Coaching for Success program celebrates advances, expands to Sheboygan
10/12/22 12:35:pm
Rogers is a key partner in an innovative program that’s addressing the complex social, emotional, and mental health needs of today’s youth by building the skills of teachers and other school leaders. The Coaching for Success program was founded as a joint effort between Rogers, Milwaukee Public Schools, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee, Milwaukee College Prep, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Children’s Wisconsin, and Alverno College to address an important need in schools.
“Teachers and youth leaders would receive training on best practices and then go into very challenging environments,” explains Sue Dicks, Vice President of Healthy Culture, “But there was a gap between training and implementation when it came to supporting the social, emotional, and mental health behaviors of the students they were working with.”
Considering that many schools often do not have the budget or resources to add employees for this purpose, a solution was identified to use existing positions in schools to coach individuals who serve youth. As coaches, support staff works with coachees to improve their effectiveness in working with kids, enhance their ability to support students, and create a more positive overall experience for each child.
The mission of Coaching for Success is to “accelerate growth of youth-serving adults to consistently use social, emotional, and behavioral best practices in complex settings by adopting a self-sustaining model where existing school support staff and Club leaders use a portion of their role to coach youth-serving employees.”
The program’s second year wrapped up in July 2022 and saw a total of 12 coaches engaged in seminar learning, one-on-one coaching, and site team engagement. Those on both sides of the coaching relationship reported largely positive feedback on how the program impacted their day-to-day work. While it is early for reporting student outcomes, some coaches have seen that their most challenging students have greatly improved as a result of their training.
Funding secured for Sheboygan
Following the successes of the program in Milwaukee, $800,000 in funding was recently secured to bring Coaching for Success to the Sheboygan area. The funds will be used to hire two lead coaches to train student services staff and continue the program’s mission.
“I’m so proud that Rogers has stepped up to lead this innovation to help schools best meet the needs of children,” says Emily Jonesberg, project director and manager of Community Learning and Engagement at Rogers.
As the program prepares for this expansion and bringing this important service to a new location, Emily says that there are also hopes that the program can continue to grow to help more educators and students.
“This project is about creating a paradigm shift,” says Emily. “We’re adjusting the standard role of a school social worker or counselor to focus some of their efforts on one-to-one coaching of teachers. Our hope is that Coaching for Success have a great impact in Wisconsin and, eventually, nationwide.”
