This article describes the Literacy Design Collaborative, a network of teachers committed to developing literacy-rich instruction in the content areas and building expertise from teacher to teacher. Drawing on research of adult learning and leveraging new technologies, Literacy Design Collaborative provides the design system, tools, and supports…

Communities of practice have become important tools for districts striving to improve teacher quality in a way that improves student outcomes, but scaling the benefits of these communities requires a more rigorous, intentional approach. That's why Learning Forward, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, created the Redesign PD…

Groups that come together in whatever fashion--in social networks, via online video conferencing, or around conference tables--share in solutions to problems of practice and therefore feel collectively responsible for the success of all their students. This accountability toward not only a solution but also to improved outcomes is a fundamental…

This article provides a vignette which demonstrates some of the outcomes that occur when teachers collaborate across school district lines. The project began as an idea from Ben Owens, a 2014 Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellow. The basic notion was that good teaching doesn't happen in isolation. As someone who came into teaching after a…

The three authors of this article--a K-12 regional director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment responsible for orchestrating professional learning, a high school English teacher who participated in the professional learning, and an independent literacy consultant who supports four districts' professional learning--share their experiences…

To stem the tide of new professionals leaving teaching, the Oceanside School District in New York created a program that sees teaching as a six-year career ladder beginning with an internship and ending with National Board Certification, with board-certified teachers supporting new interns and residents.

Ask educators what they need for their own learning, and more time to collaborate with colleagues generally ranks high on the list. Educators know that when they encounter specific student learning or instructional challenges, their peers typically have insights and solutions that will be helpful. Every school has an enormous body of expertise,…

An auxiliary and potentially powerful source of practitioners' knowledge, skills, and dispositions can come from participation in research-practice partnerships. Research-practice partnerships link researchers, usually faculty at institutions of higher education, with practitioners working in schools, district central offices, county offices, or…

Launched in 2007, the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program, out of Ontario, Canada, operates on the belief that classroom teachers know their learning needs and the needs of their students best. Additionally, the program assumes teachers have the greatest knowledge of how to build and foster multiple learning networks in order to share their…

As they write about the Learning Communities standard in "Reach the Highest Standard in Professional Learning: Learning Communities," authors Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller consider why communities have gained widespread attention and support and summarize the established research base about them. They also describe three contexts in…

Teachers do not simply want resources given to them. They often seek out relationships from more knowledgeable or experienced colleagues to ask advice, model lessons, or start an inquiry group. Establishing relationships within collaboration is essential for learning and knowledge development (Putnam & Borko, 2000). This study's goal was to…

As a result of a dramatic shift over the last 10 years in how educators and administrators are supported in their professional learning, teachers are no longer working in isolation behind closed doors. Instead, professional learning has moved to the school and the classroom, and teachers are encouraged to share their work and their students' work.…

At Marylin Avenue School in Livermore, California, student achievement more than doubled from 2006 to 2013, even as the number of socioeconomically disadvantaged students increased from 66% to 88% and English language learner populations from 57% to 64%. Key to this continued growth in student achievement was the evolution of strategies that…

Susana Velasco always thought she designed lessons for her kindergarten students to help them meet the academic standards for their grade. But now she feels better equipped to adapt instruction to meet the needs of all the children in her class--a skill she has developed through her school's participation in the Literacy Design Collaborative…

Rather than just teach students facts about history, high school social studies teacher Amy Presley searched for ways to create meaningful experiences they would remember forever. This article describes how she found a group of social studies educators using a Twitter hashtag as a way to share resources and improve her teaching skills. Energized…