How often does a teacher leave a professional development session with a page of notes and several worthwhile ideas, only to return to a classroom where the immediate demands of the day crowd out every intention to use them? The problem is not necessarily the quality of the session or the commitment of the teacher. Often, the learning done in isolation is separated from the decisions the teacher must make with actual students. Information is delivered in one setting. Application is expected in another. This expectation of using what they heard usually happens without enough space and time to build the procedural knowledge needed to implement the practice, gather evidence, or talk with someone about what happened.

The Learning Hub, powered by Marzano Academies, is designed to help close that distance. The Hub is more than access to resources. It lets teachers use the resources as they work through their current problem of practice. Through repeated cycles of inquiry, action, feedback, and adjustment, they can improve the learner’s experience across the school. The tools within the Learning Hub help shift professional learning from a conversation about general concerns to an examination of evidence from their classrooms. The expertise of others, like Dr. Marzano, strengthens capacity within the school rather than creating continued dependence on someone outside it.

Andragogy: Beginning With the Adult Learner

Malcolm Knowles used the term andragogy to describe the assumptions that should guide adult education. Adults want to understand why something matters. They bring experience that shapes how they interpret new ideas, and they are often most ready to learn when the learning helps them address an immediate problem. They also tend to value self-direction and practical application (Knowles et al., 2020). These assumptions, however, do not mean every adult wants to work alone or choose every aspect of the learning. Merriam (2001) cautioned against treating andragogy as a complete explanation of how all adults learn. Just as students vary in motivation to learn, adults do, too. The context in which they learn, the prior knowledge they bring to the learning experience, the organization's cultural approach to continuous improvement, and the demands of the learning task still matter. Andragogy should be thought of as a set of design considerations. Professional learning should respect what educators already know, clarify the purpose, and let them work on problems that matter to the students in front of them, while establishing a culture of “We are not perfect teachers, yet our learners deserve better than good enough.”

This is where the different parts of the Learning Hub can work together to support just-in-time, job-embedded professional learning. Improvement begins when the teaching team asks, “What is happening in our classrooms that we want to understand and improve?” The team identifies the relevant element of instruction and uses the Folio to begin researching practices intended to improve the learner’s experience in their classrooms. The teaching team can study that element more closely by using the performance scale and evidence of desired effects found in the Folio. The teacher's experience and knowledge of their students and understanding of the local curriculum remain part of the learning and shape how a strategy should be used. The Folio supplies a research-based frame, not a script that makes professional judgment unnecessary.

Job-Embedded Learning Is a Cycle, Not a Location

Job-embedded professional development is grounded in the day-to-day work of teaching and learning while being directed toward improving instructional practice and the learner’s experience (Croft et al., 2010). The term is sometimes used loosely. It does not mean a teacher reads an article during a planning period and then is asked about it at an upcoming faculty meeting. Job-embedded learning about teaching practices must connect to the work of teaching itself as it happens.

A Marzano Academies Research Folio becomes job-embedded when a teacher reads it with tomorrow's lesson, current student work, or a recurring instructional problem in mind. A coaching session with a Marzano Academies faculty member becomes job-embedded when the conversation centers on what learners were asked to do, how they responded, and what the teacher might adjust based on the evidence received. The Badging Experience becomes job-embedded when the application of knowledge in Level 2 of the experience comes from authentic classroom use rather than an exercise completed apart from students.

Webster-Wright (2009) argued for a shift away from thinking primarily about delivering professional development and toward supporting professionals’ authentic learning.

Research on effective professional learning consistently points toward this kind of connection. Researchers have identified several core features: a focus on relevant content and teaching practice, active participation, coherence with a school’s larger goals, sustained learning over time, and opportunities for educators to learn with colleagues (Desimone, 2009; Garet et al., 2001). A review by Darling-Hammond, Hyler, and Gardner (2017) also emphasized the use of models of effective practice, access to coaching or expert support, opportunities for feedback and reflection, and sustained duration. Within the Learning Hub, the Marzano Academies Instructional Model, grounded in decades of research by Dr. Robert Marzano, provides the shared model of practice around which educators can organize their learning (Marzano Academies, 2022). The Coaching Series and the Office-hour Bundles allow for feedback and reflection of current practices. The Badging Experiences provide active participation in building classroom practices around a specific design area within the instructional model.

How the Parts of the Hub Work Together

Self-assessment locates the starting point.

The self-assessments of instructional strategies help a teacher examine current practice before choosing a goal. This matters because adult learners do not enter professional learning as blank slates. A first-year teacher and a teacher with twenty years of experience may be working on the same instructional element, yet need different kinds of support. The self-assessment gives each teacher a way to identify what is already in place and what would represent meaningful growth.

Folios deepen the knowledge needed to make a sound decision.

The research folio for each element of the instructional model is more than a list of practices or strategies. It explains the practice, describes what effective use can look like, identifies teacher actions and student responses, and provides a performance scale for the teacher to use to consider their level of implementation. This helps a teacher move beyond asking, “Do I use this strategy?” to “What effect should this strategy have, and what evidence would tell me whether students are experiencing it?”

The self-assessment tool and the Folios are available to all with a minimal monthly subscription fee to the Learning Lab.

Badging provides a disciplined pathway for application.

A badging experience can organize professional learning around a clear goal, classroom application, evidence, and feedback. The badge has value because it represents demonstrated expertise, not because a teacher moved through a collection of materials. When teachers study an element, plan its use, collect evidence from practice, and explain their decisions, they are making their professional knowledge visible. The completed badge can also help a school identify teachers who are ready to support colleagues in a particular area of instruction. Visit the Badging Experience page for more information.

Coaching supports interpretation and adaptation.

Classroom evidence rarely explains itself. A strategy may work well with some students and not with others. A teacher may implement the visible steps of a routine while missing the principle that makes it effective. Coaching sessions provide a place to examine those differences, challenge assumptions, and plan a more precise next attempt. Research on teacher coaching supports this role. Kraft, Blazar, and Hogan's (2018) meta-analysis of 60 causal studies found positive effects on both instructional practice and student achievement. Coaching is especially useful when it stays close to a specific practice and the evidence produced while using it. Marzano Academies offers support through Office Hours Bundles and the Coaching Series.

A Classroom Example

Consider a teacher who has proficiency scales posted and refers to them during lessons. Students can name the activity they are completing, but many cannot explain what they are learning or how the activity helps them move through the learning progression represented in the proficiency scale. The teacher's self-assessment suggests that the routine is present, yet the desired effect is not consistently evident in students.

The teacher decides to engage in an action research (ARC) cycle in their classroom, focusing on the relevant Folio with one current unit in mind. They begin by reading the Folio and rather than adopting several new strategies, the teacher selects one routine from the list of ideas found in the Folio. She decides that what works for her is asking students to use the proficiency scale to explain the connection between the day's task and a specific learning target at the beginning and end of a lesson. During the next week, the teacher collects a brief sample of student explanations. She wants these rather than simply relying on a general impression that the lesson went well. While that matters, student evidence matters more.

In a coaching session with a Marzano Academies faculty member or a well-trained onsite coach, the teacher and coach review the responses. They notice that some students can repeat the learning target but still cannot explain how the task develops the related knowledge or skill. The teacher decides to model that connection more explicitly and provide students with a sentence frame for several days. New evidence is gathered, and they can now see that students are making the connection between the task and how successful completion moves them forward in their thinking.

The professional learning, supported through the Learning Hub, is embedded because every part of the process is connected to a real unit, the teacher's decisions, and observable student responses. Guskey (2002) argued that meaningful changes in teachers' attitudes and beliefs often follow successful use of a practice and evidence of improved student learning. The cycle gives teachers an opportunity to build that evidence for themselves.

Elmore's Instructional Core Gives the Work a Test

City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel (2009) described the instructional core as the relationship among the teacher, the student, and the content. Improvement does not come from changing one part in isolation while leaving the interaction among the three untouched. More teacher knowledge matters when it changes the tasks and support offered to students. Stronger content matters when students are asked to engage with it at an appropriate level and teachers know how to elt this happen. Student engagement matters when the work leads toward worthwhile knowledge and skill of the content while teachers know how to let this happen.

This provides a practical test for Learning Hub use. After a teacher studies a Folio or completes part of a badging experience, what is different in the instructional core? Has the teacher made a more precise instructional decision? Are students being asked to engage with the content differently? Is there evidence that their thinking, behavior, or learning has changed? If those questions cannot yet be answered, the professional learning cycle is not finished.

Elmore (2004) also argued that sustained school improvement depends on developing the knowledge and skill within the system. This is the connection between job-embedded learning and internal expertise. The goal is not to have teachers faithfully follow an outside expert's directions forever. The goal is to help them become more capable of studying instruction, learning from evidence, and improving the instructional core together. The Learning Hub powered by Marzano Academies provides up to date evidence-based practices teachers can review and consider if they in fact do work in their context.

To continue building your understanding of effective, evidence-based, competneyc-based instructional practices and the full Marzano Academies instructional model, become a member of the Learning Lab. For only $10 per month, Members can access Dr. Marzano’s research Folios, professional learning resources, and practical tools designed to help teachers make competency-based practices work in real classrooms. The Learning Hub also includes Badging Experiences that allow teachers to identify a meaningful professional growth goal, strengthen their classroom routines, and document their growing expertise. Teachers should own their professional learning, and the Learning Hub is built to support that work. You can also sign up for Virtual Office Hours or engage in a CBE Coaching Series with Marzano Academies Faculty to deepen your team’s approach to a personalized, competency-based classroom. Please reach out with any questions.

References

City, E. A., Elmore, R. F., Fiarman, S. E., & Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional rounds in education: A network approach to improving teaching and learning. Harvard Education Press.

Croft, A., Coggshall, J. G., Dolan, M., Powers, E., & Killion, J. (2010). Job-embedded professional development: What it is, who is responsible, and how to get it done well. National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality.

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Learning Policy Institute.

Desimone, L. M. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers' professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181-199.

Elmore, R. F. (2004). School reform from the inside out: Policy, practice, and performance. Harvard Education Press.

Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915-945.

Guskey, T. R. (2002). Professional development and teacher change. Teachers and Teaching, 8(3), 381-391.

Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III, Swanson, R. A., & Robinson, P. A. (2020). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (9th ed.). Routledge.

Kraft, M. A., Blazar, D., & Hogan, D. (2018). The effect of teacher coaching on instruction and achievement: A meta-analysis of the causal evidence. Review of Educational Research, 88(4), 547-588.

Marzano, R. J., & Abbott, S. D. (2022). Teaching in a competency-based elementary school. Marzano Resources.

Marzano Academies. (2026). Competency-Based Education Learning Hub.

Merriam, S. B. (2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning: Pillars of adult learning theory. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2001(89), 3-14.

Opfer, V. D., & Pedder, D. (2011). Conceptualizing teacher professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 81(3), 376-407.

Webster-Wright, A. (2009). Reframing professional development through understanding authentic professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 702-739.