by Sarah B. Ottow

After years of working alongside teachers, coaches, school leaders, and districts, I have become even more convinced of this: professional learning works best when it is not treated as just an episodic event but a culture and a living practice over time.

Professional learning works when educators have the chance to engage with an idea over time. It works when they can try something in practice, reflect on it, and come back with new insight. Professional learning is grounded in the real, data-driven challenges of classrooms—not abstract theory, disconnected strategies, or a single afternoon of inspiration that never gets revisited. 

Recent national research reflects what many educators have experienced for years: collaborative, sustained professional learning is more useful than one-off workshops. (View this research report at: files.gao.gov)

I bring this perspective not only from the work I do now, but from having spent half my career as a teacher and as a school and district leader pre-founding Confianza. I know what it means to try to improve instruction from inside the real constraints educators face. I know the pressure schools are under to make learning meaningful, equitable, and effective—and how easy it is for professional learning to miss the mark when it is not connected to the day-to-day work.

What I have seen again and again is that educators do not need more information thrown at them. Educators need space to make sense of their practice as it relates to supporting students. They need support in noticing what is getting in the way of student access. They need practical ways to respond. And they need opportunities to do that work in conversation with others who are trying to improve instruction, too.

This is especially true when the goal is stronger instruction for multilingual learners/students learning in a new language. In my experience, that kind of growth does not come from a checklist or a one-time training. It comes from developing a sharper lens over time—one that helps educators see language, participation, and access more clearly inside everyday instruction.

The most meaningful professional learning I have been part of has always had a few things in common: it is relevant, ongoing, rooted in real classrooms, and supported by reflection and dialogue. Effective professional learning helps educators not just learn something new, but actually shift how they see and respond to what is happening for students.

That belief is shaping the work I am building for 2026–2027 at Confianza.

The offerings I am developing are designed to support that kind of growth: professional learning that is sustained, practical, and rooted in the real work of teaching and leading. Some opportunities will invite schools and districts into shared learning experiences. Others will support educators and leaders who want to go deeper and build lasting capacity. All of them are grounded in the same core belief: professional learning should help people change practice, not just consume ideas.

As I begin sharing more about what is ahead, that is the perspective (and research) behind it all.

What works in professional learning is more intentional seeing, stronger practice, and support that lasts long enough to matter for the students who need it the most.