Supporting Educator Engagement with Coaching
One of the Illinois P-20 Network’s four Areas of Focus is Educator Engagement. As will be evident with the forthcoming publication of the KEEP Illinois research review regarding educator retention and career-long engagement, there are many key elements to retaining educators throughout their careers in ways that can continue to grow and thrive. While climate and culture, salary, collaboration, professional autonomy, and relationships with peers and supervisors are all critical, one strategy that can consistently improve all of these other elements (with the exception of salary) is coaching.
The Educational Coaching Network (ECN) is designed to serve as a partner to organizations on their journeys with developing, implementing, and maintaining coaching as well as a partner to individual coaches – from new coaches with the annual Foundations of Coaching series as well as to experienced coaches with the Advanced Coaching workshops that provide different learning opportunities each year based on the needs that have been identified by coaches across Illinois. Additionally, coaches and school and district leaders are invited to celebrate coaching and to dive deeper into its direct impact on students at this year’s ECN Conference on April 24, 2025, with Diane Sweeney.
KEEP Illinois is dedicated to helping educators locally and policymakers state-wide develop and implement practices and policies that will promote long-term engagement and growth (and retention) for educators throughout our careers. ECN provides important supports for these efforts.
To learn more about the Educational Coaching Network and/or for information about customized assistance with launching, evaluating, and/or improving coaching in your organization, please contact Tim Dohrer.
