What is Teaching Lab’s State-level Program?

To truly shift the paradigm of teacher professional learning for educational equity, Teaching Lab believes that every level of the educational system is responsible for advancing a clear vision of educational equity in our nation’s classrooms. For that reason, Teaching Lab partners with state-, district-, and regional service center (RSC) leaders to:

1) create the enabling conditions for large-scale selection and adoption of high-quality curriculum;

2) plan and implement equity-driven and curriculum-based professional learning; and

3) build leader capacity across the state to dramatically improve teaching and learning.

State-level Spotlight: Wisconsin Fellowship

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is leading the charge for educational equity across their state. This is important because the state of Wisconsin has some of the largest gaps in achievement between Black and white students in both ELA and math subjects, as determined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2019).

To address issues of access and equity, such as the use of outdated materials, teaching below grade-level, and “one-and-done” professional development structures, Wisconsin DPI is engaging in deep work with Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs), district- and system-level leaders, PL Providers, and CESAs to promote the use of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) accompanied by high-quality professional learning (HQPL). Having already dedicated time and resources for leaders to identify characteristics of HQIM and processes for its selection and adoption, DPI’s goal during SY2020-21 was to increase capacity and understanding of HQIM-focused professional learning, while at the same time advancing equity for their students.

This is where Teaching Lab came in. Through its eight-session Instructional Leader Fellowship, Teaching Lab began its partnership with the Wisconsin DPI, CESAs, system-level leaders, and other PL organizations to advance an understanding of exceptional HQPL aligned with HQIM and design the roll-out of HQIM adoption and HQPL plans to the districts and schools they support. Teaching Lab also pushed participants to analyze the structures within school systems that create barriers for certain students, especially those from historically marginalized groups, and reflect on their role as leaders in engaging in hard conversations surrounding these issues to pave the way for change.

Teaching Lab co-designed its PL with the Wisconsin DPI. 

“...it was a true collaboration and a true partnership with Teaching Lab... [who] was really open to our feedback, really open to us connecting them with additional folks in the state that we knew had specific expertise in that area of equity. And, just really willing to lean into better understanding [of] our state and our state context and continuing throughout the series to work to understand what's the experience, and what's the context of our regional service providers, as well as the district teams that were participating. ...We were able to really land some relevant appropriate scenarios that ultimately really resonated with our regional service provider participants.” -Laura Adams, Literacy Consultant, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Teaching Lab helped Wisconsin DPI and its partners to develop and use common language surrounding equitable teaching. Kao Moua Her, Technical Assistance Coordinator from Wisconsin Rtl Center, explains, “I want[ed] to make sure that there was an alignment, that there was building common language and common understanding where high-quality instructional materials and professional learning was aligning to the framework.” Similarly, Dr. Angela Ford, Manager of Advanced Academics of Milwaukee Public Schools, commented, “I'm happy that we're all using the same language, which are, you know, the shifts, and what's the expectation, and really focusing on improving instruction.” She continues, “We realized that from Teaching Lab, that we have to really invest in professional development with teachers so that we all are speaking the same language.”

Teaching Lab’s use of relevant and practical activities facilitated participants' learning and was replicated by CESAs within the schools they serve. Facilitators in the virtual PL utilized concrete examples, role-playing scenarios, student experiential simulation, and pragmatic tools to illustrate the importance of HQPL aligned to HQIM.

The student experiential simulation around shifts in learning was particularly impactful for participants’ understanding of instructional shifts and equitable teaching practices and was recreated by participants with the schools they support. Role-playing relevant scenarios to adapt conversations with schools and districts about high expectations, key to equity, were also valuable.

Adams commented,

“The concrete examples that Teaching Lab provided...were really helpful. Some of those concrete examples were scenarios for folks to talk through, like if this comes up in your district, like how to navigate that. How would you put it if this is what the conversation is? ...How would you navigate that [with] some specific tools, like the unit preview protocol, as a concrete strategy, or concrete framework for guiding materials, scope, identifying and guiding some materials, focused professional learning, those were all really, really helpful tools.” 

Based on what they learned in the fellowship, CESAs have made changes to how they design, plan, and deliver PL. An Instructional Services Director from one of the participating CESAs explains, “We [are] truly taking the ideas of ... adult learning, ... the heart, mind, habits. Yes. [When we are] looking at our PD or thinking about that, when we plan new PD, [we ask] is this really what we're doing?” 

CESAs and other participants have also strengthened their collaboration with each other through the fellowship. Approximately 84% of participants who completed the follow-up survey reported that the Fellowship improved the way they work outside of the PL sessions. Kao Moua Her states, “the teaming structure, the teaming collaboration across the state was so powerful and meaningful...it was empowering for my region that I support.” Similarly, Dr. Ford commented, “we have built relationships that are meaningful,” crediting the way Teaching Lab structured the Fellowship to give participants time to process and listen to others and their context. 

Participants engaged in meaningful conversations about issues of equity in the districts they work or support. Around 7 in 10 participants agreed or strongly agreed that the readings, discussions, and session content on cultural proficiency and racial equity impacted their beliefs, behaviors, or actions as a leader, and 9 in 10 participants demonstrated improvement or sustained high scores on equitable mindsets. Kao Moua Her explains:

“And this, this, to me is equity: It's when people started to realize and recognize that it is the system that is broken. And we need to deconstruct it to make it more accessible. And this is how we're going to start doing it. These are the couple steps that we're going to take to move forward. And all these little steps are going to add up to be the you know, the whole letter for where we need to be at. So that, to me, brought me hope, and joy, in terms of where our state is moving, where our educators are moving, and where our leaders are moving toward.

So a school can do it itself. But that's in isolation. But when a district supports that work, it's almost like the mother coming and saying, ‘I'm taking all of you [and] we're going this way,’ and that the support and the continuous improvement, and the professional [learning] will be a part of that. And so that's why I'm super excited about the fellowship coming to life, because we have leaders who see this work, who know what needs to be done, and started to change that. So the adoption will happen, the vision will happen, the curriculum will be adopted, the professional learning will be in place, because those funds will be identified, and allocated to where it needs to be.”

By the end of the fellowship, state- and district-level teams had developed improvement action plans for HQPL aligned with HQIM and clarity surrounding how materials-focused professional learning promotes equity. Adams stated, “Everybody really walked away with better understanding both of materials-focused professional learning, and equity, and...the intersection between those two things: how equity can be really explicitly brought into a materials-focused professional learning opportunity.”

Although challenges remain in closing the gap between students from different backgrounds in Wisconsin and nation-wide, Teaching Lab looks forward to continuing to engage with state- and district-level teams in Wisconsin and beyond and focusing more explicitly on culturally responsive leadership related to HQIM and HQPL and its bridge to Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education.