Marzano Research
The alarm sounds at 5:30 AM.
A teacher jolts awake, desperate to squeeze in some lesson planning before the school day begins. Later, during her precious 25-minute lunch break, she’ll watch that short professional learning video her principal recommended. But will this actually have a significant, sustained effect on her teaching practice?
Not likely.
This all-too-common scenario exemplifies what education researcher Caroline Wylie calls “cruel optimism”—the often well-intended expectation that teachers transform their practice through isolated, fragmented learning completed between bells and bus duty.
Borrowing the phrase from Johann Hari’s book Stolen Focus, Wylie explains that cruel optimism offers “a simplistic individual solution” to a deeply systemic problem. In education, it shows up as bite-sized tips or disconnected, one-off workshops that lack the depth, time, and collaboration required for sustained improvement.
What Research Says Works
Wylie’s critique of fragmented professional learning (PL) highlights a common issue that can be addressed by a comprehensive, structured approach that adheres to widely-recognized principles for effective PL.
For instance, according to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) guidelines, effective PL is “sustained, intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, and classroom-focused.” Yet, a study by the Frontline Research and Learning Institute found that less than 20% of district professional learning activities meet ESSA criteria.
At Marzano Research, our Teacher as Researcher professional learning initiative aligns with the principles of effective PL and is structured to bridge the gap between what research shows works and what educators experience daily.
How Teacher as Researcher Aligns with Effective PL Principles
ESSA guidance converges with leading research on what makes PL effective. Here’s how Teacher as Researcher brings those ESSA principles to life.
Sustained and Intensive
PL is most impactful when it is sustained and intensive. Teacher as Researcher delivers this through a structured 10–14 week program with six workshops, ensuring teachers engage in ongoing, collaborative inquiry that strengthens practice and builds professional connections. The program’s rhythm of implementation and reflection creates a continuous learning cycle that builds momentum across multiple weeks, resulting in deeper understanding and more substantial classroom impact than single training sessions.
Collaborative
Collaboration is deeply embedded in the Teacher as Researcher process. Cohort-based learning allows for peer collaboration, and we provide personalized coach support at every stage. Teachers also gain access to a professional learning network of other participants where they can share findings, exchange insights, and learn from others’ experiences. In the words of a South Carolina teacher, “It was really helpful to listen to other teachers’ experience with the study. It gave me some idea into how to better assess outcomes.”
Job-Embedded
Teacher as Researcher integrates seamlessly into daily teaching by having educators test strategies in their actual classrooms with their own students, turning theory into practice in real time. The program is designed with teachers’ busy schedules in mind, featuring virtual workshops with built-in working time that minimize additional responsibilities. “I hardly noticed I was doing anything different than my typical teaching,” reflected a participant. This practicality ensures that learning happens within—not separate from—the core work of teaching.
Data-Driven
Teacher as Researcher puts data collection and analysis at the center of improvement efforts through its structured Instructional Improvement Cycles. Teachers collect targeted data on student performance during these short research cycles, allowing them to make instructional adjustments based on concrete evidence rather than hunches. And the program’s data analysis tool simplifies the process so teachers don’t have to spend time on complex calculations. Like one teacher described, “All I had to do was basically just enter the data.”
Classroom-Focused
Unlike generic PL that may not translate to specific teaching contexts, Teacher as Researcher focuses exclusively on what matters most: improving instruction for students in real classrooms. Participants select from hundreds of evidence-based strategies aligned to their specific content areas, grade levels, and student needs. They implement these strategies with their own students, gathering immediate feedback on effectiveness. This classroom-centered approach ensures that professional learning directly benefits student outcomes rather than remaining theoretical.
Moving Beyond “Cruel Optimism”
True professional learning can’t happen during lunch breaks or while standing in grocery lines. As Wylie argues, educators need “opportunities to learn together, to figure out how new ideas apply in their unique contexts, to try out what they are learning, to reflect on initial implementations, get feedback from peers, and to revise and adjust.”
The workshops and Instructional Improvement Cycle at the heart of Teacher as Researcher honor this truth. It recognizes that meaningful educator learning—just like meaningful student learning—requires dedicated time, structure, collaboration, and systemic support. And the program’s impact speaks volumes: Participating teachers show statistically significant increases in self-efficacy as well as capacity to use data and evidence-based strategies to improve instruction.
The impact of research-based PL design also extends beyond individual classrooms. According to Deloitte research, organizations with strong learning cultures are 52% more productive and 92% more likely to develop innovative processes. When we stop asking teachers to transform instruction in five-minute increments and instead build systems that support authentic, ongoing professional growth, we contribute to a culture of collaborative, evidence-based practice at the classroom, school, and district levels.
For leaders seeking to move beyond the “cruel optimism” of fragmented PL toward an approach that genuinely enhances teaching and improves student outcomes, Teacher as Researcher offers a research-aligned path forward. Learn more about bringing the approach to your educators or schedule a consultation to discuss how this model can advance your district’s goals.
Sources
Cherasaro, T., & Scott, S. (2024, September 24). Fostering teacher agency & leadership through classroom-based inquiry. Marzano Research. https://marzanoresearch.com/fostering-teacher-agency-leadership/
Deloitte. (2015, January 27). Becoming irresistible: A new model for employee engagement. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/deloitte-review/issue-16/employee-engagement-strategies.html
Frontline Education. (n.d.). Effective professional learning strategies (that actually work). https://www.frontlineeducation.com/professional-learning/
Hoonuit. (n.d.). Transitioning PD for ESSA: A quick reference guide. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3439998/Resource%20Center%20Content/Transitioning%20PD%20for%20ESSA-1.pdf
Marzano Research. (2025, January 1). Teacher as Researcher brief: Empowering teachers as researchers in South Carolina. https://marzanoresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SC_Empowering-Teachers-as-Researchers_BRIEF-for-Stakeholders.508.pdf
Wylie, C. (2024, February 2024). A flawed approach to supporting teacher learning: ‘cruel optimism’. National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment. https://www.nciea.org/blog/cruel-optimism-and-teacher-learning/
