Key takeaways
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Give your team a single focus supported by shared practices, clear goals, and an empowering environment.
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Carefully examine how technology such as EdTech and AI tools could strengthen teaching and learning in your school or district.
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Invest in relevant, ongoing professional development such as webinars, training, coaching, and technology-driven learning.
When looking at student achievement, many schools and districts are still searching for the right formula to build reading and math skills to levels that will help students realize their potential in life. Bryan Goodwin, CEO of McREL Institute, pointed out in a Discovery Education webinar that while there isn’t a single answer for all the challenges different schools face, the best performers share one characteristic: focus. These schools set up a system that allows them to focus on one thing and do it well. The result is high-quality instruction across classrooms that boosts student performance.
How can you support your team so that the quality of instruction goes up and stays up? Let’s explore some of the best options school and district leaders have to get educators ready to teach more effectively than ever.
What Are Ways to Build Teachers’ Key Skills and Knowledge?
One recommendation that can serve as the foundation for greater success is to adopt a continuous improvement approach to team development. This keeps success from being only about checking a box or completing an assigned goal and can make long-term growth over the course of a person’s career a motivating and laudable accomplishment.
Why Start with Instructional Practices, Goals, and Culture?
Part of creating a system that supports school- or district-wide focus on delivering high-quality instruction involves creating shared practices, clear goals, and an empowering culture.
- Shared instructional practices give your team a consistent foundation for effective teaching across classrooms.
- Clear goals lay out what success is and help your team see where they contribute.
- An empowering culture builds educator confidence, strengthens trust among people with different roles and responsibilities, and encourages collaboration.
While you can update any of these key components throughout the school year, consider putting in time during the summer to work them out and communicate them to your staff. That way, everyone can start the school year aligned and ready to go.
How Do Principals Influence Student Success?
Research shows that among the many education leadership roles, principals can significantly affect student outcomes in their school through their support of effective instruction. This support shows up in a variety of ways:
- Working with teachers on instruction, such as determining effective practices, observing and coaching, and reviewing data
- Collaborating with staff to create a cohesive program that includes strong curriculum and shared instructional practices
- Investing in targeted, practical professional development
- Enabling teachers to learn from each other in multiple ways
- Incorporating shared instructional leadership and decision-making
Further, a study of Chicago principals revealed that principals in schools that were improving had established a “culture of shared organizational learning,” and they linked related goals to the school vision for continued staff inspiration.
What Does Curriculum Planning and Instruction Support Look Like?
Depending on the time of year, educators will focus on different aspects of instruction and curriculum, but leaders can always provide support in some way. For example, one survey showed that during the summer over 42% of teachers spent at least 20 hours (25% spent over 30 hours) in classroom preparation, which includes creating and organizing instructional materials and curriculum planning. Teachers who reported that they “often” made, bought, or downloaded supplementary materials said that they did so because their curriculum was neither engaging nor easily differentiated, so if your team falls into this group, you may need to reassess your curricula accordingly.
Many districts and states are adopting high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and providing implementation support in an effort to boost efficacy. Most teachers who use new HQIM report that they have changed their instructional practices in response. This would be an excellent opportunity to document and share those practices with educators throughout your school or district.
How Could Educational Technology Improve Teacher Readiness?
Not all teachers have experience using EdTech for curriculum planning, instruction, supplemental resource integration, assessment, or other activities, but surveys show favorable views from those who have and interest from those who haven’t yet. The “interested” percentage varies somewhat by location, with teachers in rural areas less enthusiastic.
We know that simply adding EdTech solutions to your toolkit does not necessarily lead to a learning transformation, though it’s a key part of technology’s promise. An all-too-common problem that teachers face when asked to use EdTech is a lack of clear understanding on how to use it properly. A 2025 survey revealed the top three areas that they need support on:
- Engaging and motivating students
- Adjusting teaching practices based on research
- Managing time and administrative tasks
Educators also expressed concerns about “whether EdTech effectively challenges students’ higher-order and critical-thinking skills” and about cost and implementation. If you have recently implemented new technology or are planning to in the near future, we have seven action items for successfully implementing EdTech in schools that can offer some much-needed clarity.
Where Does AI Fit in Education?
Impossible to ignore as its capabilities expand and as companies increasingly incorporate it into their technology, AI has a number of use cases for education, including:
- Reading instruction and support
- Writing assistants
- Math assessment
- Instructional support
- Career-connected learning
At least 32 states have released their own AI guidance for schools, and more states are expected to put out K–12 recommendations over time. Researchers believe “some states will update and revise their initial AI education guidance to be more comprehensive and useful for districts and schools, especially involving their responsible technology use policies.”
Our 2025–2026 Education Insights report showed that nearly all superintendents and principals are excited about AI’s potential to aid teaching and learning. However, a 2025 Gallup national survey of over 2,000 K–12 teachers found 82% reported not receiving formal guidance on applying AI to instruction, particularly on “grading, feedback, and one-to-one support.”
To help your team use AI tools critically and appropriately, examine what policies already exist in your district or state and ensure that they actually make sense to everyone using AI for any aspect of their work. Also consider prioritizing teachers’ input when implementing AI tools for better buy-in and hands-on feedback that can save time and money.
How Can Professional Development Strengthen Teacher Readiness?
If your school or district has made any significant changes to instructional resources and curriculum, like adding new supplemental programs, updates to lists of approved curricula, or a different LMS, then educators may need training on or dedicated time to explore everything. Even if nothing significant has changed, you’ll want to invest in professional development for your team to support high-quality instruction in every classroom.
Research shows that effective professional development:
- Focuses on content, like strategies and discipline-specific pedagogies
- Involves active learning
- Supports collaboration
- Demonstrates effective practice through models
- Offers support from coaches and other experts
- Provides feedback and the chance for reflection
- Occurs over a sustained period
Beyond the professional development itself, other valuable means of supporting teacher growth and readiness include:
- Redesigning school schedules to allow for more learning and collaboration
- Conducting staff surveys to find out what areas they most want to explore
- Identifying and developing mentors and coaches who have different areas of expertise
- Providing technology-driven professional learning that may offer greater flexibility and fewer time demands
Professional development ranks high on lists of activities that educators complete over the summer, especially since it can be difficult to find the time and the mental space to pursue it during the school year. Of educators who completed PD during the summer:
- 38% took online courses or webinars
- 27% attended workshops or conferences
- 20% completed independent study or research
- 17% participated in peer collaboration or study groups
When was the last time you looked at your current professional development topics, schedule, and options? Meeting your teams’ changing needs and interests could not only boost their confidence and efficacy but also aid morale and retention.
What Support Does Discovery Education Offer?
Too many teachers don’t feel ready for a new school year, so we created a playbook to help leaders start building the conditions for stronger implementation and student success right from day one. Watch our on-demand webinar and download the instructional design whitepaper that inspired it.
As part of your effort to focus on high-quality instruction in every classroom, you’ll want to use programs that are proven to help turn student potential into progress. Explore what sets Discovery Education programs apart and how they make learning stick.
