Connecting Professional Development to the Curricula: Insights from the Center for Civic Education

Amid recent calls for improvements in professional development, a frequent refrain is that teachers need more training geared specifically to the curricula they teach. The argument is that much of the training teachers receive is focused on generic teaching skills or general content knowledge, but teachers need more training on how to deliver the specific curricula they use in their classrooms. Despite calls to connect professional development to the curriculum, there is limited guidance on how to do so. This brief describes insights from the Center for Civic Education’s experience implementing professional development aligned to its civics curriculum as part of a U.S. Department of Education Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant.