21CSLA Research-Practice Brief: Equity-Centered School Leadership Coaching

School leaders play a central role in improving school culture and carrying out instructional and organizational leadership. One meaningful support for school leaders’ work and development has been coaching. Following the expansion of coaching in the business sector almost a century ago, coaching has expanded in the education field over the past decades for both teachers and school leaders. There is no standard definition of coaching, but in general, it entails one- on-one individualized support in learning to clarify, address, and reach professional goals. District and school leadership coaching frequently blends components of both teacher- facing instructional coaching and executive-facing facilitative coaching, with the latter’s attention to the development of leadership skills to support organizational aims.