video, student surveys, and/or an observation tool.

Why do coaching cycles matter?

Coaching cycles are an effective antidote to the knowing-doing gap. When teachers engage in traditional professional learning, many of them still struggle with implementing new learning in their classrooms, despite their best intentions.

Simply holding workshops, sharing information, or engaging in role plays is not enough to transfer skills, but coaching is highly efficacious in transferring skills to the classroom, where teachers can impact students most. In 2002, Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers presented research that showed that almost no learning based in theory and discussion, demonstration by a trainer, or role playing with feedback transferred to classroom practice. However, coaching in the classroom resulted in 95% of learning transferring to classroom practice.

Instructional coaching is effective! The process of coaching is contextualized, and personalized professional learning is co-designed specifically to support the needs of teachers and their students. Teachers need ongoing collaboration and support while they implement what they have learned from professional development, and this is why following up professional learning with in-person coaching is recommended.

What is the evidence?

Many studies continue to support the efficacy of instructional coaching for supporting, improving, and elevating classroom instruction. Here are just a few samples:

Linda Shidler's research shows that well-defined coaching cycles, especially when aligned to school-wide goals, yield increased achievement on different measures of assessment compared to looser, more ambiguous instructional coaching activities. The "type and quality of the interactions," she explains, matter more than the amount of time one is engaged in coaching.

A study from Rebecca Frazier found that students in classrooms where teachers received coaching in the form of cycles outperformed students in non-coached teachers' classrooms on MAP® Growth™.

Teachers have remarked that engaging in coaching cycles has improved student engagement in their classrooms. They have also said that they implemented more new literacy strategies with the support of coaches, according to a study by Kelly Feighan and Elizabeth Heeren.

In Diane Sweeney's research on the student-centered coaching cycle model, student proficiency on learning targets improved from an average of 5% in the coaching pre-conference to an average of 73% in the coaching post-conference.

My own coaching feedback surveys with teachers revealed that teachers who engage in individual coaching cycles are more likely to say that coaching improved learning for their students and that they could sustain using new teaching practices in the classroom in the long term.

What should I do now?

If you're an instructional coach, here are three ways you can prioritize coaching cycles:

1. Consider creating a coaching menu. The menu can focus on supporting a few school-wide goals. Use it to engage individual teachers in individual coaching cycles. I used a simple Google form that allowed teachers to share their goals for students and coaching actions they believed would help us collaborate well. If you want to learn more about creating your own coaching menu, check out "The Digital Coaching Menu: Four Reasons Why You Need One," a post I wrote on the topic.

2. Audit your time. Record all your activities for a week and make a chart to see where you are spending your time. Strive to dedicate at least 50% of your time to coaching cycle work. Ask your supervisor for help if you need it.

3. Advocate for time to coach. Share this post with your administrator, direct supervisor, or team. Discuss how support for students and teachers in your school would be strengthened if your work were firmly centered in coaching cycles.

Coaching cycles are the bridge over the knowing-doing gap for many teachers. Instructional coaches are in a unique position to impact student learning based on their capacity to offer contextualized, ongoing professional learning for those they serve. Bringing coaching cycles to the focus of coaching work will have lasting benefits for students, educators, and the communities we serve.

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How to make coaching cycles the center of instructional coaching work

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Research and teacher surveys show that coaching cycles are the key instructional coaching action that improves student learning.

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The instructional coaching process can proceed in straightforward ways that provide encouragement and solutions-focused support.

Ground Picture / Shutterstock

Encouraging teachers' growth should be on every school leader's priority list. It's imperative to teachers' success to look at the teaching profession with a growth mindset. We value seasoned teachers and appreciate the spunk and passion of new teachers. However, it's important not to become complacent within those thoughts and ensure that we do more than admire what teachers have done. That value is wasted if we don't support them. Providing all teachers with advantageous coaching is something that can sustain them and help them grow.

It's important to coach our teachers so they know that a support system is available to them; we want to retain as many educators in the profession as possible.

Shift the View of Coaching from Evaluative to Supportive

A coaching process that focuses on empowerment instead of evaluation can help a teacher shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

I think there's a breakdown in coaching mainly because the tone is usually evaluative. This typically leads to discouraged teachers. Moreover, evaluations are typically done at the end of the year, when there is little to no time left for improvement. As a result, educators may feel pressure during formal evaluations. However, open conversations about growing as an educator with steps that help coaches along the way are beneficial for all stakeholders.

Build Teacher Capacity With a Clear Coaching Cycle

Elena Aguilar states in her book The Art of Coaching: Effective Strategies for School Transformation, "Everyone we work with knows a lot more and can do a lot more than we think. It's our job as coaches to find out what it is that they know, care about, can do, and are committed to, and then to use that information to help them move their practice."

Using a rubric is a helpful tool for teachers to understand the path they're on. In order to build their capacity, begin with the end in mind. It's important to let teachers know what the intended outcome is if we want them to be successful, just as we would with our students. Teachers can develop their craft through collaboration with instructional coaches, a transparent coaching cycle that is crucial for success.

The following four-step cycle depicts a transformative process that gives teachers an opportunity to cultivate their teaching practices in ways that are tailored to their specific needs.

Step 1: Objective

The teacher and instructional coach work together to set a goal based on their district's framework. They collaborate to determine where the teacher currently stands (beginning, intermediate, advanced) and then create a rubric based on that goal. During this part of the process, it's important for the teacher to have a realistic expectation for where they would like to see themselves by the end of the cycle. During this step, it's also helpful to set a date for a follow-up meeting to ensure follow-through.

Step 2: Obstacles

This is where a discussion begins about things that may get in the teacher's way of achieving their goal. However, it's crucial that this be a solutions-driven process and that the obstacles be within the teacher's circle of control, which allows them to more easily outline the issues that might arise. The instructional coach can offer solutions throughout this part of the process.

For example, if a teacher begins speaking negatively about their students, the coach can encourage the teacher to reframe their sentences to focus on what is in their control. Bright Morning offers useful coaching sentence stems that can help coaches guide teachers for positive results. Reframing a question can be tough, but it's necessary for the conversation to continue in a solution-oriented way. Some teachers might also lack motivation, which can make this stage of the coaching cycle challenging for them. Coaches who ask thoughtful questions can help uncover the root of difficult issues and lead teachers to finding ways to overcome their problems.

Step 3: Opportunities

In this part of the cycle, the instructional coach identifies learning opportunities that support growth and foster excitement. Thinking about the new things being added to their tool belt can be helpful for teachers to define or reconnect to their "why." Examples of these opportunities could be adopting a new digital tool, embracing a new teaching style, or even increasing their planning efficacy.

Step 4: Observe

To be clear, this step isn't a typical evaluation or observation moment for the teacher, where an administrator sits in the corner of the classroom watching. Prior to the observation, the coach and the teacher can specifically discuss what the teacher needs and reach a consensus together. This final step is conditional and should be based on what the teacher wants, needs, and, most important, is ready for.

There are different formats of observing and working with a teacher. For example, this part of the process could be a modeling time (performed by the instructional coach or another grade-level teacher) or just a one-on-one planning session. Other options could include coteaching (the coach and teacher in the classroom together) or the teacher observing a mentor teacher. Some teachers may also want a watch-me experience where there are multiple opportunities for observation.

Effective coaching is situational, not procedural. Instead of evaluation, the goal of this entire process should be for coaches to give teachers encouragement and best practices to help them improve their instruction.

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The instructional coaching process can proceed in straightforward ways that provide encouragement and solutions-focused support.

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Building trust - article on the 8 mutual learning behaviors 

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Building trust - article on the 8 mutual learning behaviors 

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Roger Schwarz

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Taught Fredrick Douglass about rhetoric

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Claude Steele

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Ben Carson's autobiography

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By Ian McKewan

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About George Dawson

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My Pleasantdale resource that I use with co-teachers this year

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My Pleasantdale resource that I use with co-teachers this year

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Suzy - Diane Sweeney Checklist for getting coaching cycles up and running

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Suzy - Diane Sweeney Checklist for getting coaching cycles up and running

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Checklist for Getting Coaching Cycles Up and Running

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Slightly different for Hillside, based on what the work looks like there this year

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Slightly different for Hillside, based on what the work looks like there this year