At Schechter Bergen, we place faculty learning at the center of school improvement because we want our students to think deeply, communicate clearly, and solve real problems with curiosity and confidence, a type of student learning that requires sophisticated teaching. Our commitment shows up in how we plan time, where we direct resources, which partners we choose, and how we hold ourselves accountable for continuous growth. At Schechter Bergen, we are building a culture in which adult learning is visible, routine, and joyful, because students benefit when their teachers are also learners.

This year and next, one of our major investments, fully funded through the Preside Grant, is a two-year training program for teachers in our 1-8 Kehillot with PBLWorks, formerly the Buck Institute for Education.

PBLWorks is a nationally recognized organization that created the research-informed Gold Standard Project Based Learning (PBL) framework used in schools across the country. Their model helps teachers design projects with clear learning goals, authentic problems, sustained inquiry, critique and revision, and public products - precisely the conditions in which students build knowledge and the success skills that matter in life.

We chose Project Based Learning as a major pedagogic tool because comprehensive studies demonstrate it works. A randomized study of Advanced Placement courses found that students taught through a rigorous PBL approach were eight percentage points more likely to earn credit-qualifying AP scores than their peers in traditional classes. Systematic reviews from the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) and others have documented growing evidence that well-implemented PBL strengthens content mastery and higher-order thinking. When teachers are trained to design and facilitate high-quality projects, students perform.

Our two-year plan is grounded in research on what makes professional learning effective. Teachers are learning together in content-specific or grade-level cohorts, experiencing the same instructional methods they will use with students. They work together to design real units, receive expert coaching and feedback from PBLWorks, and continually revisit, refine, and reteach over time. This is the Learning Policy Institute’s standard for effective professional development, translated into the Schechter Bergen context and paced to ensure that learning actually sticks.

There are many ways we achieve this. Our Educational Leadership Team frequently visits classrooms, using a robust rubric that defines excellence in teaching, and teachers receive feedback and support. In addition, we are fortunate to have a teacher coach who works with our school and supports newer teachers in the classroom.

Coaching, in particular, matters. A large meta-analysis of rigorous studies found that teacher coaching produces meaningful improvements in classroom practice and, when well designed, raises student achievement. The impact is larger than most people assume and grows when coaching is paired with group learning.

Over the next two years, you will see more student work that matters beyond the “textbook.” You will hear children explaining how they investigated a problem, revised their thinking, and presented their findings to an audience. You will notice stronger writing, clearer math reasoning, richer Hebrew language use in authentic tasks, and more confident collaboration. At school, we will also see teachers talking openly about practice, what worked, what they changed, and what they are trying next, because the adults are modeling the very growth mindset we want for our students. That is what happens when a school treats professional learning not as an extra but as a core responsibility.

At Schechter Bergen, we are living our mission, core values, and our commitment to a meaningful and productively challenging learning environment because our children deserve great teaching every day. That is why Schechter Bergen makes teacher professional development a top priority, and why we are investing in PBL with expert partners over multiple years. When we help teachers learn deeply, students learn deeply. The research says so, and our classrooms will show it.