Category: Professional Development

Doing right by the teachers who do right by the world
Key points:

Ethical PD is a call to action for all involved in teacher professional development

Key questions that unleash powerful PLCs

GenAI and cultural competency: New priorities in teacher preparation

For more news on teacher PD, visit eSN’s Educational Leadership hub

Teachers are superheroes. Every day, they rise to the challenge, pouring their hearts into shaping the future. They stay late to grade papers, show up early to tutor struggling students, and spend their weekends planning lessons that inspire young minds. They do this because they believe in their mission–a mission to change lives, ignite passions, and build a better world.

More News from eSchool News

We are again in uncertain times. We again find ourselves dealing with sudden changes and uncertainty. We seem to be in a state of constant change and ambiguity.

In today’s evolving educational landscape, effective student assessment goes beyond multiple-choice tests and letter grades. According to a recent study, over 60 percent of educators believe traditional assessments fail to fully measure student understanding.

Holden, my 21-month-old, has fallen in love. His early morning snack and “couch time” includes a dose of “Tiger!” This is toddler for, “Mom, turn on Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.”

The COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible mark on K-12 education, placing immense pressure on teachers as they adapted, literally overnight, to new methods of instruction.

Spring brings not only showers and flowers, but it also brings the opportunity to interview for new education positions. Preparing for an interview involves several key steps that can significantly impact the outcome.

STEM careers are on the rise. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in STEM occupations is expected to grow by 10.4 percent from 2023 to 2033, compared to just 3.6 percent for non-STEM occupations.

The U.S. Department of Education is giving state education agencies 10 days to certify that their schools do not engage in any practices that the administration believes illegally promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

COVID had already killed thousands of people in other countries and was spreading in the United States when a top federal health official said schools should prepare to offer “internet-based teleschooling” in case they had to close for a period of time.

More than half of educators (62 percent) are already making use of AI at school, with more than one-quarter using it daily for work purposes, according to a Twinkl survey of more than 3,500 U.S. teachers.

Many math tasks involve reading, writing, speaking, and listening. These language demands can be particularly challenging for students whose primary language is not English.

Tags educational leadership, leadership, news, PD, preparation, professional development, questions, teacher, teacher PD, teacher preparation

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April 11, 2025
Beyond Evaluation: Using Peer Observation to Strengthen Teaching Practices – Faculty Focus
University faculty members are usually immersed in various tasks related to teaching, research, committees, and office hours. As a result, they rarely have time to explore the practices of their colleagues or seek advice on their own, which leads them to work in isolation. This isolation can hinder their professional development and growth, especially if they do not take the time to reflect on their own teaching methods and practices. Ultimately, student learning is impacted. One effective practice that can break this cycle is peer observation.

Peer observation is a valuable university practice with mutual benefits for the observer and observee, with an emphasis on learning, reflection, and improvement to enhance teaching methods and overall practices. Exploring peer observation models, their stages, and practical methods and resources for use in higher education are all part of this process. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement through pedagogical observation, educators engage in dialogue to share insights, plan for instructional improvement, self-reflect, adopt effective strategies, and refine teaching practices.

Models of Peer Observation

The focus of the peer observation defines its goal, context, and the way the participants act and feel toward the process. Based on the focus, peer observations can be classified into two models: formative-developmental and summative-evaluative.

While the formative-developmental observation aims to enhance and promote the improvement of teaching skills within a supportive and collegial context, the summative-evaluative observation aims to evaluate and judge the faculty based on the observation. Therefore, if an institution aims at improving the teaching practices of its faculty members and wants them to engage in professional development activities that they welcome and accept, it should incorporate a formative-developmental type of observation.

Although summative-evaluative peer observations are needed to evaluate the teaching skills of faculty members, we believe that it is a fair practice for the faculty to experience formative-developmental observations several times and to receive the necessary support before they undergo an evaluative observation especially if it is high-stakes in that it impacts their job retention or promotion. In our discussion, we will focus on formative-developmental observations because we are interested in practices that help in the improvement of teaching practices in educational institutions.

Benefits of Formative-developmental Observations

When approached as a developmental or formative practice, peer observations afford faculty valuable opportunities to improve their practices and grow professionally. This is mainly true if observations are done periodically, rather than as one-shot classroom visits, when the outcomes of one observation feed into another, and when on-going dialogue between the observer and the observee takes place. The practices of the process of classroom observations are critical as they:
- Encourage professional growth: Formative observations provide faculty with structured opportunities to enhance their teaching skills and improve student learning outcomes.
- Facilitate reflective practice: Formative observations enable faculty to critically assess their teaching methods and refine their instructional approaches.
- Support learning in and from practice: As highlighted by Ball and Cohen (1999), learning is most effective when embedded in practice, making peer observations a powerful tool for professional development.
- Promote the haring of best practices: Faculty can observe, discuss, and integrate effective teaching strategies used by their peers.
- Challenge teaching assumptions: Through peer feedback and reflection, faculty can identify and modify ingrained teaching habits to enhance student engagement.
- Build confidence in implementing new strategies: Observing peers in action helps faculty see new techniques in practice, making them more confident in adopting these approaches.
- Enhance course content and delivery: observations allow for a structured review of both the material taught and the teaching methods used, leading to refinements in instruction.
- Strengthen collegial support and collaboration: Collegial observations enhance a culture of open dialogue among faculty, fostering a supportive and collaborative academic environment.
- Improve teaching and learning quality: Observations encourage continuous improvement in instructional effectiveness, ultimately benefiting student learning experiences.
Stages of Formative-developmental Observations

Peer observations have numerous merits. They can be perceived as a cyclic process, each cycle including a peer observation session that is preceded and followed by meetings between the observer and the faculty whose class is to be observed, thus making it a three-stage process. Each of the stages has its benefits and contributes to the overall outcome of the process if done with a clear purpose in a safe, collegial, and supportive context. The three stages are:
- Pre-observation: To introduce the process and set the stage for effective peer observation, it is necessary to discuss the observation goals and establish mutual expectations for the process, in addition to discussing the session learning outcomes, learning activities and any content or documents that will be used during the observed session. This stage helps the observer clarify the goal of the observation and establishes an atmosphere of collaboration between the observer and the observee which reduces anxiety on the part of the observee. Moreover, it allows the observee to clarify the lesson context and allows for customization of the lesson before the observation takes place.
- Lesson Observation: This includes observing a teaching session with all its happenings such as teaching strategies, students’ engagement, modes of interaction, indicators of learning, assessment tasks, questioning techniques, and learning activities. At this stage, the observer collects notes describing what is observed without making any judgment about the performance of the teacher. To this end, we prefer using the narrative log as it enables the observer to document the timing of behaviors, techniques, and actions of both the observed instructor and the students. These are recorded objectively; i.e., recording solely what is observed without including any of the observer’s judgments. However, the observer can add comments or questions about the classroom events to be discussed later in the post-observation meeting. Narrative logs are considered an effective tool to describe verbal and non-verbal behavior, highlighting what the observer sees rather than making judgements (Chism, 2007). To this end, the observer must keep in mind the golden rule: Learning to see, unlearning to judge.
- Post- observation: At this stage, discussion of the class activities and reflection occurs. The observer uses the observation notes collected during the lesson observation to lead the discussion and to refer to for evidence for the different points being discussed. The observee reflects on the class; and the observer, to provide helpful feedback, seeks to understand more about the classroom by asking questions for clarification or to gain a clearer understanding of the lesson, students, and content. An excellent tool designed by Project-Zero at Harvard University is the Ladder of Feedback, which can help structure the discussion to be constructive, supportive and growth-promoting in a non-threatening manner.
The post-observation meeting should occur as soon as possible after the observation. The discussion in this stage should lead to an action plan. Therefore, as a good practice, the observer can summarize the points discussed in this meeting, emphasize points of strength, provide suggestions toward improving teaching practices, and agree with the observee on an action plan for improvement. The date for the following observation or meeting can be scheduled at the end of this stage.

How to Encourage Peer Observation in Higher Education

Although peer observation is a vital practice for professional development, it is not well-perceived by faculty members, and it is not a common practice in universities. Faculty members are mostly reluctant to voluntarily participate in peer observation. Thus, we recommend that universities start developing a culture of trust and collegiality to support this practice. At the personal level of faculty members, they can be encouraged to ask their colleagues to observe their classrooms and collect notes during the observations. To sharpen this practice and make it more relevant to one’s instructional needs, the observee can set specific goals for the observation. These suggestions can help promote the culture where peer observation becomes a practice for continuous, accessible professional development that can transform universities into learning communities and make them better learning spaces for their faculty members.

Dr. Siham Al Amoush is an experienced educator specializing in teacher education and higher education professional development, she obtained her PhD in Chemistry Education from Bremen University, where she researched and compared teacher beliefs in Jordan, Turkey, and Germany. She has published several papers in international journals on topics such as teacher beliefs, curriculum design, and technology integration in the classroom. Passionate about improving teacher education and supporting educators to reach their full potential, she aims to make a difference in the education system through collaboration between different sectors. Currently, she works in faculty development at the Excellence in Teaching and Learning Center at Qatar University.

Dr. Amal Farhat is an experienced educator and instructional coach with a background in both K-12 and higher education across the private and public sectors. She is interested in fostering professional learning communities through positive, constructive collaboration among all institutional stakeholders. In higher education, she has taught future educators and supported faculty in enhancing their teaching practices. Dr. Farhat holds a PhD in Education from the Lebanese University, a Counseling in Pedagogy diploma from St. Joseph University, and a CAEL certification from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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April 2, 2025
Beyond Evaluation: Using Peer Observation to Strengthen Teaching Practices – Faculty Focus
University faculty members are usually immersed in various tasks related to teaching, research, committees, and office hours. As a result, they rarely have time to explore the practices of their colleagues or seek advice on their own, which leads them to work in isolation. This isolation can hinder their professional development and growth, especially if they do not take the time to reflect on their own teaching methods and practices. Ultimately, student learning is impacted. One effective practice that can break this cycle is peer observation.

Peer observation is a valuable university practice with mutual benefits for the observer and observee, with an emphasis on learning, reflection, and improvement to enhance teaching methods and overall practices. Exploring peer observation models, their stages, and practical methods and resources for use in higher education are all part of this process. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement through pedagogical observation, educators engage in dialogue to share insights, plan for instructional improvement, self-reflect, adopt effective strategies, and refine teaching practices.

Models of Peer Observation

The focus of the peer observation defines its goal, context, and the way the participants act and feel toward the process. Based on the focus, peer observations can be classified into two models: formative-developmental and summative-evaluative.

While the formative-developmental observation aims to enhance and promote the improvement of teaching skills within a supportive and collegial context, the summative-evaluative observation aims to evaluate and judge the faculty based on the observation. Therefore, if an institution aims at improving the teaching practices of its faculty members and wants them to engage in professional development activities that they welcome and accept, it should incorporate a formative-developmental type of observation.

Although summative-evaluative peer observations are needed to evaluate the teaching skills of faculty members, we believe that it is a fair practice for the faculty to experience formative-developmental observations several times and to receive the necessary support before they undergo an evaluative observation especially if it is high-stakes in that it impacts their job retention or promotion. In our discussion, we will focus on formative-developmental observations because we are interested in practices that help in the improvement of teaching practices in educational institutions.

Benefits of Formative-developmental Observations

When approached as a developmental or formative practice, peer observations afford faculty valuable opportunities to improve their practices and grow professionally. This is mainly true if observations are done periodically, rather than as one-shot classroom visits, when the outcomes of one observation feed into another, and when on-going dialogue between the observer and the observee takes place. The practices of the process of classroom observations are critical as they:
- Encourage professional growth: Formative observations provide faculty with structured opportunities to enhance their teaching skills and improve student learning outcomes.
- Facilitate reflective practice: Formative observations enable faculty to critically assess their teaching methods and refine their instructional approaches.
- Support learning in and from practice: As highlighted by Ball and Cohen (1999), learning is most effective when embedded in practice, making peer observations a powerful tool for professional development.
- Promote the haring of best practices: Faculty can observe, discuss, and integrate effective teaching strategies used by their peers.
- Challenge teaching assumptions: Through peer feedback and reflection, faculty can identify and modify ingrained teaching habits to enhance student engagement.
- Build confidence in implementing new strategies: Observing peers in action helps faculty see new techniques in practice, making them more confident in adopting these approaches.
- Enhance course content and delivery: observations allow for a structured review of both the material taught and the teaching methods used, leading to refinements in instruction.
- Strengthen collegial support and collaboration: Collegial observations enhance a culture of open dialogue among faculty, fostering a supportive and collaborative academic environment.
- Improve teaching and learning quality: Observations encourage continuous improvement in instructional effectiveness, ultimately benefiting student learning experiences.
Stages of Formative-developmental Observations

Peer observations have numerous merits. They can be perceived as a cyclic process, each cycle including a peer observation session that is preceded and followed by meetings between the observer and the faculty whose class is to be observed, thus making it a three-stage process. Each of the stages has its benefits and contributes to the overall outcome of the process if done with a clear purpose in a safe, collegial, and supportive context. The three stages are:
- Pre-observation: To introduce the process and set the stage for effective peer observation, it is necessary to discuss the observation goals and establish mutual expectations for the process, in addition to discussing the session learning outcomes, learning activities and any content or documents that will be used during the observed session. This stage helps the observer clarify the goal of the observation and establishes an atmosphere of collaboration between the observer and the observee which reduces anxiety on the part of the observee. Moreover, it allows the observee to clarify the lesson context and allows for customization of the lesson before the observation takes place.
- Lesson Observation: This includes observing a teaching session with all its happenings such as teaching strategies, students’ engagement, modes of interaction, indicators of learning, assessment tasks, questioning techniques, and learning activities. At this stage, the observer collects notes describing what is observed without making any judgment about the performance of the teacher. To this end, we prefer using the narrative log as it enables the observer to document the timing of behaviors, techniques, and actions of both the observed instructor and the students. These are recorded objectively; i.e., recording solely what is observed without including any of the observer’s judgments. However, the observer can add comments or questions about the classroom events to be discussed later in the post-observation meeting. Narrative logs are considered an effective tool to describe verbal and non-verbal behavior, highlighting what the observer sees rather than making judgements (Chism, 2007). To this end, the observer must keep in mind the golden rule: Learning to see, unlearning to judge.
- Post- observation: At this stage, discussion of the class activities and reflection occurs. The observer uses the observation notes collected during the lesson observation to lead the discussion and to refer to for evidence for the different points being discussed. The observee reflects on the class; and the observer, to provide helpful feedback, seeks to understand more about the classroom by asking questions for clarification or to gain a clearer understanding of the lesson, students, and content. An excellent tool designed by Project-Zero at Harvard University is the Ladder of Feedback, which can help structure the discussion to be constructive, supportive and growth-promoting in a non-threatening manner.
The post-observation meeting should occur as soon as possible after the observation. The discussion in this stage should lead to an action plan. Therefore, as a good practice, the observer can summarize the points discussed in this meeting, emphasize points of strength, provide suggestions toward improving teaching practices, and agree with the observee on an action plan for improvement. The date for the following observation or meeting can be scheduled at the end of this stage.

How to Encourage Peer Observation in Higher Education

Although peer observation is a vital practice for professional development, it is not well-perceived by faculty members, and it is not a common practice in universities. Faculty members are mostly reluctant to voluntarily participate in peer observation. Thus, we recommend that universities start developing a culture of trust and collegiality to support this practice. At the personal level of faculty members, they can be encouraged to ask their colleagues to observe their classrooms and collect notes during the observations. To sharpen this practice and make it more relevant to one’s instructional needs, the observee can set specific goals for the observation. These suggestions can help promote the culture where peer observation becomes a practice for continuous, accessible professional development that can transform universities into learning communities and make them better learning spaces for their faculty members.

Dr. Siham Al Amoush is an experienced educator specializing in teacher education and higher education professional development, she obtained her PhD in Chemistry Education from Bremen University, where she researched and compared teacher beliefs in Jordan, Turkey, and Germany. She has published several papers in international journals on topics such as teacher beliefs, curriculum design, and technology integration in the classroom. Passionate about improving teacher education and supporting educators to reach their full potential, she aims to make a difference in the education system through collaboration between different sectors. Currently, she works in faculty development at the Excellence in Teaching and Learning Center at Qatar University.

Dr. Amal Farhat is an experienced educator and instructional coach with a background in both K-12 and higher education across the private and public sectors. She is interested in fostering professional learning communities through positive, constructive collaboration among all institutional stakeholders. In higher education, she has taught future educators and supported faculty in enhancing their teaching practices. Dr. Farhat holds a PhD in Education from the Lebanese University, a Counseling in Pedagogy diploma from St. Joseph University, and a CAEL certification from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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April 2, 2025
Capability for change – preparing for digital learning futures

Digital transformation is an ongoing journey for higher education institutions, but there is something quite distinctive about the current moment.

The combination of financial uncertainty, changing patterns of student engagement, and the seismic arrival of artificial intelligence is pointing to a future for higher education learning and teaching and a digital student experience that will certainly have some core elements in common with current practice but is likely in many respects to look rather different.

At the moment I see myself and my colleagues trying to cling to what we always did and what we always know. And I really do think the whole future of what we do and how we teach our students, and what we teach our students is going to accelerate and change very, very quickly now, in the next five years. Institutional leader

Our conversations with sector leaders and experts over the past six months indicate an ambition to build consistent, inclusive and engaging digital learning environments and to deploy data much more strategically. Getting it right opens up all kinds of possibilities to extend the reach of higher education and to innovate in models for engagement. But future change demands different kinds of technological capabilities, and working practices, and institutions are saying that they are hindered by legacy systems, organisational silos, and a lack of a unified vision.

Outdated systems do not “talk to each other,” and on a cultural level as departments and central teams also do not “talk to each other” – or may struggle to find a common language. And rather than making life easier, many feel that technology creates significant inefficiencies, forcing staff to spend more time on administrative tasks and less on what truly matters.

I think the problem always is when we hope something’s going to make it more efficient. But then it just adds a layer of complexity into what we’re doing…I think that’s what we struggle with – what can genuinely deliver some time savings and efficiencies as opposed to putting another layer in a process? Institutional leader

In the spirit of appreciative inquiry, our report Capability for change – preparing for digital learning futures draws on a series of in depth discussions with leaders of learning and teaching, and digital technology, digital experts and students’ union representatives. We explore the sorts of change that are already in train, and surface insight about how institutions are thinking in terms of building whole-organisation capabilities. “Digital dexterity” – the ability to deploy technology strategically, efficiently, and innovatively to achieve core objectives – may be yet another tech buzzword, but it captures a sense of where organisations are trying to get to.

While immediate financial pressures may require cutting costs and reprofiling investment, long term sustainability depends on moving forward with change, finding ways, not to do more with less but to do things differently. To realise the most value from technology investment institutional leaders need to find ways to ensure that across the institution staff teams have the knowledge, the motivation and the tools to deploy technology in the service of student success.

How institutions are building organisational capability

Running through all our conversations was a tension, albeit a potentially productive one: there needs to be much more consistency and clarity about the primary strategic objectives of the institution and the core technology platforms and applications that enable them. But the effect of, in essence, imposing a more streamlined “central” vision, expectations and processes should be to enable and empower the academic and professional teams to do the things that make for a great student experience. Our research indicates that institutions are focusing on three areas: leadership and strategy; digital capabilities of institutional staff; and breaking down the vertical silos that can hamper effective cross-organisational working.

A number of reflections point to strategy-level improvements – such as ensuring there is strategic alignment between institutional objectives for student success, and technology and digital strategies; listening to the feedback from students and staff about what they need from technology; setting priorities, and resourcing those priorities from end to end from technology procurement to deployment and evaluation of impact. One institutional leader described what happens when digital strategies get lost in principles and forget to align with the wider success of the organisation:

The old strategy is fairly similar, I imagine, to many digital strategies that you would have seen – it talks about being user focused, talks about lean delivery, talks about agile methodologies, product and change management and delivering value through showing, not telling. So it was a very top level strategy, but really not built with outcomes at its absolute core, like, what are the things that are genuinely going to change for people, for students? Institutional leader

Discussions of staff digital capabilities recognised that institutional staff are often hampered by organisational complexity and bureaucracy which too often is mirrored in the digital sphere. One e-learning professional suggested that there is a need for research to really understand why there is a tendency towards proliferation of processes and systems, and confront the impact on staff workloads.

There may also be limits to what can reasonably be expected from teaching staff in terms of digital learning design:

You need to establish minimum benchmarks and get everyone to that place, and then some people will be operating well beyond that. You can be clear about basic benchmark expectations around student experience – and then beyond that you need to put in actual support [such as learning design experts] to implement the curriculum framework. E-learning professional

But the broader insight on staff development was around shifting from provision of training on how to operate systems or tools to a more context-specific exploration of how the available technologies and data can help educators achieve their student success ambitions. Value is more systematically created across the organisation when those academic and professional teams who work directly with students are able to use the technology and data available creatively to enhance their practice and to problem solve.

Where data has been used before it’s very much sat with senior colleagues in the institution. And you know it’s helped in decision making. But the next step is to try and empower colleagues at the coal face to use data in their day to day interventions with their students… How can they use the data to inform how they support their students? Institutional leader

Decisive leadership may be successful in setting priorities and streamlining the processes and technologies that underpin them; strong focus on professional development may engage and enable institutional staff. But culture change will come when institutions find ways to systematically build “horizontals” across silos – mechanisms for collaborative and shared activity that bridge different perspectives, languages and disciplinary and professional cultures.

Some examples we saw included embedding digital professionals in faculties and academic business processes such as recruitment panels, convening of cross-organisation thinking on shared challenges, and appointment of “change agent” roles with a skillset and remit to roam across boundaries.

Technology providers must be part of the solution – acting as strategic partners rather than suppliers. One way to do that is to support institutions to pilot, test, and develop proof of concept before they decide to invest in large-scale change. Another is to work with institutions to understand how technology is deployed in practice, and the evolving needs of user communities. To be a great partner to the higher education sector means having a deep understanding not only of the technological capabilities that could help the sector but how these might weave into an organisation’s wider mission and values. In this way, technology providers can help to build capability for change.

This article is published in association with Kortext. You can download the Capability for change report on Kortext’s website. The authors would like to thank all those who shared their insight to inform the report.

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March 31, 2025
AI Support for Teachers
Collaborative Classroom, a leading nonprofit publisher of K–12 instructional materials, announces the publication of SIPPS, a systematic decoding program. Now in a new fifth edition, this research-based program accelerates mastery of vital foundational reading skills for both new and striving readers.

Twenty-Five Years of Transforming Literacy Outcomes

“As educators, we know the ability to read proficiently is one of the strongest predictors of academic and life success,” said Kelly Stuart, President and CEO of Collaborative Classroom. “Third-party studies have proven the power of SIPPS. This program has a 25-year track record of transforming literacy outcomes for students of all ages, whether they are kindergarteners learning to read or high schoolers struggling with persistent gaps in their foundational skills.

“By accelerating students’ mastery of foundational skills and empowering teachers with the tools and learning to deliver effective, evidence-aligned instruction, SIPPS makes a lasting impact.”

What Makes SIPPS Effective?

Aligned with the science of reading, SIPPS provides explicit, systematic instruction in phonological awareness, spelling-sound correspondences, and high-frequency words.

Through differentiated small-group instruction tailored to students’ specific needs, SIPPS ensures every student receives the necessary targeted support—making the most of every instructional minute—to achieve grade-level reading success.

“SIPPS is uniquely effective because it accelerates foundational skills through its mastery-based and small-group targeted instructional design,” said Linda Diamond, author of the Teaching Reading Sourcebook. “Grounded in the research on explicit instruction, SIPPS provides ample practice, active engagement, and frequent response opportunities, all validated as essential for initial learning and retention of learning.”

Personalized, AI-Powered Teacher Support

Educators using SIPPS Fifth Edition have access to a brand-new feature: immediate, personalized responses to their implementation questions with CC AI Assistant, a generative AI-powered chatbot.

Exclusively trained on Collaborative Classroom’s intellectual content and proprietary program data, CC AI Assistant provides accurate, reliable information for educators.

Other Key Features of SIPPS, Fifth Edition
- Tailored Placement and Progress Assessments: A quick, 3–8 minute placement assessment ensures each student starts exactly at their point of instructional need. Ongoing assessments help monitor progress, adjust pacing, and support grouping decisions.
- Differentiated Small-Group Instruction: SIPPS maximizes instructional time by focusing on small groups of students with similar needs, ensuring targeted, effective teaching.
- Supportive of Multilingual Learners: Best practices in multilingual learner (ML) instruction and English language development strategies are integrated into the design of SIPPS.
- Engaging and Effective for Older Readers: SIPPS Plus and SIPPS Challenge Level are specifically designed for students in grades 4–12, offering age-appropriate texts and instruction to close lingering foundational skill gaps.
- Multimodal Supports: Integrated visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile strategies help all learners, including multilingual students.
- Flexible, Adaptable, and Easy to Teach: Highly supportive for teachers, tutors, and other adults working in classrooms and expanded learning settings, SIPPS is easy to implement well. A wraparound system of professional learning support ensures success for every implementer.
Accelerating Reading Success for Students of All Ages

In small-group settings, students actively engage in routines that reinforce phonics and decoding strategies, practice with aligned texts, and receive immediate feedback—all of which contribute to measurable gains.

“With SIPPS, students get the tools needed to read, write, and understand text that’s tailored to their specific abilities,” said Desiree Torres, ENL teacher and 6th Grade Team Lead at Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health and Science Charter School in New York. “The boost to their self-esteem when we conference about their exam results is priceless. Each and every student improves with the SIPPS program.”

Kevin is a forward-thinking media executive with more than 25 years of experience building brands and audiences online, in print, and face to face. He is an acclaimed writer, editor, and commentator covering the intersection of society and technology, especially education technology. You can reach Kevin at KevinHogan@eschoolnews.com

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March 7, 2025
What works for leadership in higher education now?
We all know higher education has undergone a seismic shift from being a stable, traditional environment in the late twentieth century to a dynamic, complex and fast-moving sector. This transformation isn’t only in the UK – it’s global as well.

Leaders in higher education are now tasked with navigating political and regulatory changes, financial pressures, shifts in social dynamics and technological advancements. And that’s before they are faced with enhancement challenges like building student experience initiatives or boosting research impact.

In the past, leadership has perhaps been viewed as something of an anathema in academia, but its importance today permeates every level of an organisation. It is now a crucial component in the higher education sector’s efforts to successfully navigate current challenges.

We’ve created the Framework for Leading in Higher Education to address these multifaceted issues which can’t be left to executive teams alone. What’s needed most is a joined-up approach, engaging formal and informal leaders right across the institution. The mission, vision and values need to feel intuitive and fitting, so that, in an ideal world, everyone would want to frame their actions around the strategic plans to meet them and to feel part of the bigger picture. And this alignment must be two-way, fostering a sense of ownership and inclusivity, whether it’s about building inclusive cultures or understanding financial imperatives.

The journey to the framework

The story of our framework began in 2021 when Doug Parkin, former Principal Consultant at Advance HE and a research team led by Richard Watermeyer from the University of Bristol asked a deceptively simple question: “what works for leadership in higher education?” This question sparked a literature search and a scoping study, engaging leaders at all levels and functions from around the world. This was followed by Advance HE’s Leadership Survey, published in 2023.

After the report’s publication, we convened a rather brilliant steering group of colleagues from the UK, Australia and the Middle East, chaired by Ben Calvert, vice chancellor at the University of South Wales, and Shân Waring, vice chancellor at Middlesex University. We engaged with the sector through roundtables and workshops in the UK, Australia and Southeast Asia initially, to understand if a framework was wanted and then to determine its details.

The desire for a framework was clear.

We heard repeatedly about the importance of elevating leadership as a career path alongside research or teaching and supporting learning. The need for a common understanding and vocabulary around higher education leadership came across loud and clear.

In the back of our minds throughout all of this was a sense of disconnection between people and institutions. A sense that, sometimes, leadership is like wading through treacle with an intensity of policies, regulations and workload holding us back from being the leaders that we want to be. Unfortunately, the framework can’t shift all the treacle, but it might help find some pathways through, help to join-up thinking across institutions and help us to make friends with the structures, strategies and resources that are needed to sustain the whole organisation.

Who’s it for?

The framework is designed for leaders, aspiring leaders and those involved in leadership and organisational development. It’s intended for a global audience, recognising the many ways to lead in higher education across diverse cultures, contexts, structures and institutions.

Leadership happens throughout an institution, and this framework enables engagement from leaders operating formally and informally, from institutional to individual contributors, and from aspiring leaders to highly experienced ones. It’s designed to be inclusive in terms of culture, geography, institution type, level of responsibility, experience, and function.

The framework explained

At the core of the framework are three sets of leadership attributes, encompassing “knowledge and understanding”, “values and mindsets”, and “skills and applications”. Each of these is broken down into five dimensions for deeper exploration.

Moving outward, the framework articulates the context in which the leader operates: place, people and practice. The outer ring, intentionally blurred to remind us that the lines between individual attributes, context and institutional goals are never clearly defined, and that disruption is most likely to occur in those grey zones.

We’ve then defined three essential functions of university leadership as:
1. Developing, defining, and operating within organisational culture, strategy and vision: recognising that these will undoubtedly shape you as a leader as they are shaped by you.
2. Achieving internal measurable outcomes: performance and quality, financial sustainability, employability, curriculum quality and relevance, student and staff attraction, retention, progression, partnerships and collaborations, research and knowledge exchange.
3. Generating impact on the external world: generating local growth, reputation, addressing and solving global problems, creating economic value, developing cultural capital, social mission and graduate impact.
You might be tempted to ask, “is everyone supposed to do all of that?” To which, thankfully, the answer is no.

This is an all-encompassing framework, and not all leaders will engage with every aspect. Less experienced leaders might focus on a few of the dimensions, while senior leaders might engage across all of them. Similarly, not everyone will be involved in every function of the outer circle, but everyone will be directly or indirectly involved in some aspects.

How to use the framework

Leaders seeking self-development might use the framework for individual reflection, considering their strengths and areas for development, and how their organisation’s people, places and practices support or impede their progress. New leaders might use the framework to understand leadership in the context of higher education, considering their strengths and experiences, and how these contribute to the outer wheel’s functions. Leaders preparing for promotion might reflect on past impacts, connect them to leadership attributes, and identify further development needs.

Team leaders and leadership developers might assess team strengths and attributes, understand how context shapes performance, and use the framework for future-focused conversations. Institutions might use this framework to inform their own context-specific leadership frameworks and development programs.

Organisation development and learning and development professionals might consider the cultural and development needs of their leaders, ideally in consultation with them, to determine necessary structures and interventions for succession planning or responding to change initiatives.

What’s next?

We’ll be launching the framework over several months, with podcasts, interviews, seminars and workshops in the UK, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

We want the sector to experiment, test it out, and help us shape it into something that will have a lasting impact. In the future, we’re looking at building accreditation to recognise those leading in higher education, similar to how we currently recognise those in teaching and supporting learning with the Professional Standards Framework.

We welcome thoughts, suggestions and feedback on this as well. And if you are involved in research activities in this area, we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Find out more about the Framework for Leading in Higher Education.
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February 13, 2025
Becoming a professional services researcher in HE – making the train tracks converge
by Charlotte Verney

This blog builds on my presentation at the BERA ECR Conference 2024: at crossroads of becoming. It represents my personal reflections of working in UK higher education (HE) professional services roles and simultaneously gaining research experience through a Masters and Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD).

Professional service roles within UK HE include recognised professionals from other industries (eg human resources, finance, IT) and HE-specific roles such as academic quality, research support and student administration. Unlike academic staff, professional services staff are not typically required, or expected, to undertake research, yet many do. My own experience spans roles within six universities over 18 years delivering administration and policy that supports learning, teaching and students.

Traversing two tracks

In 2016, at an SRHE Newer Researchers event, I was asked to identify a metaphor to reflect my experience as a practitioner researcher. I chose this image of two train tracks as I have often felt that I have been on two development tracks simultaneously – one building professional experience and expertise, the other developing research skills and experience. These tracks ran in parallel, but never at the same pace, occasionally meeting on a shared project or assignment, and then continuing on their separate routes. I use this metaphor to share my experiences, and three phases, of becoming a professional services researcher.

Becoming research-informed: accelerating and expanding my professional track

The first phase was filled with opportunities; on my professional track I gained a breadth of experience, a toolkit of management and leadership skills, a portfolio of successful projects and built a strong network through professional associations (eg AHEP). After three years, I started my research track with a masters in international higher education. Studying felt separate to my day job in academic quality and policy, but the assignments gave me opportunities to bring the tracks together, using research and theory to inform my practice – for example, exploring theoretical literature underpinning approaches to assessment whilst my institution was revising its own approach to assessing resits. I felt like a research-informed professional, and this positively impacted my professional work, accelerating and expanding my experience.

Becoming a doctoral researcher: long distance, slow speed

The second phase was more challenging. My doctoral journey was long, taking 9 years with two breaks. Like many part-time doctoral students, I struggled with balance and support, with unexpected personal and professional pressures, and I found it unsettling to simultaneously be an expert in my professional context yet a novice in research. I feared failure, and damaging my professional credibility as I found my voice in a research space.

What kept me going, balancing the two tracks, was building my own research support network and my researcher identity. Some of the ways I did this was through zoom calls with EdD peers for moral support, joining the Society for Research into Higher Education to find my place in the research field, and joining the editorial team of a practitioner journal to build my confidence in academic writing.

Becoming a professional services researcher: making the tracks converge

Having completed my doctorate in 2022, I’m now actively trying to bring my professional and research tracks together. Without a roadmap, I’ve started in my comfort-zone, sharing my doctoral research in ‘safe’ policy and practitioner spaces, where I thought my findings could have the biggest impact. I collaborated with EdD peers to tackle the daunting task of publishing my first article. I’ve drawn on my existing professional networks (ARC, JISC, QAA) to establish new research initiatives related to my current practice in managing assessment. I’ve made connections with fellow professional services researchers along my journey, and have established an online network to bring us together.

Key takeaways for professional services researchers

Bringing my professional experience and research tracks together has not been without challenges, but I am really positive about my journey so far, and for the potential impact professional services researchers could have on policy and practice in higher education. If you are on your own journey of becoming a professional services researcher, my advice is:
- Make time for activities that build your research identity
- Find collaborators and a community
- Use your professional experience and networks
- It’s challenging, but rewarding, so keep going!
Charlotte Verney is Head of Assessment at the University of Bristol. Charlotte is an early career researcher in higher education research and a leader in within higher education professional services. Her primary research interests are in the changing nature of administrative work within universities, using research approaches to solve professional problems in higher education management, and using creative and collaborative approaches to research. Charlotte advocates for making the academic research space more inclusive for early career and professional services researchers. She is co-convenor of the SRHE Newer Researchers Network and has established an online network for higher education professional services staff engaged with research.

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Categories: Higher Education, Quality, Standards, Performance, Evaluation, Research | Tags: Assessment, Challenges for HE researchers, doctoral education, doctoral study, Early Career Researchers, Journals, practitioner research, professional development, professional identity, professional services | Permalink.

Author: SRHE News Blog

An international learned society, concerned with supporting research and researchers into Higher Education
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January 31, 2025
Five Resources to Level Up Supervisor Training and Leadership Development – CUPA-HR

by Julie Burrell | July 2, 2024

Supervisor training and leadership development are top priorities for HR — and it’s no wonder why. Skilled supervisors are critical to increasing employees’ job satisfaction. A solid leadership pipeline ensures that both institutional knowledge and talented employees remain at a college or university. And higher ed employees have a strong desire for professional and leadership development, which affects how they view their jobs.

How can institutions support supervisors and those who might move into that role? How can HR mitigate supervisor burnout? What about encouraging career development for employees who want a more fulfilling role, but not necessarily as a supervisor? Several higher ed HR practitioners have shared with CUPA-HR how they are tackling these common challenges.

10 Roadblocks to Supervision (and How to Surpass Them) (Watch Now) and Roadblocks to Supervision: Clearing a Path for Peer-To-Supervisors, New Supervisors and Hybrid Team Supervisors (Read Now)

While it might be evident that a supervisor is struggling, diagnosing the reason why is more complex. That’s exactly what this pair of valuable resources is designed to help with. Based on supervisor trainings at the University of North Carolina System, this webinar and companion article break down supervisor struggles into an adaptable list of roadblocks that prevent supervisors from flourishing. These range from interpersonal skills (such as misaligned communication styles), to systemic workload issues (supervisors being too busy), to communication across divisions (leaving HR out of the loop when a problem arises).

Building Leaders From Within: UT Rio Grande Valley Blends Leadership Development With a Master’s in Higher Ed Administration (Read Now)

The need for an internal talent pipeline at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was clear. So was the need to retain valuable employees, who sought career development opportunities. (The desire for promotion or more responsibility is the third most-cited reason for higher ed employees seeking new jobs.) To address both challenges, HR teamed up with administrative and academic leadership to create an innovative — and mostly free — Master of Arts in higher education administration program for current employees. Learn how they built and executed this initiative, which welcomed 100 employees over the past few years.

BRIGHT Leaders Program at UT Dallas (Watch Now)

Recipient of the 2023 CUPA-HR Innovation Award, the BRIGHT Leaders program at the University of Texas at Dallas speaks to the needs of today’s employees, who desire flexible professional development programs. This webinar explains how BRIGHT Leaders encourages everyone on campus to lead from where they are. UT Dallas’s “all-access pass” model means any employee can take any leadership training session at any time. No matter their position or leadership level, all staff and faculty (and even students) are welcome to attend, and there’s no selective process that limits participation.

Investing in People: How to Create a Coaching Culture on Your Campus (Read Now)

Gone are the days when coaching was either for executives only or a remedy for poor performance. In fact, coaching can increase employee engagement and job satisfaction as well as boost retention and job performance. But coaching looks different from campus to campus. This article delves into how three institutions — Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the University of California, Berkeley — created cultures of coaching on their campuses. This data-driven resource not only outlines these unique coaching programs, but also offers resources and tips to help you convince leadership that coaching is an essential element of creating future leaders.

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July 2, 2024
How Three Institutions Built Winning Retention Programs – CUPA-HR
by Julie Burrell | May 21, 2024

New CUPA-HR data show some improvement in turnover in the higher ed workforce, but staffing hasn’t fully bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. Managers still face challenges filling positions and maintaining morale, while employees are seeking jobs where their satisfaction and well-being are prioritized.

CUPA-HR’s recent webinar offers solutions that may move the needle on employee retention. Retaining Talent: Effective Employee Retention Strategies From Three Institutions brings together HR pros who showcase their high-impact, cost-effective approaches to increasing satisfaction and well-being, including:
- Professional development programs driven by employees’ interests
- Effective supervisor-employee communication, including stay interviews
- Actionable campus climate surveys using liaisons
- Mentoring programs and leadership pipelines
- Recognition programs and community-building events
- Employee Resource Groups to enhance belonging
Here are some of the highlights from their programs.

Stay Interviews at Drake University

A stay interview is a structured, informal conversation between an employee and a trained supervisor — and can be key to retaining top talent. Maureen De Armond, executive director of human resources at Drake, considers stay interviews to be a critical tool that nevertheless go underused in higher ed. Overall, only 8% of employees stated that they participated in a stay interview in the past year, according to The CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey.

De Armond stresses that stay interviews can build trust, increase communication, and show that you care about employees as people, not just their job performance. If you’re looking to get started, De Armond recommends checking out the Stay Interviews Toolkit.

Actionable Climate Surveys at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

What’s worse than not conducting a climate survey? Not doing anything with the answers employees have taken the time to provide, says Nicole Englitsch, organizational development manager at UTRGV. To make surveys actionable, they’ve enlisted campus climate liaisons.

These liaisons, who are mostly HR professionals, are assigned to specific departments. The liaisons have been trained by their external survey partners to help their departments understand the results and engage in action planning, guided by a three-year timeline. This network of partners helps ensure that UTRGV’s goals of making survey results both transparent and actionable are achieved.

For more on their employee engagement and retention efforts, see Building Leaders From Within: UT Rio Grande Valley Blends Leadership Development With a Master’s in Higher Ed Administration.

Recognition and Community-Building at Rollins College

How can institutions create a culture of belonging and valuing employees? David Zajchowski, director of human resources at Rollins, explains how their high-impact recognition and community-building programs range from informal coffee-and-doughnuts gatherings to special awards ceremonies for employees.

Probably the most popular way of valuing employees while increasing connection is Rollins’s annual Fox Day. On a random day in spring, the president surprises employees and students with a day off from work and class to participate in community-building college traditions.

Despite the effectiveness of employee recognition, many employers may be leaving this low-cost retention incentive on the table, as only 59% of higher ed employees said they received regular verbal recognition for their work in the Employee Retention Survey. Wondering how your employee recognition program stacks up? See a comparison of recognition programs and take a self-assessment here.

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May 21, 2024
UT Dallas’s BRIGHT Leaders Program: An All-Access Approach to Leadership Training and Career Development

In 2020, the human resources team at the University of Texas at Dallas was set to launch its leadership and professional development program, the culmination of 18 months of dedicated work. As the pandemic took hold, the question confronting Colleen Dutton, chief human resources officer, and her team was, “Now what do we do?” In their recent webinar for CUPA-HR, Dutton and Jillian McNally, a talent development specialist, explained how their COVID-19 pivot was a blessing in disguise, helping them completely reconstruct leadership training from the ground up.

The resulting, reimagined program — BRIGHT Leaders — received a 2023 CUPA-HR Innovation Award for groundbreaking thinking in higher ed HR. BRIGHT Leaders speaks to the needs of today’s employees, who desire professional development programs that are flexible and encourages everyone on campus to lead from where they are.

An All-Access Pass for Career Development

UTD innovated by first addressing the needs of remote and hybrid employees. Recognizing that “our workforce was never going to be the same after COVID,” Dutton says, they transformed their original plan from an in-person, cohort model into an accessible, inclusive training program they call an “all-access pass.” Any employee can take any leadership training session at any time. No matter their position or leadership level, all staff and faculty (and even students) are welcome to attend, and there’s no selective process that limits participation.

Their new, all-access approach inspired a mantra within HR: “Organizations that treat every employee as a leader create the best leaders and the best cultures.” This open-access philosophy means that parking attendants and vice presidents might be in the same leadership development session. Employees attend trainings on their own schedules, whether on their smart phones or at their home office. UTD also offers three self-paced pathways — Foundations, Leadership and Supervisor Essentials, and Administrative Support Essentials — that employees can complete to earn a digital badge. They’re also encouraged to leverage this training when applying to open positions on campus.

Some of the Microsoft Teams-based programs UTD established in their first year include: Lessons from Leaders series, BRIGHT Leaders Book Club and Teaching Leadership Compassion (TLC). They also partner with e-learning companies to supplement their internal training materials.

Dutton and McNally note that sessions don’t always have to be conducted by HR. Campus partners are encouraged to lead trainings that fall within the BRIGHT framework: Bold, Responsible, Inclusive, Growing, High Performing and Transformative. For example, an upcoming book club will be led by a team consisting of the dean of engineering and the athletic director.

Making UTD an Employer of Choice

In line with UTD’s commitment to workplace culture, the BRIGHT Leaders program speaks to the needs of a changing workforce. Early-career professionals don’t want to wait five years to be eligible for leadership training, Dutton stresses. “They want access to these leadership opportunities and trainings now.”

UTD’s flexible professional development training approach helps confront a concerning trend: almost half of higher ed employees (44%) surveyed in The CUPA-HR 2023 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey disagree that they have opportunities for advancement, and one-third (34%) do not believe that their institution invests in their career development. Offering robust, flexible professional development and leadership opportunities is part of UTD’s commitment to be an employer of choice in North Texas.

For more specifics on the BRIGHT Leaders program, view the recorded webinar. You’ll learn how HR built cross-campus partnerships, how they’ve measured their return on investment and how they’re building on their successes to train future leaders.

The post UT Dallas’s BRIGHT Leaders Program: An All-Access Approach to Leadership Training and Career Development appeared first on CUPA-HR.

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March 20, 2024