FOCUS
Students on the margins
Coaching for engagement and achievement
By Jim Knight
Categories: Coaching, Learning designs, Reaching all students, Social & emotional learningDecember 2019
Vol. 40, No. 6
My friend and mentor Don Deshler has directed more than 200 studies in his career and, in the process, significantly shaped how we understand and respond to students who are at risk for failure. One study in particular changed the way Deshler thought about his research. To see the school experience through students’ eyes, he and his fellow researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning each observed one student for a full school day. “The results,” Deshler told me, “were gut-wrenching. Students who were at risk lived on the margins, even in the hallways and cafeteria. I saw the loneliness in the kids’ eyes. It made me question how much I had missed about the experiences kids have in school. I
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To learn more
For more information on the research supporting the claims in this article, visit instructionalcoaching.com/research.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). Fostering school connectedness. Available at www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/protective/pdf/connectedness_administrators.pdf.
Finn, J.D. (1993). School engagement and students at risk. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Finn, J.D. & Rock, D.A. (1997). Academic success among students at risk of school failure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 221-234.
Knesting, K. (2008). Students at risk for school dropout: Supporting their persistence. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 52(4), 3-10.
Knight, J. (2013). High-impact instruction: A framework for great teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Knight, D., Hock, M., Skrtic, T.M., Bradley, B.A., & Knight, J. (2018). Evaluation of video-based instructional coaching for middle school teachers: Evidence from a multiple-baseline study. The Educational Forum, 76, 50-51.
Knight, J., Hoffman, A., Harris, M., & Thomas, S. (in press). The instructional playbook: The missing link for translating research into practice. Lawrence, KS: One Fine Bird Press.
Quaglia, R. & Corso, M.J. (2014). Student voice: The instrument of change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Schlechty, P. (2011). Engaging students: The next level of working on work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2017). An introduction to coaching skills: A practical guide (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Whitmore, J. (2017). Coaching for performance: The principles and practice of coaching and leadership (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Jim Knight, senior partner of Instructional Coaching Group, is a research associate at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. He has spent more than two decades studying instructional coaching, writing several books on the topic. Knight also leads the Intensive Instructional Coaching Institutes and the Teaching Learning Coaching annual conference. Knight has presented and consulted in more than 40 states, most Canadian provinces, and around the world. He has also won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards.
Categories: Coaching, Learning designs, Reaching all students, Social & emotional learning
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