May 24, 2026

#190: The 5 Powerful Coaching Practices (and a surprising secret to success)

31 minutes

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In this episode of Coaching the Whole Educator, Becca sits down with Jason Adair from the Southern Regional Education Board to explore what actually makes instructional coaching effective in schools. Together, they unpack SREB’s new Powerful Coaching Practices framework and discuss why so many coaching initiatives fail to create lasting instructional change.

This conversation dives into instructional coaching strategies, teacher feedback, coaching cycles, relationship-based leadership, professional learning, and implementation challenges in K-12 schools. Becca and Jason discuss the importance of trust, goal-setting, observation and feedback, instructional leadership, and why coaching must move beyond compliance-based approaches to create real teacher growth and student learning outcomes.

They also tackle common coaching mistakes, including “facili-manipulation,” surface-level feedback, unclear goals, and the breakdown of coaching due to lack of time, competing priorities, and weak systems. The episode offers practical insight for instructional coaches, principals, district leaders, and anyone focused on improving teacher development and school improvement efforts.

Key topics include:

Instructional coaching best practices
Building trust with teachers
Coaching cycles and feedback loops
Teacher goal-setting and ownership
Observation and actionable feedback
School leadership and implementation
Professional learning communities (PLCs)
Coaching for meaningful instructional change
Avoiding compliance-driven coaching
Time management for instructional coaches and principals

If you’re a school leader, instructional coach, or educator trying to improve follow-through, teacher engagement, and instructional practice, this episode offers practical frameworks and real-world coaching insights you can immediately apply in schools.

Links from the episode:

SREB Summer Conference (Coaching Community)

Powerful Coaching Practices

Powerful instructional Practices

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