Transforming Teacher Development Through Program Design & Coaching Systems
Redesigning a state-mandated new teacher academy and building a centralized professional learning ecosystem to support faculty across an entire district.
Context and Opportunity
A state-mandated new teacher academy was required for licensure, but the existing program was largely compliance-driven with limited impact on instructional practice. At the same time, professional development across the district was fragmented, difficult to access and inconsistently documented, with no centralized system for resources, workshops or ongoing instructional support.
This resulted in new teachers lacking meaningful, applied support during their first year and faculty having no single source of truth or access to timely, point-of-need development. There was also no structured system for scaling coaching or sustaining professional learning across the district.
My Role
As the Professional Development Coordinator, I led a district-wide initiative to redesign teacher development:
- Rebuilding the new teacher academy curriculum and facilitating it directly
- Designing and launching a centralized professional learning platform
- Building and managing a team of instructional coaches
- Establishing systems for ongoing, embedded faculty support
Approach
1. Redesigning the New Teacher Academy
I rebuilt the full curriculum for a year-long, state-mandated program and co-taught the academy, modeling effective instructional practices. I shifted away from compliance-based training to application-focused learning, real classroom problem-solving and immediate implementation.
2. Building a Centralized Professional Learning Platform
I designed and maintained a district-wide website serving as a single source of truth. The site included all professional development offerings (e.g. workshops, summer intensives and year-long projects), session materials, outcomes and documentation and on-demand teacher resources. It also provided point-of-need access to progressive teaching strategies, model lessons, assessment and exam schedules, technology integration examples and accessibility-focused practices.
3. Creating a Distributed Coaching Model
I recruited, trained, and managed a team of 16 instructional coaches and established a system for ongoing, embedded professional development, on-demand support for faculty and peer-led coaching and mentorship.
4. Scaling Professional Learning Across the District
I expanded access to professional development through day workshops, multi-day summer sessions, year-long teacher development projects (e.g., Student Growth Objective projects). I ensured all offerings were aligned to student learning objectives, thoroughly documented for individual faculty use and institutional reporting and analysis and easily accessible.
Impact
Institutional Impact
- Transformed a compliance-driven program into a meaningful teacher development experience
- Established a centralized system for professional learning and resources
- Improved consistency and access across the district
Operational Impact
- Created a scalable model for delivering and managing professional development
- Enabled continuous, point-of-need support through instructional coaching
- Reduced fragmentation and duplication across training efforts
Faculty Impact
- Increased teacher access to relevant, actionable resources
- Strengthened instructional practice through applied learning and coaching
- Improved engagement with professional development offerings
Tools & Capabilities Demonstrated
Program and curriculum design
Professional learning strategy
Coaching and team leadership
Systems design and knowledge management
Faculty development at scale