In this final #coachbetter episode for Season 7, Kim talks about the challenge of feeling like you're constantly in day-to-day mode, without being able to be intentional about planning for what's coming up next. As educators we are busy and now AI is pushing us in a variety of ways to try to do even more, often with less resources. It can feel impossible to keep up. And that often leads us to think that we have to do more, even faster. But that is not the case - it is pausing for reflection. Kim relates this to the power of coaching and how it forces us to slow and take time to process our thinking.

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In #coachbetter episode Kim and Diana talk about ways that you can spot patterns and trends in your coaching data for the year.

Kim was recently talking to our current members of the Coach and we talked about how important it is to just start collecting data and building in a practice of reflection - even if you are worried that you won't have "enough" data. The data you collect right now can become your baseline data to refer back to in future years.

Even if you're not sure what data to collect, or what to do with the results, waiting until you feel ready just delays your progress. When you start now, you get the opportunity to:

• collect that baseline data,

• learn what kinds of questions you want to ask, and

• better understand how to analyze and unpack the data you find

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In #coachbetter episode Kim talks with Iain Henderson, Director of The Bridge at Wellington College. This is a peek into a conversation they had for Iain's podcast that we're excited to share with you here.

Iain and Kim have been having ongoing conversations about how coaching is implemented differently in different school settings and this conversation highlights a number of key topics that have come up many times, including:

• the importance of agency in the coaching process

• embracing a coach-like approach in any interaction

• what we hope are the goals or outcomes from the coaching process

• how we design coaching relationships and avoid "coaching-by-stealth"

• the impact of different types of coaching models - like:

• what happens when we mandate coaching, and

• the repercussions of aligning coaching with evaluation

• coaching in the age of AI

This conversation explores the deep power of coaching as adult development to support the flourishing of all educators in our schools. If you are interested in why coaching is so powerful - and some very important constraints to the coaching process that can make or break your program - this episode is for you!

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode we're talking about the importance of understanding the macro view of the whole school as an instructional coach. This is a highlight from one of our favorite episodes from a previous season featuring two of our amazing The Coach Mentors: Diana Beabout and Kristen Moreland.

In this clip we unpack the subtle (but often unexpected and surprising) shift to looking at your work as a coach from the micro view (what you do on an individual level) to the way that, as soon as you step into a coaching role, you are required to look at the work of coaching within a much larger viewpoint (the division, the school, the district).

This is often a big surprise for coaches - and even some experienced coaches can be reluctant to take on this informal leadership aspect of the role. But when you move into a coaching role, it becomes part of your responsibility to work towards the success of developing the program and the culture - not just the micro view of your coaching practice.

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, then check out the original episode...

Understanding the Thrive Model with The Coach Mentors [Ep 211]

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with one of Kim's clients, Jenn Overstreet, who is now Head of School in Italy, but when we recorded this call she was an instructional coach at the American International School of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Jenn is a highly experienced coach, and she had just graduated The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program when we spoke.

These case study episodes are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting.

In this conversation Kim and Jenn talk about...

• Jenn's experience building a coaching program at AISR

• Why and how they're hosting data retreats with teachers

• What she's including in her instructional coaching playbook as she's transitioning out of this role, into her new school

• What she was able to accomplish in The Coach as an experienced instructional coach

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode Kim talks about two intentional ways to collect feedback on your coaching practice - inspired by a conversation she recently had with a client. Learning how to collect and use feedback on your coaching practice is an absolute game changer to continually improve your coaching practice over time. It's the number one strategy Kim uses every single day to work towards becoming a better coach.

If you're curious about how you can keep growing into your practice - no matter how long you've been coaching, this short episode is for you!

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode Kim talks with several members of the instructional coaching team at Shanghai American School in China. This is such a big team, that even with 6 guests on the show today: Alex McMillan, Alex Braden, Yuri Liu, Andrew Ranson, Bick McSwiney and Scott Williams, this is still less than half the team!

We're excited to share this episode with you today because SAS has been doing phenomenal work in very intentionally developing their instructional coaching program both at the leadership and school wide level, and with the instructional coaches themselves. Associate Director of Ed Programs, Scott Williams has been leading this work, and Kim has partnered with SAS to support their coaches in their own private cohort of The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program, as well as spending some time at SAS working with coaches and leaders together. SAS is also one of our Founding Member Schools of AAICIS.

This episode is a window into the intention and strategic planning it takes to develop a coaching program in a very large international school! If you're curious to learn more, Scott and Kim have also written an article for the AAIE InterEd Journal which goes deeper into many of the elements we discussed in this episode.

In this episode...

• The history of coaching at SAS

• The vision and goals for the program as it's being developed now

• The key documentation the team has developed

• The team at SAS

• What coaching looks like right now

• The way's they're planning to socialize this work with all educators

• How they intend to measure the impact of coaching

• The specific contextual challenges for SAS

• What school leaders should know when embarking on program development like this

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is about how school leaders can make the decision to invest in hiring multiple instructional coaches. This is a highlight from one of our favorite episodes from a previous season featuring Samantha Olson Wyman and Stephanie Cifuentes. Sam and Stephanie share the ways they used data to determine the impact that coaches were making - and they found that everyone in the community was benefiting from instructional coaching.

As coaches and leaders we really have to be clear about the outcome of the work - and we must be able to articulate that to those who are making financial determinations about staffing. It can be hard to spend time and energy on collecting data about your practice and your impact - the actual work of collecting and analyzing the data is keeping you AWAY from doing the work. But actually communicating those outcomes will not only support you better prioritizing your own work, but it may make the case for adding new members to your team.

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Like this episode, you'll enjoy these:

Coaching for Impact, Not Activity with Donna Spangler [291]

The Importance of Measuring Your Impact as an Instructional Coach (Kim Cofino)

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

This #coachbetter episode is another in our series of coaching case studies, with Andrew Ranson, instructional coach at Shanghai American School in China.

These case study episodes are designed to share the story of a coach, and the development of their coaching program and practice in their unique setting.

If you're a regular listener of the podcast, you might have heard Andrew's recent QuickTips episode where he shared the ways that he's using a Data Dashboard to develop a strong Coach-Principal Partnership. Andrew is also featured in another episode with the Shanghai American School coaching team (available 22 April 2026)! Andrew is also a member of the AAICIS A-Team, and has been featured in several episodes about the development of our non-profit. At the time of recording he had just graduated from The Coach Certificate and Mentorship Program.

In this episode Kim and Andrew dig into the importance of the Coach-Principal partnership, and all the elements that coaches need to be aware of when they are seeking to make a deep impact on the school community!

In this conversation they talk about...

• What made him curious about coaching

• What he found surprising about the move into coaching

• How he's focusing on developing the Coach-Principal partnership

• How The Coach supported his professional growth - even as an experienced coach

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)

In this #coachbetter episode Diana is sharing the difference between a definition and a vision for instructional coaching. We all know that sometimes coaching thrives in one school setting and stalls in another. There are lots of reasons why this might happen and one of them is a lack of clarity around the definition of coaching. In schools we're great at creating a lofty vision (we all have experience with statements that involve phrases like: "developing resilient global citizens who are able to tackle complex problems") but we don't often spend a lot of time actually defining what we mean. And that can be a huge challenge for coaching programs specifically because they need ownership and buy in from all school stakeholders.

If this resonates with you, your school might need a definition of coaching - not just a vision. And Diana is going to tell you about that today!

Find the show notes for this episode here.

Let's Connect:

• Our website: coachbetter.tv
• EduroLearning on LinkedIn
• EduroLearning on Instagram
• EduroLearning on YouTube
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
• Join our #coachbetter Facebook group

Learn with Kim

• Explore our courses for coaches
• Watch a FREE workshop

Articles from Kim

• 3 Innovative Instructional Coaching Models (Edutopia)
• How Instructional Coaches Can Balance Confidentiality and Accountability (Edutopia)
• When We Invest in Coaches, We Invest in Teachers (The Learning Professional, Learning Forward)

Books & Chapters from Kim:

• Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership (book)
• Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging: The Multi-Faceted Impact of Instructional Coaching in International Schools (chapter)