Importance of Academic Coaches
Baseball season and Spring Training are upon us. A major league baseball team signed Bill Carpenter, now a retired elementary school principal, when he graduated from high school. At training camp, he recalls, the camp was crawling with coaches. They had coaches for pitching, hitting, catching, base running, outfield play, infield play, sliding, base stealing, taking signals, and warming up drills, just to name a few.
They did not give each player a mentor who he could go to if he had a question. There were coaches who were skilled in certain areas and each had a responsibility to bring out the best in every player under the coach’s tutelage. In turn, the coaches met with the manager on a regular basis to assess the progress of each player. Baseball, like a school, is a team function, and everyone needs to know the culture of the team and how it operates in harmony and unison.
The most effective schools have coaches. The coaches meet with the principal on a regular basis to assess the progress of every teacher and student. In an effective school, everyone functions as a team and there is a laser focus on student achievement.
They did not give each player a mentor who he could go to if he had a question. There were coaches who were skilled in certain areas and each had a responsibility to bring out the best in every player under the coach’s tutelage. In turn, the coaches met with the manager on a regular basis to assess the progress of each player. Baseball, like a school, is a team function, and everyone needs to know the culture of the team and how it operates in harmony and unison.
The most effective schools have coaches. The coaches meet with the principal on a regular basis to assess the progress of every teacher and student. In an effective school, everyone functions as a team and there is a laser focus on student achievement.