Educator Skills and Practice – Digital Promise

Educator Skills and Practice

A graphic of an educator in a red long sleeved shirt indicating toward a computer screen with a lightbulb on it.

About the Priority Challenge

Educators make many decisions every day on how to best teach students necessary skills and subject matter—choosing appropriate and engaging tools, resources, and experiences to meet their students’ needs. Classroom teachers are tasked with differentiating lessons for the wide range of learners in their classrooms, while also integrating technology tools and active learning strategies throughout the curriculum.

Integrating teaching skills, building relationships with students and families, having strong subject knowledge, understanding child development, and effectively facilitating learning are all essential components in supporting each student’s learning trajectory. However, achieving this integration remains a complex challenge.

Challenge Statistics

I think one thing a teacher could change about making up [missed] assignments is to provide flexibility. Maybe giving students options to choose from or allowing them to demonstrate their understanding in different ways.

—Student

Authentic learning and problem-based learning must be at the core of student learning experiences.

—Educator

We should be focused on personalized learning. Not everyone grasps basic concepts, personalization and student involvement create a better learning environment.

—Community Member

What School Communities Say They Need

Below, we highlight the needs educators and school staff express to enact practices that lead to powerful learning.

Strong student-teacher relationships

Effective student engagement practices

Supports with individualizing instruction

Effective and equitable use of technology

Collaboration among teachers, families, and students

Alignment of student and teacher expectations

Digital Promise Projects and Resources

Explore the tiles below to learn more about projects and resources that aim to strengthen educator knowledge and practice.

Resource
Description

Research-based perspectives offer lessons for writing instruction and teacher professional learning.

Digital Promise Micro-credentials leverage digital credentialing technologies to support learners and organizations.

Badge Engine, a free, open-source badging technology, empowers organizations to easily create and manage their own digital badging programs.

Digital Promise gathered insights on how educators can leverage digital tools low-tech settings to deliver powerful learning.

A look at how the Learner Variability Navigator tool and resources has led to increased student engagement, content knowledge, and confidence in their learning.

The Bristol Township School District team identified the challenge of addressing the role trauma plays in student mental health through a deep dive with school and community members including Bristol Cares Coalition, student, staff, and family surveys, and with their Equity Leadership Council.

Learning Salons fostered collaboration between districts and edtech/solution providers to co-design innovative and effective teaching and learning tools that addressed a problem of practice.

The project is designing open-access curricular supports to deepen discussions in world history. Curricular materials will be available summer 2026.

As part of the Edcamp YouthMADE festival, educators share their experiences and expertise as they discuss ways to support and facilitate youth making, activism, art, and design in education.

Edcamps centered on understanding the adoption and use of new technologies in the classroom and how practitioners can influence the researchers and developers of those technologies.

The project has produced PD and classroom resources on heritage-connected problem-based computational thinking/STEAM learning for rural and other kinship-valuing cultural contexts.

Practitioners and researchers co-developed materials that translate research on collaborative learning. The materials include a practical toolkit with implementation strategies, classroom video examples with expert reflection, and research primers for more information.

Description

Research-based perspectives offer lessons for writing instruction and teacher professional learning.

Description

Digital Promise Micro-credentials leverage digital credentialing technologies to support learners and organizations.

Resource
Description

Badge Engine, a free, open-source badging technology, empowers organizations to easily create and manage their own digital badging programs.

Description

Digital Promise gathered insights on how educators can leverage digital tools low-tech settings to deliver powerful learning.

Description

A look at how the Learner Variability Navigator tool and resources has led to increased student engagement, content knowledge, and confidence in their learning.

Description

The Bristol Township School District team identified the challenge of addressing the role trauma plays in student mental health through a deep dive with school and community members including Bristol Cares Coalition, student, staff, and family surveys, and with their Equity Leadership Council.

Resource
Description

Learning Salons fostered collaboration between districts and edtech/solution providers to co-design innovative and effective teaching and learning tools that addressed a problem of practice.

Description

The project is designing open-access curricular supports to deepen discussions in world history. Curricular materials will be available summer 2026.

Description

As part of the Edcamp YouthMADE festival, educators share their experiences and expertise as they discuss ways to support and facilitate youth making, activism, art, and design in education.

Description

Edcamps centered on understanding the adoption and use of new technologies in the classroom and how practitioners can influence the researchers and developers of those technologies.

Description

The project has produced PD and classroom resources on heritage-connected problem-based computational thinking/STEAM learning for rural and other kinship-valuing cultural contexts.

Description

Practitioners and researchers co-developed materials that translate research on collaborative learning. The materials include a practical toolkit with implementation strategies, classroom video examples with expert reflection, and research primers for more information.

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