Professional Development

To raise student achievement and keep pace with the evolving P–12 landscape, educators need tools and support to help them hone their practice. EDC serves as a partner in practice to all of those on the front lines of educational reform. We help P–12 teachers, administrators, and informal educators draw upon current research to enhance instruction and improve learning outcomes. Our professional development reflects key principles of adult learning, connects directly to learners' daily work, fosters peer learning and support, provides strategies to serve diverse populations of students, guides the use of data to guide instruction, and features follow-up to sustain changes in practice and systems. An important part of our professional development work is building the capacity of each tier of education leaders—from program, school, and district leaders to regional and state education leaders—to support educators in improving outcomes for students.

Interested? Contact us to learn how our professional developers can help you advance your goals for students, and explore some of our current work:

Focus on Content and Practice
Communities of Learners to Sustain Change
Sharing Effective Models with the Field

Focus on Content and Practice

To support educators, professional development must simultaneously cultivate deep content knowledge and build understanding of effective instruction. Our learning experiences and guides engage participants in inquiry into the subjects they teach and the impact of their practices on student learning. Focusing on work with students, we build capacity to assess students’ needs, use data to ground and guide instruction, and draw upon research-based practices to enhance outcomes. Featured Projects:

Communities of Learners to Sustain Change

Bringing educators together to focus on instructional improvement can promote systemic change, as well as professional learning. We convene, facilitate, and promote the growth of learning communities that put rigorous content at the core of education and build a common vision of student success. To strengthen practice, we often connect teachers and leaders with colleagues in related spheres—researchers, university faculty, out-of-school program educators—to share perspectives and effective strategies. Featured Projects:

Sharing Effective Models with the Field

We prioritize sharing our expertise in and insights into effective models of professional development with the field. Nationwide, we present at professional development-related conferences and convenings. We also publish white papers, briefs, and articles to disseminate our lessons learned and findings to bridge research and practice and enhance the professional learning experiences and support provided to preK-Grade 12 educators. Featured Publications:

We know that professional development in and of itself cannot meet all education reform goals. Learn about our complementary curriculum, research and evaluation, and technical assistance services.