Model
The Challenge
America’s teaching force needs better support.
New college- and career -ready standards and the accelerating demands of the knowledge economy require students to have access to engaging and rigorous instruction every day. Teachers work hard to meet these demands, but accountability efforts place pressure on them without the support they need.
Meanwhile, inequities persist: students of color, students from low-income families, English language learners, and students with disabilities are the least likely to benefit from access to engaging and rigorous instruction.
A large body of research shows that teachers are our most important resource. Despite spending $18 billion a year on teacher professional development, however, the vast majority of these efforts do not improve teacher practice. Most teachers agree, voicing frustration and lack of support from traditional “one and done” professional development.
Our teachers and our nation’s children deserve better. We know that teachers want to inspire students to learn and grow. And we believe teachers deserve to lead their own learning.
Teaching Lab seeks to dramatically improve instruction through teacher professional learning based in great instructional materials, teacher-led communities, and ongoing structures for learning and improvement.
What We Do
At Teaching Lab, we work with school, district, and state leaders to create the instructional systems necessary to support these changes. We are working with 5,000 educators across 500 schools, who are leading instruction for over 350,000 students.
Although Teaching Lab adapts our support to local contexts, our partners all use high-quality instructional materials because curriculum lays the foundation for:
Ensuring all students meet high standards
Shifting the paradigm of teacher professional learning, as it allows teachers to focus less of their time on lesson planning and more time innovating and differentiating for students.
Improving teacher practice, as research shows that when teachers study their curriculum, they are more likely to improve their practice and student learning.
The Teaching Lab Model
Teaching Lab’s core professional learning model is described as Head, Heart, Habits, and Equity
Head - Core academic content, aligned to specific curricular materials, and research-based practices.
Heart - Teacher-led communities that build buy-in, social capital, and empowerment
Habits - Structured and repeated cycles of inquiry in the classroom
Equity - All in the service of educational equity
Cycles of Inquiry
Each Cycle of Inquiry consists of two days, spaced 4-6 weeks apart.
At the “Open” of a Cycle, teachers learn new practices. In between sessions, teachers try out new practices in their classrooms. At the “Close” of a Cycle, teachers analyze student work. Teaching Lab team members will facilitate initial Cycles and then build up the capacity of Lab Leaders to run Cycles over time.
Stages of Lab Development
We believe that school leaders foster the conditions for “Labs,” which are groups of teachers of the same subject working with students in the same or similar grade levels within a school or network of schools.
Labs are run by “Lab Leaders,” who are experienced teachers and/or instructional coaches who support their colleagues’ development. We believe in a gradual release approach. Specifically, we support educators in progressing through the stages of “Lab Development,” or developing Lab Leader capacity to lead professional learning with their peers over time.
Labs are the engine behind Teaching Lab’s school model approach, and most partner systems will likely take 3-5 years to advance through the Stages of Lab Development.
Curriculum Bootcamp
Build knowledge & Buy-in
Services: Assets and Needs Assessment, Bootcamps, curated reading, School Leaders Series, district-level consulting on Enabling Conditions
Teaching Lab-Led Cycles
Demonstrate the Cycle
Services: Teaching Lab-led cycles; Instructional Walkthrough; additional investment of teachers and leaders, Lab Leader identification
Local Cycles
Lab Leader Cycles with Direct Teaching Lab Support
Services: Coaching of Lab Leaders; Instructional Walkthroughs; microcredtialing; tech tool integration
Independent Local Cycles
Independent Lab Leader Cycles
Services: Behind-the-scenes support for Cycles; virtual Lab Leader support; consulting with district teams to plan for sustainability
Where We Work
Teaching Lab serves over 5000 educators in over 30 school systems across 12 states.
Of the 316,000 students in our partner school systems:
69% receive free or
reduced lunch (FRL)
65% are students
of color
Our Partners
Currently we support over 30 school systems across the U.S.
