The partnership permanently unites 30 years of gold-standard coaching research with the AI-powered infrastructure leaders need to optimize teacher growth without sacrificing their time.
AUSTIN, TX – engage2learn, the leader in tech-enabled educator support, today announced the addition of Instructional Coaching Group (ICG), the educational organization led by internationally recognized researcher Jim Knight, to its family of brands. By bringing ICG fully into the engage2learn ecosystem, the company establishes itself as the undisputed leader in instructional coaching—offering the only platform on the market that directly integrates three decades of proven coaching research into educator-trained AI tools.
For over thirty years, Jim Knight has pioneered the research and frameworks behind instructional coaching. When leaders have the space to coach, it consistently delivers increased teacher retention and student outcomes. But historically, principals, assistant principals, and coaches have lacked the systemic infrastructure to execute these practices at scale.
By building ICG’s trusted coaching models directly into the educator-trained AI within GroweLab, engage2learn has made Jim Knight’s frameworks something every instructional leader can put to work every day.
GroweLab is now the only AI on the market powered by Jim Knight’s proven research, ensuring the guidance leaders receive stays true to three decades of what actually works. Principals, APs, and coaches now share one AI co-pilot that helps them draft targeted feedback, structure coaching cycles, and give consistent support grounded in research without adding hours to their day.
“We can’t expect principals to be transformational instructional leaders if they don’t have processes and tools that fit the reality of their day,” said Jim Knight, founder and CEO of ICG. “What excites me about this partnership with engage2learn is that it gives leaders practical ways to make a significant impact without losing sight of the human side of the work. I believe it can help principals and coaches spend less time overwhelmed by tasks and more time doing the work that brought them into education in the first place: helping teachers and students succeed.”
“Principals and coaches have never had a unified system that lets them drive real results, treat teachers as professionals, and still have a life,” said Shannon Buerk, founder and CEO of engage2learn. “For years, leaders have known they needed to implement Jim Knight’s groundbreaking feedback mechanisms, but bandwidth was always the barrier. By bringing ICG into the engage2learn family, we aren’t just expanding our company—we are fundamentally changing what is possible for school districts. We are empowering entire leadership teams with the definitive system to focus on human connection, preserve dignity, and drive student success.”
For the first time, the entire school leadership team can look at the same data, speak the same language, and reclaim their time, turning random acts of coaching into a repeatable, district-wide routine. Bringing Jim Knight’s research into GroweLab is the first step in giving educators the definitive tools to rapidly increase educator effectiveness and student outcomes.
About Instructional Coaching Group
Instructional Coaching Group (ICG) is a specialized educational professional development organization built on more than three decades of research on instructional coaching, peer-led educator support, and instructional refinement. Founded by author and researcher Jim Knight, ICG gives schools and districts the systemic tools, objective data-gathering techniques, and communication strategies to build long-term, self-sustaining professional growth.
About engage2learn
engage2learn partners with public school districts to design, build, and implement customized educator support and development solutions. Through experienced educator-coaches, evidence-based implementation support, and the GroweLab platform, engage2learn helps districts improve instructional leadership, teacher retention, student outcomes, and overall school culture. For more information, visit engage2learn.org
First published July 23, 2026.