Professional Development Opportunities for Coaches

Coaching: A Cornerstone for Change (Hybrid learning)

SAVE THE DATES for the 2026-2027 School Year

This professional learning experience is centered on the coaching behaviors defined in Wisconsin’s Coaching Competency Practice Profile. Participants can expect to learn, reflect, and practice skills centered around relationship development, communication, coaching conversations, change facilitation, reflection and equity mindset. Coaches will also consider the power of coaching teams and systems.

Session Objectives:

• Session 1: Relationship Development & Coach Leader Partnerships: In this session, coaches will explore the significance of creating trusting and respectful relationships so that you can create the conditions to coach around shifting behaviors, mindsets, values and beliefs. We will also examine the importance of the coach/principal relationship as well as systems of coaching support.

• Session 2: The Coaching Conversation & Communication Skills: In this session, we will explore effective communication skills to positively affect client outcomes. We will also learn how to facilitate cyclical coaching conversations so that you can support clients to positively impact outcomes for each and every learner.

• Session 3: Facilitating Change: In this session, coaches will consider a spectrum of ways people experience and respond to change so that we can meet individuals where they are. We will also facilitate a process to identify beliefs and assumptions we may hold which could get in the way of change.

• Session 4: Knowledge Base Development & Reflective Practice: In this session, coaches will unpack a wide range of coaching approaches so that we can be responsive to the situational needs of all clients. We will examine opportunities to engage in continuous self-improvement through professional learning and feedback so we can positively impact coaching practices.

• Session 5: Coaching Teams & Systems: In this session coaches will leverage the stages of team development and system dynamics to support sustainable, transformational change that positively impacts outcomes for each and every learner.

Community of Coaching

Building on the research of Joyce and Showers explored during Coaching: A Cornerstone for Change training, we know that professional learning alone leads to limited transfer into practice, with consistent application reaching only about 15%. It is the addition of embedded coaching that elevates implementation and fidelity to nearly 90%. The Community of Coaching is designed to be that critical bridge between learning and practice—a dedicated space where coaches coach other coaches, reflect on real implementation, and support one another in strengthening coaching competencies. In direct connection with the Coaching Cornerstone Learning Series, these sessions offer an intentional opportunity to construct and sustain systems of coaching support that honor both the research and your lived coaching work. Participation in both Cornerstone and the Community is strongly encouraged as a way to deepen impact, build collective capacity, and ensure the learning translates into meaningful, lasting practice. The Community of Coaching occurs virtually from 9:00-10:30 on the following days. Mark your calendars!

Each month focuses on a specific theme or competency:

• Session 1: How might your self-assessment results guide you toward coaching competencies to lean into for continued growth? What does a meaningful coaching goal look like? How can a professional growth plan support intentional and sustainable coaching practice?

• Session 2: What coaching data are you currently collecting, and what might you be missing? How can data support reflection on your practice and strengthen coaching service delivery? What systems make using data more manageable and meaningful?

• Session 3: Relationship Development - Are you still experiencing barriers to building relationships? What strategies are important for maintaining relationships? What experience have you had with repairing a breach of trust?

• Session 4: Coaching Conversation Facilitation and Communication - What are some moves you have made to promote reflection, challenge assumptions, and dig for details and depth? What stories would you share in structuring coaching conversations?

• Session 5: Change Facilitation - What experience do you have leveraging productive conflict? How do you anticipate and respond to resistance? What strategies or questions have you used to bring clients into their sphere of control?

• Session 6: Knowledge Base Development and Reflective Practice - What are some intentional moves you’ve made to find and engage in professional development? What progress towards your individual coaching goal can you celebrate? What may be some opportunities for growth over the summer and upcoming year?

Hear from past participants: 

• "I appreciate the structure and resources for us to prepare for our new group of coaching clients and that it is a homework assignment to hold accountability to being prepared for this work."
• "So much great information! I feel confident applying the different ideas when working with a team and also applying these to support individuals in a team."
• "I loved the practicing writing a question from directive, facilitative, to transformational depending on role. This is a great way to analyze the questions I am using....I could maybe take my top five questions and chart if they were directive, facilitative, or transformational. Loved the time to practice and the demo of the problem of practice."
• "Despite being new to educational coaching, I always felt like a valued member of the group, with everyone's voice being heard equally. The insights I gained from the sessions have already empowered me to better support my staff, which will ultimately benefit their students. I wholeheartedly recommend this coaching series to any colleagues, and to anyone who works to support other educators. I am incredibly thankful for this experience and will definitely be recommending future sessions!"

CCPP Virtual Learning Modules 

These interactive modules help break down each competency through stories and examples from real life coaching situations - written by your Wisconsin coaching friends and colleagues.

Within each module, you’ll be guided by “CC”, a virtual coach. CC will help orient you to the scenes you are about to watch, alert you to look for evidence of core competencies as they show up in the stories, highlight best practices, prompt you to reflect, ask questions and journal while you learn.

If you’ve already taken the Coach Self Assessment, you might have a good idea of where you want to start. If you’re wondering where to start, the self-assessment is a great place! The self-assessment gives you time to dig into the document as a whole, and will help guide you in developing personal coaching goals to inform professional learning and coaching needs. It will also give you an idea of where to start in the modules.

As you navigate through the modules, you will have access to several resources. The first is the coach’s kit - The kit holds many valuable tools and resources that align to the learning in each of the modules. Sometimes, CC, the virtual coach, will nudge you to take a look in the kit at specific times, or, just browse on your own any time you want. All the resources in the Coach’s Kit are yours for the taking! You can copy and save them for later review and use.

There’s also the virtual journal. Throughout the module, CC will ask you to pause, reflect, journal or grab resources from the Coach’s Kit to put in your own personal journal. This virtual journal is downloadable and intended for you to build and grow with you as you learn.

The modules are all connected, but they aren’t linear, so you can jump in wherever feels right for you. Once in the modules, you’ll have options for what kind of coaching you want to see.