In a typical system, teachers work in isolation with minimal access to content-specific expert support. Teacher teams do not examine student work and other data consistently to improve instruction, and most professional learning happens outside the context of teachers' daily work.
With Strategic School Design, teacher collaboration is the engine for school improvement and the way to lighten teacher load. Teaching teams, led by instructional experts (often teacher leaders) meet regularly to plan and adjust instruction based on student data. Content-specific experts support team meetings, observe and coach teachers, and collaborate to improve their own effectiveness as coaches.
Enabling professional learning and collaboration for educators creates the foundation to successfully and sustainably implement most other improvement strategies. This school year and beyond will be shaped by the capacity of educators. See how you can build capacity in your district. See how you can build capacity in your district with our new ESSER spending, staffing, and scheduling guide.
Discover how schools systems find the necessary resources to support effective teachers.
See how UP Academy in Dorchester, a neighborhood in Boston, MA, has made dramatic academic improvements by focusing on strategic collaboration among teachers.
See how Achievement First provides teachers the support they need to become highly effective educators and continue to grow their practice every day.
Experience what the individual professional growth process looks like at the Match Community Day Charter School in Boston.
Learn about the deliberate and strategic teacher teaming approach—with expert-led and data supported collaborative planning time—at an elementary school in North Carolina.
Experience how Queens Metropolitan High School does data-driven instruction.
Explore School Check and complete your own healthy school check-up in just a few minutes by answering a series of questions about strategic resource use.
Start by focusing on the Teacher Collaboration section.
Take a system-level diagnostic to help assess resources organized for teacher professional growth.
Build a strategic school schedule that reflects your school's priorities with our School Scheduling Tools. The school’s master schedule represents, whether explicit or implicit, a critical aspect of shaping how learning takes place in the school.
Open an ERS account and explore School Designer, our five-step, interactive tool that leads principals, teachers, and central office staff through the Strategic School Design process.
Learn six strategies for finding enough time for meaningful collaborative planning among your teachers.
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