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.

KEEP Illinois Update: Deepening Our Understanding of the Teaching Profession and Educator Engagement

Work continues in earnest on a review of research about educator retention and engagement. This is part of a larger project to understand the field and provide districts and policymakers with guidance on how to help teachers and administrators thrive. At the March Forum, a group of educators from across the state came together to discuss a 2022 study from Matthew Kraft and Melissa Lyon entitled, “The Rise and Fall of the Teaching Profession: Prestige, Interest, Preparation, and Satisfaction over the Last Half Century.” Participants noted that the teaching profession has had cycles of high or low interest depending on a variety of forces, with today’s levels being at historic lows. Those forces create a complex problem that can’t be solved easily, but the group has started to identify some local and broader changes that could result in greater job satisfaction and elevate the profession.

Studies like this are being added to a growing database of research that will culminate in a series of reports and resources educators and leaders can use to enact policies that will result in greater retention and more positive school cultures for educators across Illinois.

If you want to learn more about KEEP Illinois, contact Tim Dohrer (tdohrer@niu.edu).

Advancing Positive, Engaging Environments for All Educators 

The Fall 2023 Illinois P-20 Network meeting consisted primarily of worktime for each of three key Illinois P-20 Network workgroups: Dual Credit Think Tank, IPIE, and KEEP Illinois. A summary of the KEEP Illinois workgroup worktime follows below. 

KEEP Illinois continued its work on several topics related to educator engagement and retention during the Illinois P-20 Network Fall 2023 Meeting. Arturo Senteno, Principal at West Leyden High School, provided important context and his own research on teacher and administrator engagement which reverberated throughout the remaining work session. Participants then broke into three groups based on topics identified in previous meetings as both important and achievable: research, wellness, coaching.   

While research on retention and engagement exists, it is not collected or synthesized in ways that can be easily used in decision-making. Creating a research “hub” and lit review could be a potential next step to help. Educator wellness is another critical topic that needs to first be carefully defined and understood.  KEEP Illinois members suggest creating a resource guide for teachers, administrators, and school board members to use in creating mental and physical wellness initiatives in their districts. There also should be exploration of how local and state policies can include a greater focus on adult wellness. Coaching for both teachers and administrators is another potentially powerful intervention to support engagement. Next steps include broadly sharing research with teachers, administrators, and professors on coaching, as well as best practices on how to create a culture of coaching in schools.

In the end, participants strongly endorsed continuing these efforts to improve retention and engagement across the state. Starting in January, KEEP Illinois will begin hosting monthly online forums and email updates to keep everyone connected and moving forward. Work will also proceed on an accessible platform with research on educator engagement, an educator wellness resource guide for organizations, and additional resources on instructional and leadership coaching. 

The final portion of the Illinois P-20 Network meeting included each workgroup providing a summary of their work to all participants. Then, small group discussions considered what the 1-year and 3-year specific task priorities should be for the Illinois P-20 Network. As a next step, the Network’s leadership team will compile all of those suggested priorities, analyze them, and may then solicit additional feedback from across the Illinois P-20 Network. Ultimately, the goal will be that there are specific, actionable, and sustainable next steps for each of the workgroups.