GroweLab · Features · Professional development for teachers

Develop teaching talent without burnout.

Turn traditional professional development for teachers into high-impact talent development.

A teacher’s GroweLab portfolio: sessions, celebrations, badge rank, an evidence-of-growth bar and the competencies she is working on now and next, beside the teacher with her arms folded
Growth portfolioEvidence, badges and what comes next
Why is traditional professional development not working anymore?

Three reasons the workshop model falls short.

  1. 01

    Teachers don’t get what they need.

    If everyone, from new to veteran teachers, sits through the same trainings, seminars and guest speakers, no one gets support that matches their individual needs and level of experience.

  2. 02

    Leaders can’t measure impact or ROI.

    Training costs, travel, materials, meal stipends, opportunity costs: it all adds up. Without implementation or growth data, nobody knows the return on that investment.

  3. 03

    Students don’t see new strategies in the classroom.

    Most of what a workshop covers gets lost in the day-to-day grind of classroom instruction, so teachers’ daily practice doesn’t change.

Instead of one-size-fits-all PD

Individualized support and learning for every teacher.

  1. 01

    Personalized, high-impact strategies

    Differentiated, growth-focused learning on the skills and competencies aligned to each educator’s needs and to school and district goals.

  2. 02

    Relevant, vetted resources

    A vast, user-friendly learning library of vetted resources, materials and tools aligned to competencies, supporting ongoing professional growth.

  3. 03

    Tools that keep everyone organized

    Dashboards and organization tools help everyone stay focused on learning and growing, and prioritize their tasks.

  4. 04

    On-demand, adaptive learning

    Relevant, timely, cost-effective learning that qualifies for continuing education units (CEUs), available to teachers whenever and wherever through mySmartCoach.

How GroweLab changes professional development

Collaborative, ongoing, relevant and focused on skill acquisition.

GroweLab gives educators the tools to engage in learning and reflect on their practice so changes last. With features for coaching, professional learning communities and asynchronous learning, school leaders turn traditional professional development into talent development.

01

Focus learning on skill acquisition

GroweLab’s deep learning options are matched to each person’s experience level, for scaffolded talent development aligned to ready-to-implement instructional practices drawn from the research.

GroweLab learning options matched to a teacher’s experience level
02

Customize competencies to goals

Leaders have complete administrative control to create or customize competencies, so professional growth lines up with high-level district goals.

Competency-based growth
An administrator customizing a competency and its levels in GroweLab
03

Track professional growth

Connected data on professional growth is compiled into easy-to-read analytics reports, so leaders track progress toward their school or district’s success criteria.

Education analytics
A GroweLab growth report showing progress toward a district’s success criteria, not attendance
04

Celebrate achievement

Leaders can celebrate a teacher at any point in a professional development or coaching session, with in-the-moment recognition that builds a culture of growth.

Microcredentials & badging
GroweLab celebration windows: "You’ve been celebrated" with two competency badges, and "Cue the confetti" marking a level-two badge in Resources and Learning Experience
More tools for professional development

What teachers and leaders use every week.

  1. 01

    Tailored dashboards

    Role-based dashboard views give one-click entry to professional development and coaching sessions, progress badges and status, action items and ideas.

  2. 02

    Integrated scheduling and task tools

    An easy-to-read, color-coded calendar of upcoming professional development and coaching sessions, with a prioritized to-do list.

  3. 03

    Instructional materials, organized

    GroweLab’s vast and growing library of research, resources, interactive templates, online courses and videos can be searched, filtered and bookmarked for quick access.

  4. 04

    Evidence of implementation

    Digital growth portfolios act as a living repository of evidence of classroom or role-based implementation, while microcredentials and badges motivate growth and mark changes in daily practice.

In their words

Support teachers notice.

There is so much choice that is relevant to everyday teaching.
Teacher
mySmartCoach

Asynchronous continuing education that fits a teacher’s year.

When you add mySmartCoach to GroweLab, your teachers get personalized coaching they can use any time, even when they don’t have a coach.

Support at any hour, on a pathway each teacher chooses.

Teachers get 24/7 access to professional development on the practices shown to increase student achievement, in bite-sized learning paced through the school year. Differentiated growth pathways give teachers choice in what they learn and the autonomy to grow in areas that matter to them, at a fraction of the cost of in-person workshops and online course providers.

On-demand teacher support
A mySmartCoach intro session in GroweLab where a teacher chooses a virtual coach from three engage2learn coaches, each introduced in a sentence
Where this sits in the cycle

Growth, tracked as it happens.

Professional development in GroweLab runs through every step of the cycle. Growth is recorded as evidence of practice, so leaders see which skills moved.

  1. You are here 01

    Diagnose

    Growth portfolios and badges show which competencies moved, teacher by teacher.

    Assessments & Software
  2. You are here 02

    Design

    Competencies are customized to the district’s goals, so the plan and the learning match.

    Planning & Design
  3. You are here 03

    Coach

    Coaching, PLCs and asynchronous learning all land on the same record.

    Performance Improvement
  4. You are here 04

    Connect to community

    Leaders share what worked with peers in the Jim Knight Impact Network.

    Network & Events
3 to 6 other professional learning tools replaced
97% of users report confidence in their job-required skills
See how the whole cycle runs
Not sure where to start? Answer seven questions to find the answer to your Improvement Equation. Find my pathway
FAQ

Questions leaders ask.

How is professional development in GroweLab different from workshops?

Professional development in GroweLab is individualized, ongoing and focused on skill acquisition rather than seat time. Each teacher works on competencies matched to their experience level and the district’s goals, with coaching, PLCs and asynchronous learning in one place, and growth tracked instead of attendance.

Can leaders align professional development to district goals?

Yes. Leaders have full administrative control to create or customize competencies, so professional growth lines up with high-level district goals and progress is reported against the district’s own success criteria.

What does a teacher see in GroweLab?

A teacher sees a role-based dashboard with one-click entry to professional development and coaching sessions, progress badges, action items and ideas, a color-coded calendar, a prioritized to-do list, a searchable resource library and a growth portfolio.

What is mySmartCoach?

mySmartCoach is GroweLab’s asynchronous, personalized professional development, paced through the school year, for teachers who do not have access to an in-person coach. It qualifies for continuing education units and costs a fraction of in-person workshops.

Rethink professional development in your district

Talent development, not seat time.

Tell us how professional development runs in your district today, and we’ll show you GroweLab with your competencies and your calendar in it.

Four educators in a science classroom gather around a laptop, one seated and smiling while a colleague in a lanyard leans in to point at the screen and two others look on