How to Select Effective PD Facilitators

In my instructional innovation coaching work in schools, many school and district leaders need guidance on what to look for when selecting professional development (PD) facilitators for their in-service days, instructional coaching, and professional learning community meetings. They want to ensure that PD aligns with their district’s or school’s goals while encouraging teacher engagement and providing actionable strategies that educators can readily implement with students. 

We conduct quarterly instructional rounds for our PD to be data-driven and meaningful for teachers. After observing instruction in real time, we determine the improvement outcomes that we want to see in classrooms. Examples of solutions may include improvements in the following areas: 

• Student engagement
• Differentiated instruction 
• Structured collaboration protocols for students
• Timely student feedback
• Support for struggling readers

We then develop our PD as interventions that support the solutions we identify. Since good PD is rarely one-size-fits-all, interventions should be tailored and provided to meet the needs of all the teaching staff. In our action research-based model, solutions address instructional problems, and PD interventions are the tools to support the implementation.

Find Reliable Expertise Right Where You Are

When choosing the right PD facilitator(s), I always stress to leaders that it’s important to first seek out internal facilitators because it honors their in-house expertise. If the folks leading PD efforts in schools don’t create opportunities for passionate teachers to bloom and develop, they will most likely lose those talented folks. They may go elsewhere, to places that provide them more room to grow professionally.

I have seen internal facilitators compensated for this work to honor their talent and the additional planning time occurring beyond their contracted teaching duties. Compensation conveys respect, builds trust, and increases confidence for the folks involved. 

Schools may at times need develop their internal talent, or seek experienced PD partners outside of their school or district. Regardless of where these facilitators are, it’s critical that school leaders do their due diligence to ensure that they choose the best possible collaborator for growing their teachers.

7 Traits of Effective PD Facilitators

1. Expertise and experience. Determine that facilitators have demonstrable knowledge of the specific instructional or skills-based area(s) relevant to the teachers’ needs. Teachers don’t appreciate it when the PD facilitator doesn’t provide the success tools and modeling of the strategies they want and need for their classrooms. It’s also important for facilitators to make sure to leave some time for reflection after allowing teachers to practice. 

2. Use of evidence-based practices. Coaching and PD interventions should be based on theory, research-backed methodologies, and sound practices that are proven to work in education. That doesn’t mean all strategies need to be facilitated precisely as they were originally designed—instead, facilitators should have know-how about customizing and personalizing on the fly. This means they clearly understand their objectives for facilitating and the rationale for using the practice(s) they’ve selected. 

3. Customization and flexibility. Knowing how to tailor their existing workshops to meet your school’s unique needs and context is a vital quality in a PD facilitator. They must be flexible enough to adapt their approach based on your feedback and evolving circumstances. One way a facilitator can meet the unique needs of participants is to ask leaders to identify three desired outcomes for their teachers and their pain points or potential stumbling blocks in meeting those outcomes. This keeps the participants’ learning at the forefront of every aspect of workshop development. 

4. Strong engagement and communication skills. It’s essential for PD facilitators to convey complex concepts clearly and effectively, while inspiring lively participation through interactive, fun, and reflective activities. Engagement can support participants’ learning, and good communication makes information easier to understand. Effective facilitators use conversational language—recognizing that not all educators are familiar with overly complex educational jargon. Skilled facilitators know how to make adjustments for their specific audiences.

5. Proven track record of success. An impactful PD facilitator has “receipts” (proof) of success in improving outcomes for participants and schools where they’ve coached and worked. Without the proper experience in a given topic or set of effective strategies, facilitators may struggle to appropriately coach others toward success. Ideally, they should be able to scientifically explain why what they’re doing is appropriate and have ample experience implementing said strategy within their own teaching context. Other examples of receipts might include significant time spent involved in aspects of instructional design, school leadership, and growing other educators pedagogically. High levels of experience and understanding help establish credibility with PD participants. 

6. Collaborative approach. Successful PD facilitators show ease in working closely with your team to understand your goals, challenges, and school culture. They’ll know that taking the time to fully comprehend the situational context where they’ll be working will help them plan and deliver relevant and meaningful PD. Through level-setting meetings with leadership, surveys, and visiting the school website, they may get a clearer picture of the support that teachers need. This is especially crucial for outside facilitators, who will be less familiar with the school’s instructional priorities and culture. 

7. Consistent support and follow-up. Instructional innovation is continuous, and PD will most likely be implemented over time. Good facilitators provide ongoing support, resources, and follow-up to ensure that the new learning is properly implemented. One-and-done coaching rarely suffices—sustained support is critical as teachers implement because some may need additional feedback, guidance, and support. That doesn’t mean that the PD facilitator is on call 24/7. It means that they’ve provided a set of resources that participants can refer back to as they implement their new learning.

Ideally, PD facilitators also provide opportunities for follow-up feedback at a designated time—such as sustained coaching opportunities set up after the teachers had chances to implement. These opportunities are typically set up with the folks who brought them in. As school teams work to identify good facilitators for their next in-service day, remember that great facilitators aren’t born—they develop over time. Some of your internal talent may not possess all of the above qualities, but you can allow them to facilitate if they have the one(s) essential for your PD.

Here’s a facilitator’s rubric I created with help from ChatGPT, available for download. PD facilitators can use it as a self-assessment tool to gauge where they are currently and as they develop their skill sets.