What We’re Hearing from Professional Learning Leaders This Fall

Every month, we gather professional learning leaders from GOA member schools for a 45-minute conversation. They are academic deans, directors of teaching and learning, and associate heads, from schools across the globe. We bring a few questions, they bring their real work, and everyone jumps in.

After two sessions this fall, a clear picture is emerging of what school leaders are facing right now. Just as clear is what happens when they get to work through it together.

Almost every leader we talk with names time as the biggest barrier to professional growth. Calendars are full. Teachers say they want flexible, on-their-own-time PD. Then the curated newsletters and resource roundups that leaders work hard to build sometimes go unopened.

Rather than adding more, schools are fitting learning into the time they already have. We heard about short bursts of PD built into division meetings, 15-minute classroom exchanges between colleagues, and peer-based pilots where teachers choose learning walks, a day shadowing a colleague, or an article study around a shared question.

One school worked out a smart move: it separates compliance from growth. Policy updates and required trainings moved to a weekly late start, so PD days can focus on teacher learning. Another school won six dedicated PD days after a schedule audit. It is now learning a second lesson: when you finally have the time, people watch closely how it’s used. Protecting time is half the work. Using it in ways teachers find meaningful is the other half.

Leaders are moving away from one-size-fits-all themes and compliance-style goal setting. Instead, they’re building pathways teachers can enter at their own level, often starting with reflection questions about where they are and what they want to explore.

They’re also being honest about what choice requires. Some teachers want clear direction. Others just need a prompt. Several leaders described treating “tell me what to do” as a starting point and building toward more self-direction from there.

Last year, the AI conversation centered on student policies or guidelines. This fall, it has turned toward faculty.

Students are noticing how their teachers use AI, and they want feedback that clearly comes from a person who read their work. As a result, schools are defining norms for teacher use. They’re keeping a human voice in teaching, grading, and communication, and protecting student data when enthusiastic teachers reach for tools the school hasn’t approved.

Many schools are choosing guiding principles or position statements over rigid policy, and revisiting them regularly as the tools change. Some are adopting existing frameworks rather than building their own from scratch. Others are bringing student voice into faculty conversations. Leaders also stressed taking a no-shame approach: everyone, leaders included, will make mistakes with AI, and the goal is to learn from them in the open. Looking ahead, there’s strong interest in practical, behind-the-scenes uses, such as data analysis, that free up more time for students and colleagues.

What stands out most in these sessions is the quality of the learning. School leaders bring artifacts: PD calendars, unconference plans, educator competency frameworks, and the problems they’re working through right now. A leader stuck on an overstuffed opening-week schedule hears from three peers who have wrestled with the same thing, and leaves with ideas to try. 

This kind of learning works because it’s grounded in real contexts. A leader in one region sees their own challenge in a school across an ocean and realizes they aren’t alone. Ideas move between schools as people try them, and the group asks questions before offering advice.

You don’t need a formal program to start. Find a few thoughtful colleagues, at your school or at schools you admire, and set aside regular time to talk honestly about what’s working and what isn’t. Bring something real to share. Ask what others are trying. Listen for the ideas that would never have come up inside your own building.

At GOA, we’re building these spaces on purpose. Our PL Leaders Roundtable brings professional learning leads together each month, and our Coaching Commons gathers a small cohort of middle leaders across the year to coach one another’s work on assessment and feedback in the age of AI. These opportunities are open to educators and leaders at GOA member schools, and there’s more to come. Stay in touch with us to hear about what’s next. We’d love to learn alongside you.