Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight
Jim Knight is the founder of The Instructional Coaching Group, a professional development provider dedicated to offering PD for coaches, teachers, and leaders based on a partnership approach that creates better learning environments for all students. As a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning Jim has spent 25 years studying professional learning and instructional coaching. He earned his PhD in Education from the University of Kansas and has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards. The pioneering work Jim and his colleagues have conducted has led to many innovations that are now central to professional development in schools. Jim wrote the first major article about instructional coaching for the Journal of Staff Development, and his book Instructional Coaching (2007) offered the first extended description of instructional coaching. Jim has written several books in addition to those described above, including the bestsellers Unmistakable Impact (2011), High-Impact Instruction (2013), Focus on Teaching (2014), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2018), and The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021). He has also authored articles featured in Educational Leadership, The Journal of Staff Development, Principal Leadership, The School Administrator, and Kappan.
Coaching Conversations with Jim Knight
Jim Knight & Shannon Buerk | E2L and ICG
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What happens when three decades of instructional coaching research meets technology designed to help educators thrive?
In this conversation, Jim Knight and Shannon Buerk explore a new partnership focused on expanding the reach of instructional coaching while staying true to the principles that make coaching effective.
They discuss why partnership, professionalism, and meaningful conversations remain at the heart of lasting school improvement, how districts can better demonstrate the impact of coaching on student learning, and how technology like GroweLab and AI can reduce administrative tasks so coaches can spend more time where they're needed most: alongside teachers.
Throughout the discussion, one message remains clear. Technology can strengthen coaching, but it will never replace the trust, humanity, and relationships that inspire real growth.