Aligning networked improvement with student-centered literacy practices
A new collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Learning (IFL) and TNTP is reimagining professional learning by aligning educators across the system to drive instructional change and build a culture of continuous improvement. Focused on middle school ELA classrooms in the Pittsburgh Public School District (PPS) and the School District of the City of York (SDCY), this partnership is distinguished by the intentional structure of IFL’s Student-Centered Practices and the use of networked professional learning.
For decades, school districts have invested billions in teacher development with the best of intentions. However, research from The Mirage report (Jacob & McGovern, 2015) suggests that much of this support isn't actually helping teachers improve. Despite billions spent annually on professional development, the traditional workshop model often fails to translate into lasting classroom change. Efforts to improve literacy instruction often focus on what teachers should do differently, but less attention is given to the structures that support that work.
If we want to change classroom practice, we have to examine not only what we ask educators to do, but how we organize the work of learning across a system. The Annenberg Report (Hill & Papay, 2022) on strengthening teacher learning highlights a clear alternative: shift away from traditional, isolated, sit-and-get training and toward professional learning that encourages deep peer collaboration, sustained support, and practical instructional tools. Changing how students experience literacy learning requires more than new materials or isolated training sessions. It requires a system that can carry meaningful instructional work forward over time.
The Institute for Learning (IFL) and TNTP are co-designing that system with Pittsburgh Public School District (PPS) and the School District of the City of York (SDCY) by reimagining professional development as networks that bring educators together to learn, test, and refine their practice over time. Within that structure, IFL’s Student-Centered Practices define what the work looks like in classrooms when students engage deeply with texts, strengthen comprehension through talk, and use evidence to support their thinking. When the vehicle and the work are aligned, professional learning becomes more than a series of sessions. It becomes a system capable of improving instruction at scale.
This partnership is made possible through a generous planning grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. To understand the work being done in PPS and SDCY, it is helpful to look at it through two distinct lenses: The Vehicle (the method of delivery) and The Cargo (the instructional change itself).
The Vehicle: Networked Improvement Communities (NICs)
For many teachers, collaboration is often limited to colleagues just down the hallway, and they may not have peers teaching the same grade level. This leaves them professionally isolated with few opportunities for shared practice and learning.
A vehicle for change in PPS and SDCY is the Networked Improvement Community (NIC). This NIC model facilitates networked professional learning, a structured, cross-school approach where educators collaborate to learn, share practices, and solve instructional challenges using shared goals, evidence, and the principles of improvement science.
Why the NIC Model Matters
A network does what a single school often cannot: it provides a diverse learning system for testing and refining ideas toward a shared mission for instructional improvement. The NIC is about more than just delivering information. It is focused on building a coherent, sustainable system in which teachers collectively drive continuous improvement.
In this model, teachers are not passive recipients of professional development; they are the drivers of instructional change. They engage in shared inquiry, test ideas in practice, and refine their work over time.
The Cargo: IFL’s Student-Centered Practices
The network provides the structure for adult learning where IFL’s Student-Centered Practices guide the instructional work for classrooms. Student-Centered Practices are a set of literacy-based engagement routines designed to have students do the thinking, talking, and writing needed to build deep comprehension.
Student talk and engagement are not new to the educators in either district. What distinguishes this partnership is the intentional, structured use of IFL’s Student-Centered Practices, combined with a networked professional learning approach.
These practices focus on positioning students as active meaning-makers. In a traditional ELA setting, the teacher might inadvertently do the heavy lifting by summarizing a text or explaining a theme. The IFL’s Student-Centered Practices flip this dynamic, ensuring that the cognitive demand remains with the student.
A Vertical Approach to Support
This network is not just for teachers because instructional change does not happen in isolation. Instructional change requires a system designed to support it. Through a vertical alignment strategy, educators at every level engage in the work. Teachers collaborate to strengthen classroom practice, while principals participate in monthly sessions to deepen their understanding of the literacy challenges teachers are addressing, enabling them to provide more targeted coaching and support. At the district level, curriculum and instruction leaders and principal supervisors are actively involved to ensure that system-level priorities, structures, and supports are aligned with the work in schools.
Together, school and district leaders play a critical role in continuous improvement thereby ensuring that changes in instruction are sustained, supported, and scaled. In doing so, school and district leaders are not just participants, but architects of the conditions necessary for a coherent, system-wide culture of continuous improvement. Under these conditions, strong instruction can take root and thrive across classrooms.
Looking Toward the Future: The National Playbook
The impact of this work is intended to reach far beyond the borders of Pennsylvania. Stay tuned for our playbook on how other districts and states can use networks to solve instructional problems. It will offer:
Codified structures for forming and evolving cross-school networks.
Guidance on how to use practical measures and empathy or student interviews to gauge progress.
Strategies for making professional learning cost-effective and sustainable.
By documenting the journey in Pennsylvania, complete with the challenges and the breakthroughs, the IFL and TNTP are helping to redefine what helping teachers really means on a national scale.
Conclusion
The partnership between Pittsburgh Public Schools, the School District of the City of York, the Institute for Learning, and TNTP represents a fundamental shift in how we think about helping teachers. It moves away from fragmented, provider-driven models and toward a system defined by agency, collaboration, and rigor.
About the Partners
The Institute for Learning (IFL)
Founded in 1995 at the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center, the IFL functions as a bridge between educational research and classroom practice. The IFL’s Fellows collaborate with school districts across the country to support equitable, culturally responsive, and cognitively demanding instruction. Having worked with over 100 school districts across the country, the IFL focuses on developing evidence-driven professional learning and content-focused coaching that empowers students to take ownership of their own learning.
TNTP
TNTP is a national nonprofit organization founded by teachers and dedicated to ending the injustice of educational inequality. Since 1997, TNTP has partnered with more than 300 public school districts, charter networks, and state departments of education to ensure that every student has access to effective teaching. Their work spans leadership services, curriculum consulting, and research, all aimed at reinventing the systems that support great teaching at scale and providing a path to academic success for all students.