Why Schools and Teachers Need to Grow Together (or Growth Spurts Aren’t Just for Teenagers: The School System Edition)
“Growing together isn’t just a strategy; it’s a school’s superpower. When teachers learn and systems evolve, we don’t just teach lessons—we transform futures.” Part of the “Barriers to Professional Learning & Doing” series… Ever noticed how teacher training can sometimes feel like it’s happening in a bubble? Teachers get all this new knowledge and then, without the right support from the system, it just… fizzles out. It’s not just a hunch—research shows that for teacher training to stick, the whole school environment needs to evolve alongside our educators. One key study by Timperley et al. (2007) drives this point home. It found that effective professional development isn’t just about learning new strategies; it’s about the whole school system—policies, resources, culture—adapting to support these strategies. And it’s not just about systems. Leaders playing an active role in this learning matters a ton. A study by Darling-Hammond, Hyler, and Gardner (2017) showed that when adm