RPPL Research Infrastructure for Professional Development

Joined 2022

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Partners

• RPPL

• Annenberg Institute at Brown University

• University of Pennsylvania

What are we building?

We are building a shared research infrastructure—combining secure data systems, standardized (shared) measures, and network-wide use—to enable faster, more efficient, and more impactful research. This infrastructure is supporting four interconnected research strands:

• Charting the landscape of PL opportunities and actions across districts

• Building experimental evidence through A/B testing of PL models

• Comparing improvement strategies using shared benchmark measures

• Understanding instructional coaching moves through AI-enabled analysis of audio transcripts

What are we learning?

How to improve the conditions for adult learning in ways that:

• Increase teacher engagement

• Accelerate skill development

• Sustain the long-term use of effective instructional practices

We are using these efforts to pursue a deeper learning agenda focused on:

• The quality features of professional learning (PL) anchored to high-quality instructional materials (HQIM)

• Enactment strategies that support the effective use of math solutions

• Practical measures of teacher practice, teacher mindset, student engagement, and student learning

• The design features of PL that matter most—particularly personalization, choice/agency, social accountability, and feedback

• The systems conditions (e.g., coherence, leadership, infrastructure) that support or constrain the effectiveness of PL, especially in curriculum-based PL (CBPL) models

• The role of AI in accelerating research processes and improving PL design and delivery

• The national landscape of PL opportunities and the resources shaping access and equity

And we are continuing to learn:

• How to align professional learning systems to better support the implementation and sustained use of HQIM

• How to foster inclusive, cross-sector collaboration in education research

Products

• Stronghold Secure Computing Environment—A privacy-preserving research environment that enables secure data storage and analysis

• DTUA Templates—Standardized multiparty data sharing agreement templates to accelerate study setup

• Research Study Resources for the RPPL Network—A suite of guidance documents and tools to support study design and implementation

• Math Shared Measures Toolkits—Practical, vetted tools for measuring instructional shifts in math-focused professional learning

• RPPL Insights—A user-facing data platform for uploading, converting, and benchmarking shared measures data

• RPPL Redact—An open-source toolkit that automates transcription, PII redaction, and privacy review

• Coaching Moves Framework 2.0—A refined taxonomy of coaching practices based on observational data and PL expertise

• Automated Detection of Coaching Moves Tool—An AI-enabled tool that detects and labels coaching practices in transcripts to reduce coding labor and enable scale

• Measurement white paper—Developed collaboratively by 10 organizations