Proof in Numbers
Isikkent’s leaders say their investment in coaching has paid off. Students who have received coaching report improvements in their ability to resolve conflict, set and achieve goals, and cooperate and communicate with peers. Teachers who have sought coaching provide similarly positive feedback about the experience, citing enhanced communication with students and parents and improved goal-setting abilities as benefits. Meanwhile, parents who have learned coaching skills through Parent Effectiveness Training report that, as a result of the program, they’re more able to articulate their needs to their children, more inclined to resolve conflicts with their children through compromise and more likely to approach conflict with an eye toward protecting the relationship (versus “resolving problems the way I like”).
Disciplinary problems in Isikkent’s middle and high schools have declined sharply since the introduction of coaching. In the 2008-’09 academic year, the middle school reported carrying out disciplinary actions against approximately 16 percent of the student population. In the high school, administrators reported disciplinary action against 26.5 percent of the student population. By the close of the 2012-’13 school year, however, these averages had fallen to 2.08 percent and 4.74 percent, respectively.
Coaching has also empowered students to achieve their goals for the future, with a whopping 94.1 percent of students in Isikkent’s 2013 graduating class earning admission to one of their top five university choices and 70.6 percent of students gaining acceptance to their first-choice school.
As a result of Isikkent’s success in implementing a coaching program that benefits not only teachers and administrators but the school community at large, its program today provides the benchmark by which many organizations in Turkey measure their own progress toward constructing high-impact, standards-based programs that are sustainable over time.
A version of this article originally appeared in the November 2013 issue of Coaching World. CW is a quarterly digital magazine produced by the International Coach Federation. To have CW delivered to your email inbox four times per year, subscribe for free at icf.to/subscribetoCW.
Author Bio: The International Coach Federation is the leading global organization for coaches, with more than 19,000 members and 13,000 credentialed coaches in more than 100 countries worldwide. ICF is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high ethical standards, providing independent certification and building a worldwide network of credentialed coaches.
In 2005, ICF Global adopted the Prism Award, a concept developed by ICF Toronto that recognizes businesses and organizations that demonstrate how professional coaching pays off on many fronts. This award represents the epitome of what professional coaching can accomplish within organizations of all sizes and in all sectors.
To learn more about the International Prism Award, visit Coachfederation.org/prism.
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