In-School Teacher Training That Supports and Engages All Students

In-school teacher training can be one of the most effective tools a school has for creating meaningful and lasting instructional change. But we all know that for professional learning to truly support and engage all students, it must do more than introduce new strategies. It needs to build teachers’ confidence, deepen their instructional skill sets, and reflect the news of their students they teach every day.

In today’s classrooms—where linguistic, cultural, and academic diversity is the norm and differentiation is essential—teachers need professional learning that is practical, inclusive, and grounded in equity. That’s where in-school teacher training can shine: it’s rooted in the day-to-day of your classrooms and built around the needs of your students.

Let’s explore how in-school teacher training creates the conditions for every student to thrive.

In-School Teacher Training: Grounded in Real Classrooms, Not Generalizations

Unlike off-site workshops that offer one-size-fits-all solutions, in-school teacher training is uniquely positioned to offer PD that’s timely, relevant, and tailored. It happens where teaching happens. In our experience that means it can more easily align with your school’s pacing, instructional goals, and student population. A resource or student artifact can be easily brought to the PD ahead of time or can be quickly retrieved to deepen the conversations in the moment.

At Dataspire, we believe every school is unique. We co-design every session with leadership and teachers, so our training reflects your local context, interests, and needs. This might mean unpacking assessment data from your most recent benchmark, modeling strategies to better leverage teaching data skills in your school’s adopted curriculum, or adapting digital data tools that support your multilingual learners. When teachers see themselves and their students in PD, they’re more likely to have fun and transfer what we’ve explored and discussed into their instruction.

Reaching All Learners Through Differentiated Instruction

To effectively engage all students, teachers need strategies that honor the full spectrum of learners in their classrooms. This means helping educators design instruction that supports multilingual learners, students with IEPs, and those performing above or below grade level—all within the same lesson. We find that in-school teacher training offers an ideal environment to model and practice differentiation in real time.

During our sessions, we support educators to:

• Break down data interpretation tasks into manageable steps
  
• Use visual supports, sentence frames, and discussion scaffolds during graphing activities to deepen the learning
  
• Offer multiple ways for students to make their thinking visible
  
• Design data-rich learning experiences with tiered supports based on student readiness
  

These approaches are grounded in research on universal design for learning (UDL) and formative assessment (see: CAST UDL Guidelines and work by Dylan Wiliam, Shirley Clarke, and Margaret Heritage on formative assessment). Teachers leave with concrete strategies they can use the next day—and the confidence to adjust them for their students as they bring them into their classrooms.

Making Data Literacy Culturally Responsive

Data is not neutral. Every dataset reflects choices—what gets collected, how it’s presented, and whose experiences are represented or omitted in the stories told with the data. In-school teacher training creates space for teachers to engage in these critical conversations and apply them to their practice.

We support educators to explore:

• Whose data we prioritize, why, and what is missing
  
• How to integrate local, community, or student-generated data
  
• The ways that graphs and visuals shape perceptions, narratives, and assumptions
  

This builds on the work of Gholnecsar Muhammad ("Cultivating Genius") as well as work around equity in data and STEM. When teachers integrate culturally relevant data into their instruction, students are more likely to see their identities reflected in the work—and engage more deeply as a result. This connection also enhances students’ critical thinking skills.

Boosting Student Engagement with Real-World Data

High engagement and long term learning doesn’t come from flashy tech or catchy materials—it comes from students doing work that feels real, relevant, and meaningful to them. It’s about students being actively involved in solving problems, investigating real-world issues, and applying what they’ve learned.

In our in-school teacher training sessions—like Data Literacy Basics or Advanced Data Literacy—educators explore ways to:

• Create or connect graphing and other data-rich tasks connected to current events or student interests
  
• Facilitate collaborative inquiry into authentic datasets no matter where students are in their journey of data exploration skills
  
• Use digital tools like CODAP, DataClassroom, or Tuva to support interactive data exploration
  

Teachers leave not just with new materials they can use the very next day—but also the confidence to adapt them for their students and the mindset that data can be playful, empowering, and student-driven. This reflects recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences and what we have all experienced from productive sessions ourselves.

Supporting Teachers with a Sustainable Approach

Lasting impact comes from ongoing support, not one-off sessions or one PD session. In-school training is ideal for building long-term capacity within a school or district that grows with your educators and students. It can evolve with your staff, respond to real-time challenges, and offer continuity over time.

We often recommend:

• A full-day PD session followed by shorter, grade-band meet-up sessions
  
• A 3-hour workshop paired with coaching or collaborative planning
  
• A teacher professional development series that scaffolds data skills over 6–12 weeks
  

This rhythm—learn, try, reflect, revisit—is what sustains growth. It gives teachers space to test new strategies, troubleshoot challenges, and celebrate what’s working.

What Happens When We Prioritize Equity + Engagement in PD?

When schools invest in in-school teacher training that is equity-centered, practical, and rooted in the classroom, they create a ripple effect:

• Students see themselves in the data, stories they construct, and content they study
• Teachers grow in confidence and a have a deeper sense of purpose
• Instruction becomes more inclusive, more responsive, and more effective
  

This is the kind of professional learning that transforms schools.

Want to bring meaningful, inclusive training to your school?
Explore our In-School Trainings and schedule a Discovery Call to learn more.