When the COVID-19 pandemic moved teaching and learning to remote and virtual spaces, teacher professional learning moved online as well. To create consistently high-quality teacher learning opportunities, many online asynchronous approaches need improvement, and they need to be tailor-made for the online setting. That was the authors' goal when…

Literacy is a fundamental skill for students in every academic subject area and, most importantly, for navigating the world outside of school. The Long Beach Network for School Improvement focuses on building educators' capacity to support student literacy skills in middle schools in Long Beach, California, with a particular focus on increasing…

As part of the network hub for CARPE College Access Network, a coalition of 30 schools across Southern California working to ensure that more students who are Black, Latinx, Indigenous, or experiencing poverty apply to and enroll in colleges where they are most likely to graduate, the authors provide support to team members to use continuous…

In this article, the authors discuss the Baltimore Secondary Literacy Improvement Community, a teacher fellowship with two goals: (1) to develop pedagogy that supports the reading and writing skills of middle and high school students; and (2) to develop teachers' skills and habits in continuous improvement--behaviors that empower them to drive…

Learning networks for school improvement are a powerful structure for educators to expand their knowledge and improve their practice, and when networks include members with diverse experiences and perspectives, the results can be particularly effective. But how can network facilitators ensure that members are learning from each other and…

Two years after the onset of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to take a toll on educators' morale and well-being. The need to strengthen relationships between educators and students is growing. The MyTeachingPartner-Secondary (MTP-S) program, which is a strengths-based coaching program for middle and high school teachers, helps educators respond…

When a new community forms, whether it is an elementary school class or a teacher inquiry group, co-constructing norms or community expectations is often one of the members' first tasks. The authors advocate that norms should be given to (rather than created by) a newly formed community to elevate the different needs, goals, and perspectives of…

Teachers are uniquely situated to enact best practices for the direct benefit of student learning. However, teachers often lack opportunities to exercise agency, the capacity to "make an impact or exert power." When teachers develop agency, they are better able to implement place-based, relevant lessons for their students. The authors…

When Nia Thornton became an assistant principal at Central Gwinnett High School in Georgia, one of her responsibilities was to lead professional learning for the school staff. She and the school leadership team were excited engage the staff in meaningful, day-to-day learning. They knew that their work needed to be rooted in current research and…

Like many districts across the U.S., Miami-Dade County Public Schools is experiencing a large number of open staff positions due to higher-than-normal numbers of retirements and resignations in the face of COVID-19 coupled with enrollment declines in local universities' education departments. The district, in partnership with New Teacher Center,…

At the Center for Black Educator Development, the organization Sharif El-Mekki founded and leads, they believe that to teach Black children "superbly" is a revolutionary act. In service of that goal, they prepare educators to instill in Black children a positive sense of their own racial identity and, in so doing, equip them with the…

Project-based learning is popular with many parents, students, and teachers because of its focus on problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and real-world application (Gallup, 2019). It encourages teachers to act as facilitators while students actively engage in teacherand student-posed learning challenges, working alone and in groups on…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, educators, students, families, and community members are seeking ways to ensure students' needs are met across a range of academic, social, and emotional considerations. They are also looking ahead to the future, recognizing there may be opportunity for innovation after the last 18 months reset expectations for…

In this article, the author describes collaborative work with four teachers through the Lansing School District's participation in a multiyear project to implement and study the effects of the My Teaching Partner-Secondary 1:1 Video Coaching model. The model is a collaborative, individualized coaching program that focuses on effective…

Improving educators' abilities to recognize and respond to signals that indicate students are upset, confused, or disengaged is a powerful but often underused strategy for ensuring that all students are accessing rigorous learning. Research has shown that when adults respond to students' social and behavioral cues for help in a timely, proactive,…