Professional learning should be improving teaching, which ultimately should benefit students. We read a meta-analysis showing that effective teaching methods within professional development is far more likely to impact learning than the learning topic or time spent in the program.
Later, we read a study of student perseverance that underscores the importance of establishing mastery goals with students, while avoiding extrinsic rewards, to increase their perseverance and improve academic performance.
- First Segment – 04:21 – Professional Development and Student Learning
- Second Segment – 26:13 – Student Perseverance
Primary Citations
- Visscher, A. J., Dmoshinskaia, N., Pellegrini, M., & Naizaque, A. R. (2025). (When) Do Teacher Professional Development Interventions Improve Student Achievement? A Meta-analysis of 128 High-Quality Studies. Educational Research Review, 100742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2025.100742
- Li, J., King, R. B. (2026). Who perseveres in school? Understanding the developmental trajectories, predictors, and consequences of students’ perseverance. Learning and Instruction 101, 102249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102249
Supplemental Citations
- How Does Professional Development Improve Teaching? (Kennedy, 2016)
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- What Shall We Do About Grit? A Critical Review of What We Know and What We Don’t Know (Credé, 2018)
- Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature (Credé, 2017)
- Debunking the Grit Narrative in Higher Education (Locks, 2023)
- Putting Measurement First: Understanding ‘Grit’ in Educational Policy and Practice (Peterson, 2015)
Featured Beverage
We drink Autumnal Dichotomous, a fall saison from the Jester King Brewery in Austin, TX.