The educational system is at a turning point.
Though it has taken a beating in the past few years – shrinking budgets, increased regulation and complexity, greater job demands, and a lower influx of new teachers (i.e. new energy) — it is actually the perfect time to redefine the meaning of educational success, and as a community band together in its pursuit.

Children are not just their grades and test scores, their parents and the support they get, their individual aptitudes or emotional development, the classrooms they’re in or the teachers they have… it’s actually all of those things, and more.

Educational success must be measured by how well we are developing 21st century students who are global thinkers with strong communication, relationship, and team-working skills; and how well we are readying our young people to be the leaders of the future, able to flourish and thrive.

Our role as a community of engaged educators is to produce innovators, entrepreneurs, and contributors to society.  By teaching our young people about decision making, about values, about emotions, and about the way they think, we are watering the seeds of greatness in each child.

Success can further be defined as our ability to provide excellent leadership to each student, utilizing coaching technology that brings out the full potential of each student. By providing robust tools that positively impact the whole child, across his or her life, and throughout his or her development, the Educational Leadership Coach Training program (www.CoachTrainingforEducators.com) allows professional educators to see more angles, understand the interconnectedness of diverse elements, and focus their efforts in a way that brings about positive, substantial, and sustainable change.

In the world in which we live today, our success as educators will depend on our ability to create a culture that is focused on “what’s right,” one in which parents and community, standing alongside our teachers, principals, and superintendents, see the greatness in every child, and are committed to that child’s intellectual,  physical, and emotional well-being.

What will that new culture look like? Inside the classroom we’ll adopt new approaches, more deeply embedding multiple learning modalities, customizing lesson plans to the individual student, and demonstrating leadership and improving interpersonal skills through coaching competencies like intuitive listening and acknowledgement and validation.

Outside the classroom, we will lead through social interactions, getting our students involved in more than just academics, and encouraging them to become involved in their communities and to pursue their passions.

Some of these approaches have been in the works and are in use today; other approaches are still in the making to figure out what’s going to best educate students based on today’s requirements.

In order to meet those requirements, we need to become even more aware of all the factors that are impacting our children – to recognize that when students don’t feel physically and emotionally safe, true learning doesn’t happen. When students are hungry, they must be fed.  When they are afraid and lack confidence, they must be reassured. Their basic needs have to be met so that their minds are free to learn.

We need to set up an environment that is risk free, and to nurture and support students every day, no matter how they show up to class in the moment. We need to empower students to come up with their own answers and to view situations from a holistic perspective. We need to learn to trust that they can lead themselves, and that they can learn how to make effective decisions that factor in many perspectives.

So who do educational leaders and other professional educators need to become to deliver on this new vision?
We need to become great leaders and great coaches.  As more and more effective educators develop their true ability to lead and use the power of coaching, more and more children will mirror those forms of positive communication that seek to bring forth the inner brilliance and worth of each person.

Written by Alan Cohen