Coaches and mentors have the power to transform teaching and learning. Coaching and mentoring are high-impact professional learning strategies that advance the expertise of beginning and veteran teachers through sustained instructional improvement. Effective coaches and mentors partner with teachers to model and facilitate the use of intentional and reflective practices. They also engage teachers to examine their beliefs about teaching, learning, and equity.

Our work with coaches and mentors help them develop a body of knowledge, numerous skills, and practices aligned to their roles and responsibilities to meet the unique needs of teachers. They develop skills to support teachers’ planning, implementation, and assessment of content-specific instruction, as well as to establish the conditions, structures, and community in which teachers will thrive. 

Learning Forward supports school- and district-based instructional coaches, content-based coaches, and mentors of beginning teachers to support planning, implementing, and reflecting on their decisions and the impact of those decisions on their work, their students, and their schools. 

We develop coaches and mentors who:

• believe in the capacity of every teacher to grow and learn;
• have moral purpose to achieve results for students while holding teachers’ goals at the center;
• maintain fairness and equity by respecting and honoring teachers’ backgrounds, experiences, and expertise;
• maintain trusting, productive, confidential relationships with teachers;
• work within the parameters of a coaching or mentoring program’s purpose and goals;
• commit to continuous learning, reflection, and growth for themselves and the teachers they support;
• commit to collaboration with others to achieve collective efficacy and responsibility;
• are well-prepared for her or his unique roles and responsibilities; and
• respect the context in which coaching and mentoring occur.