Jim Knight, Ph.D.

Affliations: 

• Senior Research Associate, KU Center for Research on Learning
• Founding Partner, Instructional Coaching Group

Background and Interests:
My life’s work is studying what is required to help students become better learners. This interest started back in 1985 when I was a community college teacher sharing the Sentence Writing Strategy with my students. This research-based strategy really made a difference for me and my students, and I wanted to learn more about the best ways to share information about best practices with other teachers. Since then, my work has especially focused on professional learning and, in particular, instructional coaching. I spend the bulk of my time studying and training instructional coaches.

In my personal life, I am happily married to Jenny Ryschon-Knight, the proud father of five children, Geoff, Cameron, David, Emily, Ben, and the step-dad of Isaiah Nichols. I love music, running, hockey, and, of course, Jayhawk basketball.

About the Author:

Jim Knight has spent close to three decades studying professional learning and instructional coaching. He has written, co-authored, or edited several books on the topic, including: Coaching Classroom Management (2006), Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction published by Corwin and Learning Forward (2007), Coaching: Approaches and Perspectives (2008), Unmistakable Impact: A Partnership Approach for Dramatically Improving Instruction (2010), High-Impact Instruction (2012), Focus on Teaching (2014), Better Conversations (2015), The Impact Cycle (2017), The Instructional Playbook (2019), The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching (2021), The IC Toolkit (2024), Data Rules: Elevating Teaching with Objective Reflection (2024)

Dr. Knight has won several university teaching, innovation, and service awards. His current work can be found and followed at: https://www.instructionalcoaching.com/