This is the second book by these authors. The first book, Coaching Conversations: Transforming Your School One Conversation At a Time (2010) is a Corwin Press best seller. The authors were invited to present material from their first book at annual conferences for the Michigan State University Leadership Institute, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and Learning Forward. In addition the authors have had many opportunities for speaking engagements with their state and local professional organizations. Linda Gross Cheliotes, Ed.D.has over 40 years of successful educational experience, including fourteen years as a school administrator. During her tenure as principal of an elementary school, she transformed her school from the lowest performing school in the district to a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
Her school was also named a New Jersey Star School twice during a five-year period. No more than 10 schools (out of more than 3000 public schools) receive this honor annually. In addition, Dr. Gross was named New Jerseys National Distinguished Principal in 2002. She served on the State Department of Educations committee that developed the two-year mentoring requirement for all school leaders in New Jersey. For the past four years, Dr. Gross has been a coach with Coaching For Results, Inc., a consortium of 24 school leadership coaches from around the United States who focus on coaching and training school leaders.
She is also a founding member and coach for NAESPs PALS Corp, the associations principal mentor development program. In addition, Dr. Gross currently works with the New York City Council of School Supervisors and Administrators Executive Leadership Institute, providing professional development for assistant principals who aspire to become principals. During each seminar, Dr. Gross introduces specific coaching conversation skills participants practice and reinforce with each other and their staffs. She has provided numerous professional development programs at the national, state, and local levels, including NAESP, New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, New Jersey School Boards Association, universities and numerous school districts. Dr. Gross is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) of the International Coach Federation and serves on the Coaching For Results, Inc.
Board of Directors in charge of projects. Marceta Reilly, PhD,has 44 years of experience in education. She was a successful teacher, principal and district office administrator for many years. She ended her active administrative career as a school superintendent in Kansas. Her vision and passion were to create schools that were welcoming to students and families, and centers of learning and success for the entire community. Her school district included two rural communities and the Prairie Band Potowatomi Nation. During her tenure, the district began a serious focus on school improvement, with strategic curriculum design and high quality professional development as key components. The work of which she is proudest is helping native students and families became more visible within the district, and increasing their voice and involvement in their childrens education.
Since leaving school administration ten years ago, Dr. Reilly has become a leadership coach and attained the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coach Federation. She is a founding member and the chief financial officer for Coaching For Results, Inc., a consortium of successful educators who are dedicated to partnering with school leaders doing transformational work. She uses coaching conversations to help her clients gain insight and confidence, and she helps build their capacity to be extraordinary leaders, based on their individual, innate strengths. Dr. Reilly regularly conducts workshops about coaching conversations, working most recently in Howard County, Maryland, Winton Woods, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia. She is a frequent invited speaker at state and national conferences, and has been invited to present these ideas to audiences in China (2007) and India (2009).