The professional learning team at Learning Without Tears leads the design, development, facilitation, impact assessment, and progressive improvement of professional learning for thousands of educators, therapists, and other practitioners who use Learning Without Tears integrated solutions to build children's foundational early literacy skills. The…

While coaches can have a positive impact on teachers' practice and students' learning, in many school districts teachers have the autonomy to decide whether and when to work with a coach. Coaches then must work to gain access to teachers' classrooms. In a recent study of 28 content-focused coaches, researchers Jen Munson and Evthokia Stephanie…

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on university faculty, unduly those from underrepresented groups, causing many faculty to disengage. Writing communities represent a promising tool to (re-)engage faculty and build an inclusive climate. As part of U See I Write, a faculty development initiative at the University of California, Irvine, we…

Diversity, equity, and inclusion training often falls into one of three categories: Equity PD that works, equity PD that doesn't work, and equity PD that looks like it works but doesn't. The third category is the most dangerous, says Nicole Tucker-Smith. How can we make sure our professional learning isn't falling into that trap?

Each year, educators engage in hours of professional learning to enhance their practice. Those hours are limited, both by contract and the imperative of keeping teachers in classrooms as much as possible. It is essential that this professional learning time is well-spent and pays dividends toward the goal of all public education: ensuring that…

The University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) is an urban research university with a special emphasis on fostering diversity. In 2021, the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence created a Faculty Fellows program to develop comprehensive resources and support in four areas: teaching and learning, service and engagement, research and creativity,…

Districts may have limited internal capacity to provide teachers with sustained, systemic professional learning that is relevant to every teacher due to a lack of funding, inadequate staffing, insufficient time, and competing demands. Educational service agencies, which work at the regional level to support multiple districts, can address those…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a research-based educational framework developed almost 40 years ago by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). While the framework has been utilized by adult educators to design inclusive learning experiences that support "all" learners (CAST, n.d.), the framework has yet to be explored…

This article aims to explain how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter can be useful setting for effective professional learning communities (PLCs) for physical educators. It also pinpoints the opportunities and challenges of using social media for PLCs and provides recommendations for physical educators and physical education teacher…

Crisis intervention programs have been developed to help educators be better prepared to prevent and respond to students in crisis. Schools spend millions of dollars for the use of these commercial programs, many of which are based on the principles of the Cycle of Acting Out Behavior (Colvin & Scott, 2015), which is considered the "gold…

The Advancing Culturally-Relevant Computing Project is a collaboration between researchers and practitioners in Hawai'i focused on preparing elementary teachers to meaningfully incorporate culturally relevant Computer Science (CS) into their classrooms. This paper introduces a hybrid instructional design framework designed to facilitate the…

How can we guarantee the time and effort we invest in professional learning will lead to meaningful and enduring improvements? Thomas R. Guskey, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, shares six steps to evidence-based professional learning that makes a difference.

This paper describes the Idaho Reading Coach Academy, which is part of the Idaho State Department of Education's (ISDE) K-3 literacy project, Striving to Meet Achievement in Reading Together (SMART). SMART is a multiyear cohort project that developed a statewide network of reading coaches who could provide direct support to participants. ISDE…

Like many of its contemporaries across the state, North Central Texas College's (NCTC) English and math faculty were committed to the promise of corequisite education and its students' success as outlined by the Dana Center, but they also understood the obstacles to implementing, assessing, and scaling its corequisite courses. NCTC's English and…

Colorado's rural communities face challenges recruiting and retaining qualified teachers, leaders, and special service providers. The Colorado Center for Rural Education (CCRE) has created and implemented a comprehensive system for professional development of effective educators for rural school districts. The CCRE has expanded educator pathway…