Recent research points to the need to increase both awareness of and participation in professional learning grounded in high-quality instructional materials. Curriculum-based professional learning focuses high-quality professional learning on high-quality curriculum and instructional materials. Learning Forward’s work in this area prioritizes curriculum-based professional learning as a key activity in an improvement network. Therefore, we are excited to announce a new improvement network across two states that will build on the success of our recent Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Network.

The new network will focus on effectively using curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) to support the implementation of middle school mathematics curricula for selected middle schools in the Central Valley of California and in Texas. All participants will be oriented to the specifics of CBPL and to the purpose and strategies of continuous improvement to prepare them to test and measure classroom changes that improve the implementation of Illustrative Mathematics in California and Bluebonnet Learning mathematics in Texas. By employing specific strategies to focus professional learning on effective use of the math curriculum, this work is expected to positively affect teaching and learning for all middle school students.

The network will bring together cross-role educator teams — including classroom teachers, coaches, principals, and district leaders — to address change ideas originating at the classroom level. The change ideas will be immediately relevant to teachers, have the potential for vertical spread and impact, and be drawn from the curricular materials. The involvement of administrators at the school and central office levels ensures strategic support and coherence.

A unique feature of the network will be the collaboration between regional intermediaries and the school system teams to encourage and facilitate intra-state networking, sharing of relevant change ideas, and discussion of spread and scale mechanisms. In California, we will partner with the Kern and Merced County Offices of Education. The Region 10 Education Service Center will be our Texas partner. The California and Texas network teams will come together several times both in person and virtually to collaboratively discuss change ideas and resources.

Participating school systems will engage with a strong professional community, learn from experts and peers, and work on shared problems of practice and district-specific change ideas. Teams will strengthen the implementation of their mathematics curriculum and enhance teachers’ math content knowledge and pedagogical skills. The school systems will be supported to develop a coherent system of CBPL through which they will build coaching capacity to support curriculum implementation, assess impact of CBPL, and document improvements in curriculum implementation. Teams will develop CBPL competencies and skills and study the strategies and responses to implementation and the associated changes that can be applied to other content areas. The network will run from fall 2025 to summer 2028.

Learn more about the network at learningforward.org/networks/cbpl.