Knowles Academy

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The Knowles Academy offers state-of-the-art professional development experiences for teachers. All Academy courses are designed and facilitated by experienced teachers who understand the complexities of teaching in today’s world. All courses include one semester or year of mentoring to assist teachers as they work to successfully implement what they’ve learned in their own classrooms. Participation in the Knowles Academy also gives teachers access to a national network of educators who share resources and ideas, and support each other to continually improve their teaching practice.

Key Knowles Academy Features

Teachers Supporting Teachers

Teachers learn best from other teachers. All professional development that we provide includes experienced teachers as facilitators and coaches.

Professional Community Development

Teaching can be isolating. All of our professional development services are designed to build teacher community so that participants can continue to support each other’s learning and professional growth long after the professional development experience ends.

Long-term Support for Sustainable Change

Effective teacher professional development must be sustained and tied to classroom practice. All Knowles Academy courses include long-term support from coaches, opportunities for teachers to ground their learning in their current practice, and engage with other Knowles Academy participants over an extended period.

Professional Expertise & Leadership

Designing and implementing effective professional development requires a diverse range of expertise and experience. All of our professional development services draw and build on the expertise developed within the Knowles community over the last 20 years.

Upcoming Courses & Workshops

  • Online Workshop
    Virtual-Icon Actionable Norms for Effective Groupwork
    7:30PM – 9:00PM ET Free

    How can students learn to integrate their content knowledge with effective communication skills to solve meaningful and complex problems in a collaborative setting? In this workshop, teachers will learn strategies and principles for establishing a classroom culture of effective and meaningful student collaboration through the clear and intentional setting of actionable norms—working persistently, communicating productively, and taking risks. Leave this workshop with strategies that leverage the use of the actionable norms to encourage more students to effectively participate in groupwork activities.

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  • Online Workshop
    Virtual-Icon Project Planning Pyramid Framework
    7:30PM – 9:00PM ET Free

    Project-based learning (PBL) can be utilized to engage students, but most importantly should be a powerful lever to provide rigorous mathematical and scientific experiences for students. Come learn with us about the Project Planning Pyramid Framework, a tool developed to strengthen the disciplinary content and practices present in projects, in order to help support all students in accessing rigorous math and science through your PBL courses. Walk away with key takeaways for your next project.

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  • Online Course
    Virtual Icon Empowering Students & Communities with Engineering Design
    7:30PM – 9:30PM EST 25.00

    Investigating community issues in math and science classes can promote equitable teaching practices and culturally relevant learning. But do students walk away feeling overwhelmed by realities? Or empowered to work for solutions? Learn how the engineering design process can support students to deepen their understanding of challenges in their communities AND feel empowered to design and advocate for just solutions to those challenges. Participants will engage in rich engineering projects, unpack associated community issues and their implications, and explore how practices of science, math, and engineering can help learners develop and optimize solutions to these issues. The course highlights community empowerment through lines of the engineering design process: uncovering values, students as agents of change, and stakeholders and encouraging voices. Led by instructors who are experienced in integrating engineering into math and science classes, this course will support participants in identifying entry points in their own curriculum for integrating engineering and community issues.

    Tuesdays, February 24 – March 31, 2026 

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