Online teaching is becoming increasingly more important and prevalent worldwide as the needs of the environment change. Technological advances certainly play a significant role in the ability to reach learners beyond the physical classroom. Reaching learners, however, does not necessarily equate with effective teaching and learning strategies.…

As of April 2024, 38 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have laws or policies related to evidence-based reading instruction (Schwartz, 2024). To ensure the success of these efforts, educators need and deserve multifaceted support that involves professional learning, curriculum resources, ongoing support from leaders and coaches, and a…

Functional communication training (FCT) is an evidence-based practice that can be applied across multiple populations of students. Despite extensive research support for FCT, its use can be impractical or ineffective if utilized with students who are from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. That is because cultural…

This chapter describes the process of redesigning classroom and clinical experiential teaching peer evaluation tools to enhance formative peer review. The peer-evaluation process is a commitment to improve teaching in all types of settings. Periodic peer evaluation is essential to ensure quality student education and growth of teachers.

This chapter presents reflections on nearly two decades of membership in the Faculty Academy. The group created a safe space for professional growth and change. My story of Faculty Academy activity draws on Dewey's notion of the "doing" and "undergoing" (Dewey in "Art as experience." Perigee Books, New York, p. 47,…

Robust school-university partnerships can create continuous systems of educator learning that focus on systemic change and the simultaneous renewal of both educators and the organizations within which they work to improve outcomes, opportunities, and access for P-12 students and their teachers. This article is a case of the Project PREP…

A team of former middle school teachers have been hosting weeklong professional development workshops with students as the stars. The results have made great--and lasting--change in schools.

Teacher growth and development are heavily focused on best practices, the technical aspects of teaching, often at the exclusion of deep practices, the heart-focused dimensions of teaching. Using an action research methodology, researchers offer a practical framework for coaching teachers on ways to develop the deep practices that underscore the…

Just like in an athletic coaching session, you get out of instructional coaching what you put in. Here, Nina J. Morel, author of "Learning from Coaching: How Do I Work with an Instructional Coach to Grow as a Teacher?" (ASCD, 2014), shares six tips for teachers to bring their "A" game to the coaching process--and improve their…

Peer coaching involves two or more professionals collaborating to reflect on and refine current skills and practices (Yee, 2016). The peer coaching model described in this article focused on grades K-2, a critical time for the development of students' reading skills. In the 2022-23 school year, a small pilot study was conducted of a program based…

It has been suggested that the best way to improve student learning is to improve teacher practice. In order to do so, all levels of the educational system must accept accountability for teacher learning. Teachers have a responsibility to improve their practice, administrators have a responsibility to create an environment that fosters growth, and…

Chicago Public Schools made it a priority to make high-quality, grade-level instructional materials available to all teachers and students and provide effective curriculum-based professional learning to support successful implementation. During the early planning phase, several Chicago district leaders came across "The Elements: Transforming…

When we think about instructional coaching, we likely envision a single coach observing a teacher and providing feedback. Perhaps we've been short-sighted, writes Michael Moody, cofounder of Insight Education Group. What if instead schools built a system of coaching that focuses on targeted and supported teacher reflection, without relying on…

When professional learning is interdependent, a teacher's individual success hinges on the efforts of the entire team. Leadership experts Jenni Donohoo and Ann Mausbach explain why that's a good thing.

A group of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) began a lesson study to develop a research-based lesson to engage elementary preservice teachers with professional teacher noticing within the context of multidigit multiplication. Afterward, MTEs continued teaching and revising the lesson, developing an integrated process that combined lesson study…