Let’s reimagine professional development as a driver of equity and impact. In 2023, the DC Special Education Cooperative’s ALL IN summit brought together educators, families, students, and community partners from 27 charter networks. United by a shared goal to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, participants identified systemic barriers, shared promising solutions, and committed to collective action. A follow-up report captured key insights and posed critical questions to guide meaningful change. The Co-op has since grounded its work in those findings, using them to shape a bold new approach to professional development that centers those most impacted.
Summit participants and Co-op stakeholders overwhelmingly identified the importance of meaningful and thoughtfully executed professional development as key to ensuring that staff who support students with disabilities can be successful. With this in mind, the Co-op has partnered with three schools to reimagine professional development and deliver improved outcomes for staff and students. Through an OSSE SOAR grant, the Co-op has facilitated teacher and student focus groups, joined school leaders during instructional walkthroughs and conducted student surveys with our partners in order to create comprehensive needs assessments that have yielded invaluable data. This data will inform Professional Development planning, facilitate teacher by-in, and drive PD practices that are highly informed by those whom it directly impacts.
During this process, partner school administrators noticed opportunities to support teachers with differentiated support and in responses to focus group questions, teachers suggested improvements to professional learning such as having more follow-up from coaches after PD sessions, having professional development opportunities with multiple means of engagement, and having structured time to observe and learn from fellow teachers. Students also contributed their suggestions on school improvement via focus groups; sharing that they would like more opportunities to work in small groups, that they appreciate when teachers can gamify learning, and the desire to beautify their learning environments by having more plants in their classrooms.
Partner school leaders were asked to share their experiences working with the Co-op during the first year of this project. Below are some insights from the team at Early Childhood Academy.
What aspects of the needs based assessment phase of the project have been most impactful for you?
The most impactful aspect for me has been the student voice survey. Hearing directly from students about their experiences, challenges, and what helps them learn best has been eye-opening. It shifted my perspective and reminded me how powerful it is to center student voices in our improvement efforts. Their honest feedback helped identify areas where instruction and support systems needed to be more inclusive and responsive.
How has your work with the Co-op specific to professional development planning impacted your practice as an educator?
As a literacy coach, working with the Co-op through this SOAR grant is supporting my ability to support both general and special education teachers in meeting the needs of diverse learners. It deepened my understanding of how to adapt core literacy instruction using evidence-based interventions that benefit all students, especially those with learning differences. I look forward to being able to facilitate more meaningful PLC discussions by integrating strategies that are both inclusive and grounded in the science of reading. This collaboration is strengthening the bridge between literacy instruction and special education support. I am excited about providing more targeted, data-informed coaching across grade levels.
What have you enjoyed about working with the Co-op on this project?
I’ve truly enjoyed the collaborative nature of the work with the Co-op. You brought in targeted expertise, supported our goals with high-quality resources, and created a judgment-free environment for learning and growing. It has been refreshing to work with a team that understands our unique school context and adapts its approach to meet our needs.
What outcomes are you looking forward to as a result of the work you are doing with the Co-op?
I am hoping to have targeted professional development for our special and general education teachers, a systematic way in how we approach data as a leadership team and school, and have insights into how we can maximize our resources to accommodate our growing population.
The Co-op is excited to develop reimagined PD plans with our partner schools. Effective professional development is a powerful tool to create lasting, positive changes in the way that we support our teachers and students. Through our partnerships on this important work, we expect to see improved outcomes for students with disabilities and our partner schools.