Teachers Training Programs That Actually Stick: What to Look For

When schools and/or districts invest in teachers’ training programs, there is a clear goal: support educators in growing their skills, improving instruction, and positively impacting student outcomes. But let’s be honest—not all teacher training programs are created equal.

Some leave teachers feeling energized and equipped. Others? Not so much.

The differences largely lie in how a program is designed, delivered, and followed up. If you're an administrator or instructional coach evaluating professional development options, it’s worth asking: What makes teacher training actually stick?

Let’s dive into some of our thinking, and thus our approaches, that set a program up for success to lead to lasting change:

1. Hands-On, Not Sit-and-Get
2. Relevant to Content Areas and Standards
3. Supports the Full Teaching Cycle
4. Embedded Follow-Up for Participants
5. Leverages & Identifies Evidence of Impact

1. Hands-On, Not Sit-and-Get

No ifs, ands, or buts about it, passive sit-and-get workshops don’t work. 

Teachers (just like our students) don’t need a lecture—they need space to actively do the work: to engage with strategies, role model activities, try out tools, collaborate on how to apply new practices to their specific subject area and grade level, etc. In other words, actively engaging themselves as learners and preparing to teach it to their students.

Not surprisingly, we find this to be especially true when it comes to designing and facilitating effective teacher development workshops about data literacy. Therefore, we design our sessions so that educators have opportunities to:

• Analyze real-world datasets and authentic student work examples,
• Practice new data moves and using new teaching strategies in collaboration,
• Reflect with peers on their own learning, implementation planning, and troubleshooting classroom struggles.
  

When a training is hands-on and grounded in classroom realities, it’s more likely to cross over into our teacher practices and classroom instruction. And that is what we are after ;).

“Data presentation has become a non-issue in the classroom.  Students know how to assess the data in front of them and come to a conclusion about how to represent it graphically”
—Jacqueline, Science Teacher

2. Relevant to Content Areas and Standards

 Generic PD doesn’t meet the needs of real classrooms, and thus can leave many educators frustrated and feeling like it is a waste of their time. 

Teacher training programs are most successful when they’re tailored to the actual instructional goals of the educators or school initiative—whether that’s improving literacy, increasing inquiry-based learning, or boosting data literacy across content areas, or something else. The key is that the relevance is understood when designing and by the educators participating in the sessions.

 For example, a middle school science team might benefit from training on how to:

• Support students in creating data visualizations and making sense of them,
• Use graphing skills to explore and then analyze scientific data,
• Align their instruction with NGSS or state-level standards and real-world datasets.
  

Meanwhile, a high school social studies team may need support with:

• Teaching students to interpret real-world data sets as it relates to social implications,
• Using graphs to spark historical inquiry,
• Encouraging civic engagement and/or financial literacy through data analysis.
  

Ideally a program doesn’t just check a box, but truly meets your team where they are and supports them in taking the next steps in relevant ways to their classrooms.

3. Supports the Full Teaching Cycle

Effective training programs don’t stop with a one-off strategy or quick trick. They support the entire cycle of teaching: from planning, to instruction, to assessment, to reflection, and then to planning again.

We find this is especially important when building teacher confidence in data literacy or graphing instruction—areas that often feel overwhelming or under-supported. A strong data-rich program will help teachers across the sessions to:

• Design clear data-focused learning goals,
• Identify research-based instructional strategies and/or tools to integrate into the existing curriculum,
• Develop ways for educators to assess students’ skills or thinking about the data topics related to the learning goals,
• Use student work to determine what students understand and are struggling with, to guide re-teaching or next steps in the instruction.
  

Dataspire’s approach, for instance, includes tools like assessment rubrics, student samples, and differentiated strategies that help teachers move beyond immediately jumping from an initial observation into an action, but rather ensuring that those actions are grounded in a sense of what students actually need.

4. Embedded Follow-Up for Participants

One of the biggest reasons why new teaching strategies fail to stick? Lack of follow-up. A new teaching strategy is like any new habit we are forming. We need a plan and a way to go about it, but also we all benefit from some accountability and follow-up to check-in about how it is going.

This is why even the most engaging in the moment teacher professional development sessions often can fade from our everyday practices if there is not continued support. Therefore, look for programs that include:

• Ongoing coaching or check-ins, or
• Access to asynchronous resources, and definitely
• Opportunities for peer collaboration or feedback.
  

These touchpoints create accountability, spark continued learning, and help educators feel supported as they implement new approaches in their classrooms. It also helps us all not feel like we are carrying the work alone, but rather there can be camaraderie in sharing successes and setbacks with one another along the way to integrating the new strategies and practices into our teaching.

5. Leverages & Identifies Evidence of Impact

Before investing in a teachers training program, it’s worth asking:

• What outcomes have past schools seen?
• How is success measured?
• Are there examples of teacher or student growth?

 Whether it’s increased use of the instructional strategies discussed, higher-quality student work, or improved confidence among teachers (ideally all three), impactful programs will have concrete evidence that they make a difference. Ask for it.

What Sets Dataspire Apart

At Dataspire, our in-school training programs are designed by educators, for educators. We know that teaching data and graphing skills can be a challenge—especially when very few of us received specific training in data ourselves and/or in how to teach students how to work with and make sense of data..

That’s why our sessions focus on:

• Real classroom examples across science, math, social studies, and interdisciplinary instruction,
• Scaffolded approaches for building student data literacy over time that is tied to building their data skills while teaching them our content area, and 
• Tools educators can implement immediately into their classrooms no matter what curriculum they are using.
  

Whether you choose a single workshop or a full teacher development series, our goal is the same: equip educators to feel confident teaching data, and help students thrive in a data-rich world.

Final Thought: Lasting PD Is Intentional PD

The best professional development doesn’t overwhelm teachers with theory. It meets them where they are, honors their expertise, supports them in growing stronger instructional practices over time, and guides them along that path.

 So the next time you evaluate teachers training programs, ask:

• Will this training feel relevant to my team?
• Will teachers leave with resources they’ll actually use?
• Will this support student learning in a measurable way?
  

If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track.

 Interested in training that sticks?
Explore our in-school workshops and find the right fit for your teachers:
 Visit Our Training Page