New America analyzed the national landscape of educator micro-credentials (MCs) to determine how to best harness their potential to more successfully attract, develop, and retain great teachers. We find MCs to be a promising alternative to more traditional (and largely ineffective), compliance-focused teacher professional development, as well as…

Learning to teach out-of-field is a challenge that many teachers worldwide face at some time in their career. Whether they are motivated to seek formal professional development as additional qualifications in this area, however, depends on many factors. Alignment between the specific professional development needs of out-of-field teachers and the…

Due to COVID-19, almost all educational institutions were temporarily closed across the globe. As a result, many educators have focused on delivering courses through emergency remote teaching. Preparation for remote teaching was itself a great challenge. In this reflective paper, I have presented my own experience of preparation for emergency…

This brief draws upon its companion report, "Harnessing Micro-credentials for Teacher Growth: A National Review of Early Best Practices," as well as New America's previous work on educator micro-credentials, to outline a set of model policy proposals for states to effectively incorporate high-quality micro-credentials into educator…

This article examines the challenges faced and lessons learned while developing the SPEAK Young Women's Vocal Empowerment Curriculum and leading 30 educators through a Professional Development Training on the curriculum in Guatemala in 2019. The guiding question is, "What does it take to train non-teaching artists in the skills needed to lead…

This paper explores the development of a flexible, free, online certificate program built on open educational resources to support instructors transitioning to online and non-traditional teaching modes. The program offers multiple pathways to completion, including recognition of prior learning and immersing participants in the online learning…

The TH!NK Program is an initiative designed to cultivate students' higher order skills in critical and creative thinking at North Carolina State University. Faculty across the university participate in the TH!NK Faculty Development Institute every year and bring the focus on critical and creative thinking to their courses across diverse…

To improve teaching and learning outcomes, teachers and head teachers need whole-system support to build professionalism and enhance their practice. Roles at the middle tier of education systems, or those professionals working between the school and central level, offer unique capacities to facilitate collaboration, broker knowledge, scale…

The need to develop international cross-cultural perspectives has led many educators to create study abroad programs for their learners. One way to support this learning in adult higher education is to offer education abroad programs -- often short-term international field experiences led by faculty for adult students. In the current study, we…

Supporting high quality teaching is pivotal in improving children's outcomes. Indeed, research tells us that high quality teaching can narrow the disadvantage gap. It is therefore hugely encouraging to see a host of new initiatives and reforms that recognise the importance of teacher quality such as the Early Career Framework and the new National…

Microcredentials create opportunities for continuing growth of all teachers based on specific needs. They provide ways for teachers to lead their own learning while allowing administrators to identify and address teachers' needs as well as the expertise teachers have to share with their colleagues. Microcredentials are different from traditional…

In this commentary, drawing from reviews of research on literacy teacher preparation, the authors discuss points of leverage in preparation of literacy educators for deans and associate deans. Categories that leaders might attend to include: mediated field experiences, faculty development, and external reputation.

The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL) at WestEd led the Teacher Practice Networks (TPN) initiative for five years, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Initial rounds of Gates funding supported 21 education improvement organizations in disseminating standards-based resources around the nation. Later rounds…

Designed to strengthen the teaching of mathematics in the elementary grades, this book focuses on helping teachers engage in instruction based on learning trajectories (LTs). The authors bring together the experiences and key research-based findings of four different groups of teacher educators that created effective professional development…

The teaching profession requires continuous learning, and in 2014, a new model of professional learning was introduced in California by the Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC), a group of expert teachers who organize local professional development to spark iterative changes in practice. In the four years following its launch, the ILC connected…