The authors explore factors in district and school leaders' selection of math-focused professional learning (PL) for teachers; teachers' experiences with math-focused PL; the perceived usefulness of these activities; and the extent to which math-focused PL is curriculum based. Findings are reported for (1) each respondent group — districts, principals, and math teachers — nationally and (2) principal and teacher responses for the four largest states.

Prioritizing Curriculum-Based Professional Learning for Mathematics Teachers

District, Principal, and Teacher Perspectives from the American Educator Panels

Elizabeth D. Steiner, Lauren Covelli, Miray Tekkumru-Kisa, Melissa Kay Diliberti

ResearchPublished Mar 26, 2025

This report provides the perspectives of multiple respondent groups — districts, principals, and math teachers — on math-focused professional learning (PL) for teachers. The authors explore the factors that district and school leaders consider when selecting math-focused PL. These factors include principal autonomy to select PL; teachers' experiences with math-focused PL, such as the amount of time spent on various PL activities and perceived usefulness of PL activities; and the extent to which principals and math teachers report that math-focused PL is curriculum based.

Findings are presented for (1) the respondent groups nationally and (2) principal and teacher responses, for the four largest states — California, Florida, New York, and Texas. The authors discuss differences in principal and teacher reports by grade bands (i.e., elementary, middle, or high schools) and offer recommendations to district and school leaders as they consider and develop PL opportunities for math teachers.

Key Findings

  • Just over half of math teachers nationally reported spending two hours or less per month on math PL. Another 29 percent reported spending three to five hours per month.
  • Teachers perceived that PL led by knowledgeable facilitators was useful, but principals said that high-quality facilitators were in short supply.
  • On average, fewer high school teachers reported that their math-focused PL activities were useful for improving their math instruction than did teachers of other grade levels.
  • Districts' two most common actions to help meet student math learning goals were adopting standards-aligned curricula and providing secondary math teachers with more PL about the math curriculum.
  • Alignment of PL to the math curriculum was the top priority of both district leaders and principals when selecting external PL opportunities for teachers. This priority outranked other considerations, such as cost and state recommendations.
  • According to principals, selecting PL for math teachers was often a collaborative process that involved teachers and district staff.
  • Most math teachers agreed that their PL activities were well aligned with their math curriculum. Teachers said that curriculum-based PL was useful when it included time for collaboration and focused on the specific curriculum they used.

Recommendations

  • Districts should ensure curriculum-based professional learning is high quality and could draw on research to identify or develop such PL. District leaders and principals should also select or design math-focused PL that considers the different needs and experiences of teachers across grade levels. Continuing to include teachers in the PL selection and development process could help ensure that teachers' needs are met.
  • District leaders and principals should prioritize facilitator expertise when selecting math professional learning providers. District and school leaders could draw on publicly available resources designed to assist leaders in finding high-quality providers of curriculum-based PL that have been vetted by experts. Schools and districts could use publicly available rubrics to screen external providers for quality or to develop their own high-quality PL.

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Steiner, Elizabeth D., Lauren Covelli, Miray Tekkumru-Kisa, and Melissa Kay Diliberti, Prioritizing Curriculum-Based Professional Learning for Mathematics Teachers: District, Principal, and Teacher Perspectives from the American Educator Panels, RAND Corporation, RR-A2836-7, 2025. As of April 30, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2836-7.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Steiner, Elizabeth D., Lauren Covelli, Miray Tekkumru-Kisa, and Melissa Kay Diliberti, Prioritizing Curriculum-Based Professional Learning for Mathematics Teachers: District, Principal, and Teacher Perspectives from the American Educator Panels. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2836-7.html.
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This research was funded by the Gates Foundation and conducted by RAND Education and Labor.

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