In the past decade, interest in the form of professional learning loosely described as coaching has exploded. This growing interest in coaching is likely fueled by educators' recognition that traditional one-shot approaches to professional development--where teachers hear about practices but do not receive follow-up support--are ineffective at improving teaching practices. Much more support is needed to help teachers translate research into practice, and for many districts, that support is coaching. In this article, the author defines three coaching approaches that are especially common in today's schools--literacy coaching, cognitive coaching, and instructional coaching--and identifies several commonalities of these three approaches. He also discusses certain factors that are critical for coaching success and cites some studies that demonstrate the positive impact of coaching on teaching practices.