Funding Collaboration and Professional Learning for Teachers
Updated August 2024. Original guide launched July 2021.
Collaboration and professional learning for teachers is foundational to successfully and sustainably implementing most other improvement strategies. Each and every school year is shaped by the capacity of educators.
To transform experiences and outcomes, leaders must put systems and structures in place that build teacher capacity and expand opportunities for teachers to collaboratively plan and coordinate student supports.
This downloadable guide explains how district leaders can successfully and sustainably improve professional learning and collaboration. It provides concrete examples of staffing and scheduling models that you can implement today and improve over time.
What Is Professional Learning for Teachers?
High-quality professional learning requires leaders to provide a mix of meeting and coaching structures, while also protecting individual teachers’ planning time.
What Are Examples of Professional Learning, and Why Is It Important for Teachers?
Professional learning goals for teachers include improving student engagement and/or outcomes, maintaining core instructional time, and improving teaching practices. Multiple factors can help them achieve these goals, including:
Growth-oriented observation and feedback
Individual planning time
Filling expert roles
Shared content team meetings
Shared student team meetings
Specialized team meetings
Collaborative professional learning helps teachers develop more comprehensive curricula and assessments; improve content and pedagogical knowledge; and positively impact classroom practice and student learning.
Download Our Guide on Collaboration and Professional Learning for Teachers to:
- Better understand professional learning and its research-based benefits.
- Find out how to strategically schedule and staff for professional learning and collaboration.
- Explore concrete schedule examples that enable professional learning and collaboration.
- Learn how you can invest in professional learning and collaboration—and how to avoid common investment pitfalls.
- Discover how to continuously improve your professional learning strategy so that it’s effective and sustainable in the long term.
Additional Resources on Professional Learning for Teachers
Guide: Reimagining the Teaching Job
Reimagining the teaching job requires us to challenge core assumptions about how we organize people, time, and money in American public schools. This means replacing the traditional siloed, one-size-fits-all teaching model with a collaborative approach centered on expert-led educator teams that share the work of planning, teaching, and supporting students. Read our guide to learn more.
Toolkit: New Teacher Support
In strategic schools, new teachers’ roles are fundamentally different from those of their experienced peers. The Growing Great Teachers Toolkit is based on ERS’ experience working with several school systems to reorganize resources for new teacher residencies and support.
Brief: Finding Time for Collaborative Planning
Research shows that collaborative planning time is an important part of educators’ professional development. In this brief, we provide context on how American teachers currently spend their time and offer practical strategies for how principals can create more collaborative planning time.
Case Studies: Supporting 9th Grade Through Professional Learning and Collaboration
- Browning High School adopted a teacher teaming structure that helped reduce 9th graders’ off-track rates by 20% in 2020-21 and 8% in 2021-22.
- Lincoln High School leaders supported 9th graders by repurposing meetings, prioritizing student data, and engaging teacher teams.
- Garden Grove Unified School District developed new structures to support 9th grade students and enable more teacher collaboration opportunities across all seven comprehensive high schools.