Executive Coaching: Improve Student Achievement And Avoid High Leader Turnover With Head Coaching

Executive coaching for school leaders increases student achievement and learning

by helping school leaders be more successful, implement change in their schools and stay around long enough to ensure that constructive change actually takes place. Without forward movement, schools go backwards. Given the state of many schools, going backwards is disastrous. In any school, regardless of how good it is, change is essential to learning, which is the business of the schoolhouse.

School CEOs - heads of school, principals, directors, executive directors - have complex and demanding jobs. Ultimately, they are responsible for all aspects of school operations. From student achievement and curriculum to finances and facilities, the school chief is responsible. That's where the buck stops, regardless of the school's resources or practicality of the goals.

It's no surprise that the average tenure of a private school head is 4.5 years. Public school principal tenure is about the same - 5 years for elementary school principals, 4.5 years for middle school principals and 3.5 years for high school principals.

One doesn't need to be an organizational rocket scientist to know that a leader's first year on the job is mostly about learning the culture and operations, building relationships, and determining what and how to change. In year two, school leaders probably have ideas for making some changes. In the best-case scenario, the faculty gets on board to make the changes by the end of the second year. Change begins to take place in the third year. In year four, if change is going well - which is rare - real progress begins. The data show that most school leaders are on their way out the door when real change is just beginning.

This cycle is repeated thousands and thousands of times at the expense of students and learning.

It doesn't need to be like this. Schools can support leaders, lengthen their tenure and increase their success with executive coaching. Executive coaching helps school leaders understand the landscape of their new school faster, increase self-awareness, build relationships, identify areas for improvement, and develop an action plan to enhance personal and leadership effectiveness. Coaching deepens understanding of strengths and areas for improvement. In addition to strengthening leadership, executive coaching helps leaders avert problems.

Through executive coaching, leaders gain insight into their own behavior and how to change it to achieve their goals. Most school leaders, despite their obvious successes, have behaviors that get in the way of being more successful. These behaviors in school leadership roles, which are highly political, can quickly create a downward slope that is very hard to reverse. Talking confidentially with a coach outside the school helps leaders reflect constructively and creatively to solve complex problems and make behavioral changes that lead to greater success.

Coaches have no agenda other than to help clients be successful. School leader clients are successful when they help students learn. Creating an engaging, challenging and rewarding learning environment for students is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It's a lot more difficult than being a quarterback or a corporate executive, and they spare no expense when it comes to coaching.

by: J. Daniel Hollinger, PHD

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