Coaching Overview

Coaching encompasses knowledge and professional behaviors necessary to support schools in the application and maintenance of systemic School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

Coaching for “emerging” teams, that are in process of establishing major systems elements (e.g., securing staff agreements, conducting self-assessments and data reviews, developing school-wide action plans), is frequent and on-going to ensure accurate, continuous, and effective implementation. At least monthly, coaches, for example, (a) attend team meetings, (b) make contact (e.g., email, telephone) with team leader and/or administrator, (c) review and report school data, (d) complete and/or check team progress on Team Implementation Checklist, (e) acknowledge team progress and outcomes, and (f) report school progress to district, regional and state leadership.

Coaching for “established” teams, that are focused on action plan implementation, includes many of the same functions for emerging teams, except that the emphasis is, for example, on (a) monitoring accuracy and consistency of implementation (Team Implementation Checklist), (b) maximizing targeted outcomes, (c) increasing implementation efficiency, (d) acknowledging progress and outcomes, (e) communicating progress to district, regional and state leadership, and (f) facilitating review of data and action plan enhancement.

The following guiding principles are considered when establishing coaching capacity:    

• Each school team should have access to coaching support.
• On-going district support is needed to maintain coaching activities.
• Coaches must have experience with school team implementation and problem solving.
• Coaches' training and experiences must be linked with school team training and implementation.

Source: SWPBS Implementation Blueprint version September 25, 2010, (pgs. 89-89)