Throughout 2020, America's Promise Alliance worked with five communities across the country that wanted to extend and deepen their efforts to support young people's social, emotional, and cognitive development. Each community planned cross-sector convenings to inspire action that would result in the approaches to learning that prioritize young…

Lesson study is a form of professional development where a group of teachers identifies a problem of practice on which they would like to make progress in their teaching. Over an extended period of time, the teachers study the topic and plan a lesson together. One member then teaches the lesson while the others observe; the group reflects…

Rather than focusing on teaching teachers, university researchers helped local teachers study what students thought about math and science ideas--with powerful results. As teachers understood what students were thinking, they modified their practices to promote deeper understanding. Their collaboration created bottom-up change.