How Do You Know if Teachers Are Growing?

Here is what we do know:

1. Teachers matter more toward student achievement than any other school factor, making teachers our greatest asset.
2. Efforts to establish more effective teacher evaluations have little to no positive effects on student achievement.

If we understand, then, the value of supporting our teachers but don’t have an effective way to measure their growth, how do we know if all of our time, resources, and efforts are making an impact on educators and learners?

In short, how do we know if teachers are actually growing?

Personalized Coaching for Educators

For the past 12+ years, engage2learn has honed a different kind of professional development for teachers, administrators, and district leaders based on job-embedded, competency-based coaching. Whether it’s in-person or virtual coaching, this highly effective system, grounded in research, fuels equity, boosts morale, and accelerates the growth of teachers and students.

In GroweLab, engage2learn’s all-in-one instructional coaching and talent development platform, teachers, leaders, and school/district staff can document every coaching conversation, set goals on the competencies that matter to them, submit evidence of practice, and earn progress badges as they go.

With advanced education analytics and reporting, GroweLab makes measuring and celebrating educator growth easy. Every coaching conversation, piece of evidence, and badge and/or microcredential earned becomes growth data, so coaches, leaders, and others can see how coaching affects both educator growth and student achievement.

“When educators have visibility into how growth in specific competencies is influencing outcomes, everyone knows what to do more of, what to do less of, and what to abandon.”

Shannon K. Buerk, Founder & CEO of engage2learn

Designed to…

• Let coaches track and manage large rosters of coachees in one simple interface,
• Give educators and staff microcredentials in the skills and competencies they’re growing in,
• Give leaders and district teams strong data analytics,
• Let users build custom observation forms and competencies,
• And more…

…GroweLab brings equitable, meaningful, and sustainable talent development into one platform. See it at work in the video below.

GroweLab helps districts answer 3 key questions about teacher coaching, professional growth, and support.

01: How much instructional coaching is happening?

Leaders and coaches using GroweLab have connected data reports and education analytics to see who is receiving coaching and how often; evaluate data points such as session type and badges earned; and celebrate the efforts and progress of your educators and coaches as it happens.

Plus, grounded in a decade of peer-reviewed, academic research and 12+ years of coaching experience, engage2learn’s coaching methodology has been proven effective by in-depth professional growth analytics and independent data review. Using the platform in combination with the methodology to document all coaching conversations and evidence, GroweLab users get a detailed view of all coaching activity across a school or district.

RELATED: The Science of Coaching: What is it and how do educators use it?

02: How much are teachers growing in competencies?

Focusing on competency-based educator growth, coaching with the support of GroweLab lets teachers and staff choose and set their own growth goals in role-specific competencies, submit evidence of practice or implementation, receive constructive and positive feedback, and earn badges and microcredentials.

In GroweLab, educators earn strand badges and microcredentials in competencies based on submitted, reviewed, and approved evidence of practice, not just on PD session attendance. The process for earning these is simple:

Strand Badges

This first tier of badges represents growth on a particular domain within a specific competency. Strand badges represent quick wins for educators that serve as early recognition of growth toward higher levels of proficiency.

Microcredentials

Microcredentials are awarded when your teacher or staff member has documented evidence of practice that has been reviewed by their coach and is aligned to the proficiency level of a specific competency.

As teachers earn badges and microcredentials on competencies, GroweLab turns it all into teacher growth data, so leaders and coaches can keep track of progress, identify areas that may need additional support, and recognize teachers’ efforts. Watch as your educators build capacity, demonstrate growth, and become more effective in the classroom within GroweLab’s reporting dashboard!

This blog shows how engage2learn partner Abilene ISD put coaching, badging, and recognition to work.

03: How is teacher growth impacting student achievement?

Every district is working toward the same outcome: student success. In addition to automatically keeping track of coaching data and teacher growth, GroweLab allows you to incorporate your district’s or school’s NWEA MAP Growth data. Customizable and specific to your goals and success criteria, you have the ability to import student achievement data to see the direct and powerful correlation between teacher coaching and growth and student achievement.

With advanced data analytics, customizable reports, and easy-to-read visuals, GroweLab turns teacher growth into data leaders can use.

Measuring the ROI of Instructional Coaching

We know your time and the time of your team is limited and valuable. The initiatives, projects, and professional development where you place your focus have desired intended outcomes, but how do you know those goals are being met? How do you know with certainty that your district is stewarding people, funds, and time in a way that is making the biggest and sustaining impact? Can you say with confidence that your educators are applying what they learn from traditional professional development? Do you have the ability to show others the return on your many great ideas and efforts?

With the advanced education analytics capabilities in GroweLab, you now have all of your coaching, teacher growth, and student data in one place. Know with certainty the impact of…

• Observations
• Trainings
• Common Assessments
• Initiatives/Programs
• Teacher Professional Development
• Student Achievement

…at-a-glance.

With education analytics and simple reporting in GroweLab, school and district leaders are no longer left with fragmented information, scattered spreadsheets, and disconnected data points. Instead, they get critical, data-informed insight into which teachers are growing and which need additional support, the correlation between coaching and educator growth, and the progression of educators’ proficiency in skills and competencies over time.

Supported by engage2learn coaching and GroweLab, you can be confident in the return on your efforts and easily demonstrate to others what is making a real difference within your district or school.

Ready to bring advanced analytics (and peace of mind) to your coaching program? Learn more about the features and impact of GroweLab here and get in touch with engage2learn to explore partnership options here.

First published November 29, 2023.