The Coaching System AssessmentIs your coaching program built to work? Find out factor by factor.
Most coaching programs are built by intuition: a good hire, a borrowed calendar, a log nobody reads. But a coaching program is only as strong as the system behind it. This assessment measures yours against Jim Knight’s seven success factors and names exactly which ones are holding coaching back.
Internal reviews tend to be informal and opinion-based. A gap analysis is neither.
Districts invest every year in coaching. Few can say which part of the program is holding it back, because the program has only ever been judged from inside.
A program reviewed by feel
- A good hire is treated as a program
- The calendar is borrowed from another district
- Coaching logs are filled in and never read
- One-off coach training that rarely sticks
- A review that reflects who was asked
A program assessed against the seven factors
- Every factor of the program looked at together
- A research-based framework, the same for every district
- Data routines read beside partnership and process
- The system around coaches, not only the coaches
- An outside partner who helps your team see its blind spots
Seven factors, measured one group at a time.
Scroll to watch a sample program measured. Each factor lights as it is read; on the last step, the shape becomes the gap analysis.
- Factors 1 and 2 · Partnership and communication
How coaches and teachers work together.
Do coaches work with teachers as partners, with choice, voice and dialogue? Are conversations built on real questions and genuine listening? Both decide whether teachers trust their coach.
- Factor 3 · Leadership
Whether coaches lead, and are led well.
Coaches who lead themselves and others raise the capability of the people around them. The assessment looks at how coaching leadership is grown and supported.
- Factors 4 and 5 · The coaching process and data
What a coaching cycle looks like in practice.
Is there a shared process, such as the Impact Cycle, that runs from a clear picture of reality to a goal, a strategy and improvement? Do coaches and teachers use data on engagement, attainment and teaching to see progress?
- Factors 6 and 7 · The instructional playbook and system support
What coaches share, and what protects their time.
Do coaches hold a playbook of high-impact strategies, each with its research, purpose and checklist? Do leaders protect the time coaches and teachers need to reach proficiency?
- The result
A gap analysis, with the weak factors named.
All seven factors, read together, with the ones holding coaching back named plainly. Each flag comes with a prioritized design recommendation, which is where the Coaching System Design begins.
What the assessment looks for, at its best.
Jim Knight’s research, begun in 1996, with over 150,000 instructional coaches trained, distilled into seven factors. The assessment measures every one.
- 01
Partnership
Coaches work from the partnership principles: equality, choice, voice, dialogue, reflection, praxis and reciprocity.
- 02
Communication
Coaching is rooted in growth-fostering conversations, real questions and genuine listening that build trust.
- 03
Leadership
Coaches lead themselves and others, and increase the capability of those around them.
- 04
Coaching process
Coaches use the Impact Cycle: Identify a clear picture of reality, a goal and a strategy, then Learn and Improve.
- 05
Data
Coaches help teachers gather data on engagement, attainment and teaching to measure progress.
- 06
Instructional playbook
Coaches hold deep knowledge of high-impact strategies, each with its research, purpose and implementation checklist.
- 07
System support
Leaders are intentional about protecting the time and support coaches and teachers need.
What lands on the table.
One structured assessment of the whole program, read against a research-based framework, with recommendations you can act on.
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A gap analysis across all seven factors
Where the program is strong, and which factors are holding coaching back.
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Prioritized design recommendations
Practical next steps for each flagged factor, in priority order.
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A whole-system view
Partnership to system support, read together, so a fix in one place is not undone by another.
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A starting point for design
The recommendations become the brief for the Coaching System Design.
After the assessment, design the program and develop the coaches.
- This page Assessments & Software
Coaching System Assessment
A gap analysis across all seven success factors.
- Planning & Design
Coaching System Design
The structures, playbook and routines that close the gaps.
- Performance Improvement
Coaches Academy
Coaches develop inside the system, through shadowing, calibration and growth data.
Built on 30 years of coaching research.
Jim Knight is widely regarded as the founding father of instructional coaching. Over 150,000 instructional coaches have been trained through Jim Knight and the Instructional Coaching Group.
The Instructional Coaching Group, Jim Knight’s organization, is part of engage2learn. More about Jim Knight.
For more than three decades, I’ve had the privilege of learning alongside remarkable coaches, teachers, and school leaders whose ideas and commitment have shaped everything we do.
Diagnose the program before you build it.
The Coaching System Assessment is one of four diagnostics. It assesses the coaching program itself, so the design that follows works on the factors that are missing.
- You are here 01
Diagnose
The coaching program measured against seven success factors, with a gap analysis.
Assessments & Software - 02
Design
The Coaching System Design, built with your leaders, puts in place the structures the analysis found missing.
Planning & Design - 03
Coach
Your coaches grow their craft in the Coaches Academy, inside the new system.
Performance Improvement - 04
Connect to community
Coaches and leaders keep learning together in the Jim Knight Impact Network.
Network & Events
Questions leaders ask.
What does the Coaching System Assessment measure?
It measures a district’s coaching program against Jim Knight’s seven success factors: partnership, communication, leadership, the coaching process, data, the instructional playbook and system support. The result is a gap analysis that names which factors are holding coaching back.
How is this different from an internal review of our coaching program?
An internal review tends to be informal and opinion-based; this is a structured assessment against a research-based framework, delivered by an outside partner. That is what surfaces the blind spots a program cannot see from inside.
What do we receive at the end?
You receive a gap analysis across all seven success factors and prioritized, practical design recommendations. The recommendations lead straight into the Coaching System Design, where your team and ours build what the analysis found missing.
Does the assessment judge individual coaches?
No, it assesses the coaching program and the system around it, not any one coach. To measure coaches’ own practice against six essential coaching actions, districts use the Coaching Effectiveness Assessment.
We already have a coaching program. Is this for us?
Yes, an established program is exactly what the assessment is built for. It shows how your program measures up against the seven success factors and where targeted design will make it more effective.
Our coaches trained with Jim Knight. Do we still need an assessment?
Training is an ideal foundation, and the assessment checks whether the system around it holds. Coaches trained in the Impact Cycle and the partnership principles still need the structures, playbook and leadership supports that let that learning stick.
Do we have to use Jim Knight’s coaching model?
No. The Seven Success Factors describe the conditions any coaching program needs, such as leadership support, clear communication and useful data, so the assessment applies to whatever coaching model your district uses: Jim Knight’s Impact Cycle, engage2learn’s High-Performance Coaching System or your own.
Know which factor is holding coaching back.
Tell us about your coaching program, how many coaches, how long it has run and what you are seeing, and we’ll show you what the assessment would look at first.
