Evaluating and Assessing the Quality and Impact of Coaching Services

This chapter offers best practices, methods, and strategies for evaluating and assessing coaching services once they have been implemented. In order to determine the extent to which the coaching services that have been implemented are impacting retention, a comprehensive assessment combined with thoughtful analysis of the assessment data must be undertaken on a regular and continuous cycle. The Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2006) four-level assessment model to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the selected coaching program on an annual basis, for either an outsourced coaching service or an internal coaching unit or department, is the recommended approach detailed in this chapter. The four levels of the assessment are as follows: Level 1 of the assessment will measure student reactions to the coaching services; Level 2 will assess student learning through the use of pre- and post-coaching assessments; Level 3 will assess transfer of knowledge and skills; and Level 4 will assess the impact and results as a result of the coaching program. The chapter provides advice and discussion about when to conduct each level of the four-part assessment model and a comprehensive sample assessment that can be modified to fit the needs of a wide variety of programs and institutions.

The Motivation Elements, Components, and Characteristics of an Outstanding Coach

The research discussed throughout this chapter was designed to examine, understand, and explain the key motivational characteristics, elements, and components of outstanding retention and success coaching. The motivational elements of the study are organized using the choice, persistence, and mental effort framework from Clark and Estes (2008) and Eccles and Wigfield (2002). Through interviews and focus groups of elite coaches, the study assessed the motivation of the most successful coaches as well as the core values, beliefs, and sensitivities to background and cultural norms that suggest that an individual can be developed into an excellent coach. The chapter further explains how institutions and organizations can select for these values and beliefs through a careful hiring process that results in the recruitment of the right talent pool for entry-level coaching positions.

Best Practices and Strategies for Outsourcing Coaching Services and for Designing and Developing an Internal Coaching Department

This chapter offers best practices, methods, planning options, and comparison information for two distinct scenarios for the implementation and utilization of retention and student success coaching services. The first implementation scenario is for institutions that want to consider outside coaching professionals to support their campus or program through an outsourced vendor contract. The second scenario is for institutions that are considering designing and developing a coaching department within their institution or organization. The chapter provides evaluation and selection criteria for selecting an outsourced coaching service, discusses a set of key implementation considerations, and outlines the operational steps to implementation of outsourced coaching services. The chapter recommends that institutions conduct an open RFP process for the selection of an outsourced coaching vendor. A sample timeline with a sample RFP are provided, along with a proposed implementation process. For institutions interested in designing and developing their own internal coaching operations, the chapter offers six key considerations and core principles to guide the project in order to ensure a focus on the most important coaching concepts and elements.

Organization Elements and Supports for Outstanding Retention and Student Success Coaching

Using data gathered from interviews, coaching center observations, a document review, and four focus groups of elite coaches, this chapter assess the organizational resources and supports necessary to support consistently outstanding retention and student success coaching. The organizational elements of the study are arranged and discussed using five themes that are discussed and interwoven throughout the chapter. Theme one is the socio-cultural elements of the organization. This theme looks at coach interactions, the mood and atmosphere of the workplace, mentoring and role modeling. Theme two looks at the elements of highly functional teams using the five-part Lencioni framework of trust, conflict resolution, results, accountability, and commitment. The third organizational assessment is built around the alignment of coaching services and organization supports. The fourth theme explores the coaches' expectations of management, as well as organizational resources and performance incentives. The final theme of the chapter looks at overall organizational performance and provides recommendations for optimizing coaching environments for consistency and success.

Thinking Ahead

This chapter looks at current and emerging trends in coaching and also explores what near-term incremental improvements, innovations, and new developments to coaching models and strategies are on the horizon. The chapter also looks at how institutions can realign and innovate with positions and supports within their organizational structures that can help to support and optimize coaching performance and institutional retention rates. Chapter 7 also investigates a few new student success tools and technology options that offer promising strategies or approaches to improved retention through coaching. The chapter also explores some future research directions that should be explored in order to further develop the scholarship and academic literature in the area of retention and student success coaching.

Conclusion and Recommendations for Applying Key Coaching Elements Across the Institution in Contexts Other Than Coaching

This chapter explores the key elements of successful coaching by applying these key coaching elements across the institution. The goal is to help institutions explore and apply coaching-based solutions in different contexts and across different issues, challenges, and obstacles throughout the institution. This chapter also evaluates the key components of a highly successful coaching program that may be appropriate for solving retention problems or tackling retention issues through interventions other than coaching. Or put another way, what can a highly successful coaching program teach other student facing departments across the institution that might be effective in engaging and retaining students? Finally, this chapter provides recommendations based on Chapters, 2, 3, and 4 and from personal experience about what elements of highly impactful coaching are going to be difficult to develop or nurture within conventional university campus operations and departments. Or conversely, what elements of highly successful coaching are more likely to be better developed and more supported by an outsourced coaching provider?

The Factual Knowledge Elements and Components of Outstanding Retention and Student Success Coaching

The research presented throughout this chapter and in Chapters 3 and 4 comes from a 2015-16 study of a US-based for-profit coaching company that was conducted as part of the author's dissertation and doctoral studies. The research was designed to examine, understand, and explain why students assigned to receive retention and success coaching were significantly more likely to remain enrolled at their institutions than students who did not receive coaching. One of the main elements of the research was to understand and evaluate the coaches' performance in the retention of students in online degree completion programs and to inform the larger, related problem of online course and program retention. As a further focus, the study was designed to inform and improve retention of the most difficult community of students, the non-first-time student enrolled in an online degree completion program. This chapter looks at the knowledge elements and components of highly impactful coaching.

The Development and Growth of Professional Coaching as an Education Retention Strategy

This chapter develops background, data points, research, and literature review context around the factors and the educational environment that led to the identification of processional coaching as a promising retention strategy at post-secondary institutions. The chapter begins with some background on the history of educational coaching and how it was initially defined and then chronicles the development of professional coaching as an educational retention strategy. The chapter briefly discusses the financial impact of low retention both from a student and an institutional perspective. The chapter then looks at graduation rates by institution and surveys online versus face-to-face graduation rates and the growth of online learning and its impact on student retention. There is exploration of how for-profit institutions and their growth created a conducive environment for the design and deployment of professional coaching in the higher education sector. The chapter also investigates how increased participation in higher education led to lower completion rates and how this dynamic eventually led to the development of new and innovative strategies around retention. Some background on the birth and ascension of online degree completion programs also helps to set the stage for later research related to retention and student success and how non-first-time students as the new majority are impacting the post-secondary education marketplace. Learning and motivation challenges for non-first-time students are also introduced and explored within the context of the development of coaching as a retention strategy.