In their recent blog post “Seven conditions for effective professional learning,” Instruction Partners writes: “When we talk about professional learning, we typically talk about different kinds of professional learning that educators engage in (e.g., PLCs, coaching) and the content that they might cover (e.g., lesson preparation, student work analysis), but we rarely consider the underlying conditions that make learning spaces—for people of any age—effective.” We couldn’t agree more.
At Rivet, we know that the types and content of educator professional learning matter greatly. We also know that the best professional learning will fall flat or fail to get off the ground if school and district leaders have not established the necessary conditions for it to succeed. This is why, in previous blog posts, our Framework for High-Quality Professional Learning, and our evaluation of professional learning organizations, we emphasize the need for school and district leaders to ensure their systems-level conditions support strong professional learning.
As the Mathematics Achievement Director with the KIPP Foundation, I experienced firsthand the need for systems-level conditions to support strong professional learning. For example, to help KIPP’s teachers skillfully implement Eureka Math, we focused on ensuring that school leaders established the right lesson planning policies, professional learning structures, and schedules. We helped them shift lesson planning policies and PLCs away from creating new materials from scratch to internalizing the Eureka lessons and customizing them to meet students’ individual needs. We also ensured leaders had allocated teachers enough class time to teach those lessons.
At Rivet Education, we evaluate the extent to which an organization’s professional learning equips educators to successfully implement high-quality instructional materials. This includes ensuring those organizations have the knowledge and skills to help leaders establish the systems, structures, and policies that support their work. Specifically, the indicators within the System Design and Leadership Support portion of our scoring and evidence guide focus on whether professional learning providers can support school and district leaders with:
- Communicating a vision for strong implementation of HQIM that connects back to a broader vision for excellent, equitable, and grade-level instruction;
- Allocating the essential time (e.g., class time, PLCs) and resources (e.g., trade books) needed for curriculum implementation;
- Building coherence by eliminating policies and procedures that impede strong implementation;
- Providing professional learning, including PLCs, coaching, observations, and feedback, that is anchored in the HQIM;
- Monitoring and identifying trends in students’ grade-level content achievement and teachers’ implementation of their HQIM.
Successfully establishing the conditions for effective professional learning is hard, and leaders shouldn’t have to do it alone. Rivet Education offers several tools to ensure leaders get the support they want and need.
- Rivet’s Framework for High-Quality Professional Learning defines the characteristics, types, and structures of high-quality, curriculum-aligned professional learning. It can be used as a reference for creating annual professional learning plans with a vision in mind.
- The Professional Learning Partner Guide (PLPG) offers a vetted list of professional learning partners that provide direct coaching and consultation support to leaders to establish the conditions for high-quality professional learning.
- Rivet’s Professional Learning Partners Guidebook supports leaders in selecting, interviewing, and managing professional learning partners to ensure they receive the highest quality professional learning services to meet their specific needs.
- RivetCONNECT helps state and local education agencies partner with service providers who can help them establish the conditions for high-quality professional learning—first, by providing customized support in writing strong RFPs related to high-quality curriculum and curriculum-based professional learning; and second, by notifying vetted organizations featured in the PLPG of these opportunities.
We encourage you to join us on Thursday, November 17, at 10:00 a.m. CT for our Professional Learning Power Hour, where Instruction Partners will join us to discuss their work supporting school leaders in creating the conditions for effective professional learning.