Scaling Curriculum Based Professional Learning

Learnings and Insights

Actionable Insights & Learnings

This set of actionable insights draws directly from the Scaling Curriculum‑Based Professional Learning initiative—highlighting what’s been learned so far about forming and sustaining partnerships between curriculum publishers and professional learning providers. Organized by theme, the insights offer implications and actions needed for strengthening partnership development, enhancing adoption of high‑quality instructional materials and professional learning, building feedback loops, and shaping procurement and decision‑making processes to support sustainable scale across districts.

June 2025 Reporting Period

Alignment in theory, enabling conditions, strategy and intended impact of implementation support for teachers and leaders

Grounding in common language for how to refer to types of services, target audiences, and outcomes

Shared understanding of context and identified market needs

Publishers’ ability to articulate to current offerings and gaps needed for a partner to address

PL providers' stance on productization/standardization of services affects the design of bundled offerings

Transparency in organizations’ offerings and free exchange of information (e.g., demo, professional learning decks). NDA is key

Sharing of feedback on each other’s complementary products and services resulting in changes to current offerings

Shared understanding of roles and responsibilities for who is at the table promotes trust

Capacity to meet regularly and communicate between meetings

Prioritizing time and preparedness for partnership development critical to developing communication and trust (enabler)

Previous relationships and experience

Despite trust between individuals, minimal confidence among organizations is hindering ability to make decisions

Using data collected through digital versions of publisher platforms will be used to develop more targeted coaching supports for teachers

Partners have identified gaps in the publishers' PL support models and are exploring complementary service offerings

Partners recognize the potential of PL providers' technology enabled tools to reach more leaders and teachers

PL providers inability to explain how their services differ or offer a strategic advantage over other services hinders the development of unique value propositions for the field

Mature PL organizations have a more clear perspective on their IP

PL providers’ have concerns for protecting their IP used with AI tools and product development. Exploring the use of terms in business agreement to mitigate concerns.

Publishers and PL providers have varying perceptions around acceptable costs for PL services

Capacity to address pricing of professional learning services in a bundle varies across PL
Providers:

Ability to price components of the service as a “product”
Ability to scale costs up or down accordingly based on intensity and/or component of services
Ability to articulate value add to justify costs
Ability to get to affordable costs for LEAs (especially small) in absence of supplement funding; may lead to attrition
Willingness to adjust business model

Partners are exploring different models for single point of access within procurement of a co-branded bundled offering

Some partners are ok with co-selling but uneasy with one singular payment pathway with the LEA
Some partner are open to idea of one partner being the singular pathway payment with LEA and then having payment from respective partner

Shared interest among partners in exploring how to support districts to adjust procurement processes and timelines for a bundled offering

Sales team members drive the discussion to be concrete and specific to target market, however, there is a sweet spot in engaging them in process once an initial bundled offering is defined

PL providers inability to differentiate their services over other services hinders the development of unique selling points and planning the sales strategy

PL providers have a desire to stay curriculum neutral in generating pre sale leads creating challenge in particular for lead generation (i.e., prefer to offer a menu of curriculum adoptions)

Identifying incentive for sales team members from each partner to support bundled offering

Both partners are expressing concerns over ability of sales teams to sell specific, packaged services with the product.

Timeline barrier in recruiting for pilot in Fall

Leveraging current relationships and clients for potential pilots in target states initially

Dedicated staff to the partnership development process (each publisher has hired)

Capacity (time) to support # of identified partners in partnership process

Learnings

Enabler

Challenge

Sticking Point