Press Feature
Disrupting The Teacher Professional Development Industry
Great teaching takes practice. Tulsa is perhaps the most comprehensive example of the vision sought by Leading Educators, which launched in 2008 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
By preparing high-performing teachers to support their peers, Leading Educators is seeking to disrupt the multibillion-dollar teacher professional development industry — one that research has repeatedly found “ineffective in supporting changes in teachers’ practices and student learning,” according to a study from the Learning Policy Institute.
Together, Leading Educators and school districts are redesigning students’ and teachers’ schedules, jumping through myriad hoops so teachers can spend more time talking to — and learning from — each other.
Want to see how a better system of teacher support actually works? Dig into two cases studies from our partnerships in Washington, D.C. and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
D.C. Public Schools changed the landscape for teacher support nationwide. Their model has become the go-to archetype for systemic approaches that marry rigorous content, quality materials, coaching, and collaborative practice.
Tulsa Public Schools has used a professional learning system to gradually build skill in using quality materials to plan excellent and equitable lessons.
