Learning Model: Professional Learning

How: Learning Model

Getting Smart Resources

3 Ways to Reimagine Professional Development in Districts

This Getting Smart resource examines how school districts can move beyond traditional, one-size-fits-all professional development models toward more personalized, job-embedded, and continuous learning experiences for educators. It outlines three concrete approaches districts can adopt to redesign PD structures, likely addressing shifts such as peer-based learning, competency-driven growth, and leveraging instructional coaching or technology to support teacher development. For practitioners and school leaders, this resource matters because outdated PD models remain one of the most persistent barriers to sustained instructional improvement, and rethinking how adults learn in schools is foundational to any meaningful transformation effort. Districts looking to build cultures of continuous improvement will find this a practical starting point for challenging the status quo of sit-and-get professional learning.

Educator Roles as a Catalyst for Transformation

Getting Smart’s resource “Educator Roles as a Catalyst for Transformation” examines how redefining and redesigning the roles educators play within schools can serve as a powerful driver of systemic change. It explores how shifting away from traditional, isolated teaching roles toward more flexible, collaborative, and specialized configurations—such as lead teachers, learning designers, and mentors—can better meet diverse student needs while strengthening professional culture. The resource connects role redesign directly to professional learning, positioning how teachers work and grow together as inseparable from how schools evolve. For practitioners and school leaders, this matters because sustainable innovation requires structural changes to how adults are organized, not just changes to curriculum or technology, making role transformation a foundational lever for building future-ready learning environments.

Harmonizing with Microcredentials: 7 Steps to Reimagine Your School’s Professional Learning

This Getting Smart resource outlines a seven-step framework for schools and districts looking to redesign professional learning through microcredentials—stackable, competency-based credentials that teachers earn by demonstrating specific skills. The guide walks practitioners and school leaders through a structured process for building or adopting a microcredential system, covering everything from identifying priority competencies to aligning credentials with existing evaluation and compensation structures. It offers practical guidance for making professional development more personalized, self-directed, and tied to measurable growth rather than seat time. For education leaders pursuing transformation, this resource matters because it reframes teacher learning as an ongoing, evidence-based practice that mirrors the competency-based models many schools are working to implement for students—creating coherence between how schools develop staff and how they want students to learn.

Transforming Professional Learning With Micro-credentials

Getting Smart’s resource on transforming professional learning with micro-credentials examines how stackable, competency-based credentials can replace traditional one-size-fits-all professional development models in schools. It outlines how micro-credentials allow educators to pursue personalized, evidence-based learning pathways that recognize demonstrated skills rather than just seat time or course completion. The resource provides practical guidance on how districts and schools can design or adopt micro-credential systems that align with instructional priorities and teacher growth goals. For school leaders driving innovation, this matters because it reframes professional learning as an ongoing, individualized process tied directly to classroom impact rather than compliance, making it a meaningful lever for building teacher capacity and sustaining systemic change.

Valuing Professional Learning Microcredential

Digital Promise
The Valuing Professional Learning Microcredential from Digital Promise is a competency-based credential designed to help educators and school leaders demonstrate their understanding of high-quality professional learning and its direct connection to improved teaching practice and student outcomes. It guides practitioners through a process of examining, articulating, and evidencing why intentional, ongoing professional development is essential rather than incidental to school improvement. Participants engage with frameworks for evaluating professional learning effectiveness and build the capacity to advocate for and invest in meaningful educator growth within their institutions. For school leaders pursuing systemic change, this microcredential offers a structured, recognized pathway to shift professional learning from a compliance activity to a strategic driver of instructional transformation.

Teachers as Leaders and Change Agents.

NGLC
Teachers as Leaders and Change Agents is a professional learning resource from Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) designed to support educators in stepping into leadership roles that drive meaningful school change. The resource explores how teachers can move beyond classroom practice to influence school culture, instructional systems, and innovation efforts, positioning them as active architects of transformation rather than passive recipients of reform. It offers frameworks, strategies, and insights for building teacher leadership capacity within schools pursuing next-generation learning models. For school leaders and practitioners, this resource matters because sustainable education transformation depends on distributed leadership — empowering teachers to lead change from within is one of the most effective levers for shifting school culture and improving outcomes at scale.

The Learning Accelerator Resources & Guidance for Innovation & Improvement in K-12 Education

The Learning Accelerator
The Learning Accelerator offers a curated collection of resources and practical guidance designed to support K-12 educators and school leaders in driving innovation and continuous improvement, with a specific focus on professional learning models. The platform provides tools, frameworks, case studies, and actionable strategies that help practitioners design and implement high-quality professional development aligned with blended and personalized learning approaches. Rather than offering generic training content, it grounds professional learning in real school contexts, making it directly applicable for leaders looking to build teacher capacity at scale. For practitioners navigating education transformation, this resource matters because it bridges the gap between innovative instructional models and the adult learning systems needed to sustain them, ensuring that change efforts are supported by coherent, evidence-informed professional practice.

	Beginning	Piloting	Implementing
From Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery	BeginningFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Beginning	PilotingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Piloting	ImplementingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Implementing
From One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning	BeginningFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Implementing
From Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry	BeginningFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Beginning	PilotingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Piloting	ImplementingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Implementing
From Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning	BeginningFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Implementing
From Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities	BeginningFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Beginning	PilotingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Piloting	ImplementingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Implementing
From Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment	BeginningFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Beginning	PilotingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Piloting	ImplementingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Implementing
From Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets	BeginningFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Beginning	PilotingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Piloting	ImplementingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Implementing

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Learning Model: Professional Learning

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