This image is a photo of the book cover for The Instructional Coaching Handbook. It has the complete book title, a multicolored cube similar to a rubik's cube and tetris configuration combined, and the names of the three authors of the book Keith Young, Angela Julien, and Tamarra Osborne.

New from ASCD!

The Instructional Coaching Handbook is not a new model of coaching. It addresses common hiccups that prevent productive coaching conversations from happening in the first place. From their thousands of annual school visits and coaching of coaches and administrators, the authors recognize that instructional leaders frequently confront similar challenges when helping educators address seven dispositions or skill sets -- and they devote a chapter to each:

Each chapter features scores of practical, research-based strategies with proven success. Mix and match them according to your leadership style, the needs of the student or teacher, and the demands of the curriculum.

In addition to implementation stories that show what the strategies look like in a range of classrooms, the handbook includes effective tools and resources that help guide you through the thorniest of coaching conversations. All you have to do is dive in at an appropriate chapter; scan for ideas that match your style, the educators you coach, and your unique context; and start making a difference!

Order The Instructional Coaching Handbook now from your favorite retailer or these sites: Amazon, ASCD, and Barnes & Noble.

What do others say about the book?

"I wish I had had this book in the ’70s when I started as an instructional coach. I would have learned that there is no singular best way to be in the role. Keith and his colleagues have captured the wisdom that 'matching is the name of the game' – that selecting the best-fit approach across the directive to non-directive continuum is what skillful coaches learn how to do. . . . No one is more versed in the coaching literature of this century or more respectful in crediting forebearers and fine minds in the field than Keith Young, Tamara Osbourne, and Angela Bell Julien. They have, indeed, created a synthesis of wise practitioners through the decades, but they have added new dimensions to the field. In addition to the equity strand built into their concept of the coach’s role, they place new emphasis on developing teacher belief about all students' capacity to learn despite the conditions of their birth. For leaders and coaches committed to equity, this book is a new window."

Jon Saphier, founder of Research for Better Teaching and author of The Skillful Teacher

About A. Keith Young, EdD

There is a picture of the author Keith Young standing. The picture is taken from the thighs up. He is a middle-aged white man with blue glasses, a denim shirt, and dark pants. He is smiling with his hands on his hips. The background of the image is blurred.

Photo by Janeen Anderson

Keith is an education coach, trainer, and writer. Born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of northern Alabama, his mother was a bank teller. His father farmed cotton and sold used farm equipment. Keith attended Head Start in Gadsden, Alabama, and graduated from Hokes Bluff High School. $200 from his grandmother, Woogie, and a leadership scholarship paved the way for him to become a first-generation graduate of Jacksonville State University. Inspired by hometown missionary Mary Jane Whorton, a teacher in Kenya, he studied to be a teacher and spent a brief stint in seminary. Later, he pivoted to teaching secondary English and math for the US government in Germany. 

 

In his first years of teaching, Keith developed a knack for leading and training colleagues. Additionally, he received training and mentoring from several educational leaders: Jon Saphier, Louise Thomson, Ernie Stokowski, Robby Champion, Gene Hall, Anita Archer, Rick DuFour, Robert Garmston, and Janet Crispeels, among others. Eventually, Keith shifted full-time to training teachers and directing school improvement efforts at the district level. He became a principal, leading school turnaround work and regularly increasing student outcomes by double digits in Arizona, Colorado, and Puerto Rico. Along the way, he picked up all the advanced degrees available. His doctorate focused on school superintendent race and identity. Keith maintains a personal passion and a strong track record for accelerating the education of traditionally marginalized student populations. 


Keith wrote articles for Education Leadership and Kappan. ASCD published his books – The Instructional Coaching Handbook: 200+ Troubleshooting Strategies for Success! (2023) and Training Design, Delivery, and Diplomacy: An Educator's Guide (August, 2023).


A few partners Keith worked with include the following: 

 

Keith trains and coaches administrators, teacher coaches, and school leadership teams through his company AKYConsulting. AKYConsulting provides a small team of accomplished principals, teacher coaches, and district leaders. The group is renowned for its skill at demonstrating coaching live with teachers, administrators, and teams in classrooms, meetings, and school corridors. Keith and his team provide a blended coaching style focused on learner outcomes -- an approach grasped eagerly by leaders. As educators, they maintain a progressive philosophy and an instructional style embracing the best of constructivism and explicit instruction.

 

Married for nearly twenty-five years, Keith and his husband live on the South Carolina coast and enjoy being mediocre gardeners and doting on several of their parcel of 22 nephews and one neice.


Sign up for a quarterly newsletter about coaching, or reach out to Keith for more information at hello@AKYConsulting.com.

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