Blended Coaching
Skills and Strategies to Support Principal Development
- Gary Bloom - University of California-Santa Cruz, USA
- Claire Castagna - University of California-Santa Cruz, USA
- Ellen Moir - New Teacher Center
- Betsy Warren - University of California-Santa Cruz, USA
- the importance of sustained, stable, and effective site leadership for school improvement
- the growing shortage of qualified candidates for the headteachership
- the inadequacy of traditional pre-service programs
- the need for quality headteacher induction programs which include a mentoring or coaching component
This book, while grounded in research and theory, will provide readers with practical skills and strategies for leadership coaching that are explicitly tied to the needs of headteachers. It will make sense of the often contradictory literature on coaching by promoting a new approach, that of "Blended Coaching," which recognizes that effective coaches move between facilitative and instructional approaches in their practice.
"This is one of the best, most concise books I know on this topic, and should be equally helpful to elementary, middle, and high school principals. I learned many new ideas that will make me a better coach."
"Finally there's a book on the market with all the key ingredients for a beginning principal coaching program wrapped into a single recipe for success. Blended Coaching is a research-based, practical and chock full of user-friendly protocols. Recognizing that novice principals face a common set of obstacles and pressures, the authors provide a structured approach to enhance their on-the-job learning and effectiveness. My own school district has been using the winning CLASS formula since 2002 to support 15 first and second-year principals. CLASS has definitely made a difference in the professional lives of Capistrano's newcomers who have been fortunate enough to work with a trained coach. This book now makes it possible for any school district to put these resources to immediate use and start their own new principal coaching program."
"One of the few books on education in the last decade that has the touch of genius. Blended Coaching gives principals the inspiration they need to shift from administrator to school leader, from cop to coach, from boss to mentor. It provides proven strategies, skills that can be practically and immediately applied to positively impact every teacher and student in America."
"This book provides field-tested, nuanced guidance for all who are concerned with supporting principals' professional learning, including mentors, coaches, professional developers, faculty members in educational leadership, and school district leaders. The combination of varied strategies and real-world examples of how coaching supports and develops educational leaders across a broad spectrum of experience and expertise provides an invaluable resource for the field of educational leadership."
"Bloom, Castagna, Moir, and Warren have achieved new heights in our profession by building upon the best knowledge in coaching and systems change and constructing blended leadership coaching founded on substantive research in cognition, linguistics, emotional intelligence, and cultural competency. Blended Coaching gives expression to a coaching conceptual framework erected with skills, tools and vibrant examples."
"At last we have a comprehensive book that teaches us about the practice of coaching and the principalship! There are skills, strategies, tools, and stories of practicing leaders that can help a prospective leader grow and learn in this engagingly written book. This is clearly a must read for principals-new and experienced and those who coach them."