Teachers play a huge role not just in teaching our students but in providing the foundation for our communities and for society. Yet the teaching profession has changed so much, especially since Covid, that many educators question whether they can continue in the profession.
“The more professional development teachers get, the more likely students are to succeed.” - NEA
Investing in professional development and wellbeing programs can have a significant impact on teacher satisfaction and lead to better outcomes for students.
“The job that teachers are currently trained for does not match the daily reality. If we continue in this way, we will burn out a generation of talented and dedicated staff, and future generations of children and young people will be even worse off for it.” - Sinéad McBrearty, Chief Executive of Education Support
Here, we highlight some of the wonderful options we offer for professional development to help our educators obtain continuing education credits and expand their opportunities in the teaching field. Many of these programs are available for free or for a small fee to districts.
Designed for teachers by teachers, EdgeU is a powerful, instruction-focused professional learning system that adapts to the needs of educators and directly impacts student learning in the form of microcredentials.
GroweLab is an all-in-one instructional coaching platform with intentionally designed features designed for school districts of all sizes. Built on peer-reviewed research on adult learning, GroweLab helps districts improve educator retention and improve student academic achievement.
Summit Learning provides educators with professional development opportunities that focus on teaching practices and continuous improvement of program implementation.
Learner’s Edge offers professional learning and continuing education graduate credit courses for teachers. Not only has Learners Edge allowed educators to increase their skills, overall efficacy, and compensation, but has also provided a lucrative sideline as course evaluators. Listen to their podcast with EdCuration.
Lena Grow provides job-embedded professional development that uses objective feedback and strengths-based coaching to increase interaction in early childhood. The results include improved outcomes for children and increasing quality in early childhood classrooms.
Recent research concluded that “Paying attention to teacher development across a teacher’s career life cycle and providing a host of different supports to account for the varied factors that contribute to teacher retention are critical.”
According to UNESCO, the world needs almost 69 million new teachers to reach the 2030 education goals. While hiring new educators will be paramount to meeting those goals, attracting and retaining educators requires districts to invest in their teachers in ways that demonstrate how much they are valued. Providing professional development opportunities is a measurably successful way to increase retention and demonstrate support to teachers.