Given the clear benefits of ongoing coaching, we offer the following recommendations for district and state policymakers to consider:

Provide leadership coaching as part of new principal induction. As of 2016, only 20 states required some type of professional support to new school administrators. We encourage states and districts to adopt formal policies requiring leadership coaching for all new principals during the first two years on the job.
Offer coaching beyond the first two years of the principalship. As we found in our study, even veteran principals benefit from coaching. The need to reflect on and improve practice is never ending.
Budget coaching into per-pupil expenditures. Investing in leadership coaching is cost-effective. Research has found it can cost as little as $4/student per year to provide leadership coaching for one principal, while the cost of replacing that principal is estimated to be about $75,000. To ensure coaching is a regular part of principals' professional learning, we encourage districts to calculate what providing coaching for each principal would cost per student, and to build that into their per pupil expenditures.
Leverage Title II of the Every Student Succeeds Act to fund coaching. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers states and districts greater control over how they use federal funding for initiatives to support leadership development and learning. Under Title II, Part A, districts can reserve up to 3 percent of funds to support principals through activities such as coaching or mentoring.
Re-envision the principal supervisor role. Providing non-evaluative leadership coaches may not be immediately feasible in some district. In such instances, with professional development and support, principal supervisors can provide effective coaching.
Consider cost-effective ways to supplement and enhance one-on-one coaching, such as with group or peer coaching and/or creating professional learning communities of school leaders to share ideas and resources and hold each other accountable for applying new knowledge.
Train and support leadership coaches. Most state or district coaching programs do not have required training for coaches. To ensure coaching is effective, we recommend systems provide foundational and ongoing training for anyone responsible for coaching. States and district coaching programs should also develop accountability structures for these programs as many do not gather data to assess program effectiveness

In our research, principals told us the same things again and again: "Without my coach, I would have left my school a few years ago." "I would have stayed complacent." "I would have continued to struggle to more effectively supervise my staff and communicate with our families." "My coach made me a better version of myself."

Instant Insights /

DA op-ed: The importance of leadership coaching

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