Ideas & News

There is more than one way to become a teacher.  For generations, many teachers have entered the profession through traditional, university-based teacher preparation programs. But today, aspiring teachers can also prepare through residencies, apprenticeships, grow-your-own programs, and other alternative pathways. Perhaps unsurprisingly, enrollment in these non-traditional pathways has grown in recent years. In many communities, […]

The idea of high-leverage practices is deceptively simple: they are the teaching practices that are central to the daily work of teaching; they are important for students’ learning, participation, agency, and flourishing; and they are possible to teach to beginning teachers. They are the foundation of skillful teaching. But foundational doesn’t mean that they are easy. In fact, I would argue that four of […]

By Francesca Forzani and Nicole Garcia  When TeachingWorks first published its list of high-leverage practices in 2012, classrooms looked different in some important ways. Teachers had different instructional resources available to them; in fact, many were creating their own resources from scratch or with the assistance of a Google search. Open-source materials were not common. Digital tools played a much […]

by Francesca Forzani and Deborah Loewenberg Ball  More than a decade ago, TeachingWorks introduced a list of high-leverage practices (HLPs)—especially important for beginning teachers to learn and develop, and for experienced teachers to continue to hone, because they are central to the work of teaching. Today, we’re introducing a revised list of TeachingWorks HLPs, reflecting what we’ve learned since that original list was published […]

At a recent TeachingWorks workshop for teacher educators, a participant wrote something in the final survey that has stayed with me:  Thank you to TeachingWorks for continuing to offer high-quality professional development for teacher educators. I feel the winds of change are blowing through teacher prep and beginning to prioritize workforce models and partnerships between LEAs/EPPs—which are great!—but conversations about quality […]

  TeachingWorks Research & Design Specialist Susan Atkins was interviewed about second language teaching and learning in a January 25, 2026, article in El Mercurio, a newspaper in Santiago, Chile. In “En el aprendizaje de idiomas lo que queremos es interacción” [In language learning, what we want is interaction],” Susan weighs in on the importance […]

I just returned from my fourth trip to Santiago, Chile, where I’ve been working with teacher preparation programs interested in adopting practice-based teacher education (PBTE). Each visit has been energizing and thought-provoking, filled with rich conversations about what it means to prepare teachers well. But this time, my Chilean colleagues kept raising a question that […]

TeachingWorks Director Deborah Loewenberg Ball was interviewed about mathematics teaching and learning in an October 6, 2025, article in El Mercurio, a newspaper in Santiago, Chile. In “A menudo intentamos mejorar el aprendizaje mediante medios que no se centran en los profesores [We often try to improve learning through means that do not focus on […]

TeachingWorks Deputy Director Francesca Forzani was interviewed about the demands of practice-based teacher education in a September 22, 2025, article in La Tercera, a daily newspaper in Santiago, Chile. In “Cómo son los profesores de excelencia: la académica de EEUU que aboga por un cambio profundo en la docencia [What excellent teachers are like: the […]