What This Means for Practitioners

This exploratory small-scale study provides insights on several standards of effective professional learning. It illuminates the importance of Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning: Learning Communities, Leadership, Resources, Data, Learning Designs, Implementation, and Outcomes.

In schools where response to data resulted in change in instructional delivery, there were structures for and commitment to continuous improvement. District leaders and principals reinforced the vision for data use for classroom instruction and supported learning leaders such as professional learning community leaders and coaches. Resources such as time, personnel, and data management systems supported teachers’ responses to data.

Developing vertical and horizontal capacity for data analysis among teachers, coaches, and professional learning community leaders facilitated teachers’ use of data for instruction. Selecting and applying learning designs such as dialogue, coaching, and professional learning communities developed teachers’, coaches’, and professional learning community leaders’ vertical and horizontal expertise.

Coaches and professional learning communities provided personalized implementation support for transferring analysis and interpretation of data to change in instruction. Maintaining a focus on the expected performance regarding data and learning outcomes for students strengthens the coherence and goal orientation.

Additionally, this research study provides insights on effective use of coaching and professional learning communities; the role of professional learning community leaders, principals, and district in regard to data; and the necessary school and district contexts that facilitate teachers’ responses to data that results in changes in instructional delivery. The leap to results for students is yet unsupported. However, creating changes in instructional delivery is an essential step in generating results for students.