CASE STUDY: Hosting Data Retreats as an Instructional Coach with Jenn Overstreet
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This #coachbetter episode is another in our , with one of Kim's clients, Jenn Overstreet, who is now Head of School in Italy, but when we recorded this call she was an instructional coach at the American International School of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Jenn is a highly experienced coach, and she had just graduated The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program when we spoke. These are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting. In this conversation Kim and Jenn talk about... Jenn’s experience building a...
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Collecting Feedback on Your Coaching Practice with Kim Cofino
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In this #coachbetter episode Kim talks about two intentional ways to collect feedback on your coaching practice - inspired by a conversation she recently had with a client. Learning how to collect and use feedback on your coaching practice is an absolute game changer to continually improve your coaching practice over time. It’s the number one strategy Kim uses every single day to work towards becoming a better coach. If you’re curious about how you can keep growing into your practice - no matter how long you’ve been coaching, this short episode is for you! Find the show notes for...
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Developing a School-Wide Instructional Coaching Program at Shanghai American School with SAS Instructional Coaches
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In this #coachbetter episode Kim talks with several members of the instructional coaching team at in China. This is such a big team, that even with 6 guests on the show today: Alex McMillan, Alex Braden, Yuri Liu, Andrew Ranson, Bick McSwiney and Scott Williams, this is still less than half the team! We're excited to share this episode with you today because SAS has been doing phenomenal work in very intentionally developing their instructional coaching program both at the leadership and school wide level, and with the instructional coaches themselves. Associate Director of Ed Programs, Scott...
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Making the Decision to Invest in Multiple Coaches: Samantha Olson-Wyman & Stephanie Cifuentes
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This #coachbetter episode is about how school leaders can make the decision to invest in hiring multiple instructional coaches. This is a highlight from one of our favorite episodes from a previous season featuring Samantha Olson Wyman and Stephanie Cifuentes. Sam and Stephanie share the ways they used data to determine the impact that coaches were making - and they found that everyone in the community was benefiting from instructional coaching. As coaches and leaders we really have to be clear about the outcome of the work - and we must be able to articulate that to those who are making...
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CASE STUDY: Developing a Strong Coach-Principal Partnership with Andrew Ranson
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This #coachbetter episode is another in our , with Andrew Ranson, instructional coach at Shanghai American School in China. These are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting. If you’re a regular listener of the podcast, you might have heard Andrew’s where he shared the ways that he’s using a Data Dashboard to develop a strong Coach-Principal Partnership. Andrew is also featured in another episode with the (available 22 April 2026)! Andrew is also a member of the AAICIS A-Team, and has...
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The Difference Between a Coaching Vision & Definition with Diana Beabout
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In this #coachbetter episode Diana is sharing the difference between a definition and a vision for instructional coaching. We all know that sometimes coaching thrives in one school setting and stalls in another. There are lots of reasons why this might happen and one of them is a lack of clarity around the definition of coaching. In schools we’re great at creating a lofty vision (we all have experience with statements that involve phrases like: “developing resilient global citizens who are able to tackle complex problems”) but we don’t often spend a lot of time actually defining what...
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Celebrating Two Years of AAICIS
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In this #coachbetter episode, Kim chats with some members of the team from the (called AAICIS), where she is currently serving as the Executive Director. This episode is celebrating the two years of AAICIS! This episode was rexorded to share and celebrate some of their key achievements over this last year with you! They also wanted to highlight the many ways that the work of the AAICIS team is impacting international schools and educators around the world, and a little bit about the behind the scenes work with AAICIS - what it’s like to volunteer, and what our volunteers get out...
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Recognizing Your Leadership, as an Instructional Coach with Dr. Chaunté Garrett
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This #coachbetter episode is about the ways that coaches can see themselves as leaders in their school community. This is a highlight from one of our favorite episodes from a previous season featuring Dr. Chaunté Garrett, former Instructional Coach, and currently Superintendent of a K12 Charter School in North Carolina. What we love about this clip is that so often instructional coaches struggle to recognize the informal leadership aspects of the role that they might be demonstrating - even without realizing it. Many coaches can feel a sense of imposter syndrome when we highlight the...
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CASE STUDY: 6 Keys to Building a Coaching Culture with Coaches as Leaders Graduate, Tina Peji
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This #coachbetter episode is another in our , with one of Kim's amazing clients, Tina Peiji. Tina is a highly experienced coach, a graduate of The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program and Coaches as Leaders. At the time of recording, she had just graduated from Coaches as Leaders. Tina is also an essential member of the A-Team! These are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting. Tina is currently digging into how to develop a coaching program at her school - from the leadership level. After...
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Navigating the Hidden Mental Load for Instructional Coaches with Kim Cofino and Diana Beabout
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In this #coachbetter episode Kim and Diana talk about the mental load that coaches carry - and may not recognize. This is a topic that came up during a previous #coachbetter episode with . This is something that, as coaches, we may feel, but may not recognize how it impacts our work - and the work that our coaching partners have the capacity for. In this episode, Kim and Diana will unpack what we mean by “mental load” or “cognitive capacity” and how and why understanding everyone’s (including our own) limited bandwidth has such a huge impact on our coaching practice and coaching...
info_outlineIn this #coachbetter episode Kim talks with Donna Spangler, who spent the majority of her career working in US public schools as a teacher, then coach, then chair of a team of coaches, then assistant principal and president of her teacher’s union. She also served as President of the Pennslyvania chapter of Learning Forward, and now works as a coach through Sibme and Executive Director of Edjacent, which is a company that supports educators and change makers. All of these experiences center around Donna’s passion for professional learning for adults, and this episode focuses on one of her key areas of expertise: coaching for impact (not activity).
In this episode Donna and Kim talk about:
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what makes coaching so impactful for schools
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How coaches create meaningful change in teachers’ instruction and positively impact the school building and system
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the difference between measuring coaching impact vs coaching activity and why coaching impact is so important
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Why coaches might consider creating a coaching impact report
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How can coaches can ensure they are retaining focus on impact - rather than activity, especially when they might feel pressure to demonstrate "activity"
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How coaches can create sustainable structures for ongoing data collection.
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the systems and structures need to be in place for international schools who are building coaching programs
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the common pitfalls that schools (and school leaders) often fall into when building coaching programs
This episode is a GOLD MINE of practical advice and strategies for instructional coaches who not only want to make an impact but want to be able to document and share that impact with others.
A Coaching for Impact Mini-Guide (for this episode by Donna Spangler)
Find the show notes for this episode here.
Like this episode, you’ll enjoy this:
The Importance of Measuring Your Impact as an Instructional Coach
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