Learning and Winning: Highlights from Our Summer PD Challenge

This summer, we invited educators to join our Summer Professional Development Challenge. This was an opportunity to work on their professional development, familiarize themselves with the Progress Learning platform, and prepare for this fall. To make it even more fun, we also threw in a $250 Amazon gift card for one lucky winner.

How Did It Work?

The challenge was simple. Participants had to complete 5 of the 9 choices on this choice board. Tasks included creating a 10-question pre-test in the Assessment Builder, watching a recently recorded webinar, exploring our Help Center, attending a live “Train the Trainer” webinar, and more.

Next, participants had to fill out a form by July 31st to show that they completed at least 5 of the 9 choices on the choice board. They were then entered for a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card for their classroom.

Announcing Our Winner!

We are excited to announce that the winner of the Summer PD Challenge is Alyssa Seibel from Dr. Lonnie Green Elementary in San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District. We are delighted to present this $250 Amazon gift card to support their classroom needs.

What Participants Had to Say

The Summer PD Challenge was an absolute hit! Participants — who ranged from teachers to principals — learned all about our platform and how they can integrate it into their schools and classrooms this fall.  

Alyssa Seibel, winner of the Summer PD Challenge shared: “In the recently recorded webinar, I was refreshed on the 5 core components of social emotional learning and what they mean. I also learned how Progress Learning can be utilized in the classroom for students to practice those areas of SEL. I am a second year teacher and SEL is an area I hope to improve this school year and the goal-setting/independent study plan that students can manage themselves and their skills with is one way to accomplish that!”

One principal, Mr. Betts, shared: “I believe the most valuable thing that I have taken away during my exploration and learning is how to support teachers while embedding Progress Learning daily into their lesson plans. The reflection section that I viewed for grades 2-3 gave me insight on improving open-ended question types.”

Many teachers came away with a clearer understanding of our tools. Ms. Gore, a Title 1 teacher, discovered “that it is very easy to build, edit, and save assignments. I learned how to create an assessment and how to add it to the calendar for a specific date/time I want it to be assigned to my students.”

Similarly, math educator Ms. Eckstorm shared, “I watched the create a diagnostic [webinar] and it was very informative. I learned about the state practice assessment. It also created some questions for me to research, like looking at the live monitoring and [how to] compare results on 2 assessments.”

Ms. Peruzar,, explored not only the assessments but also remediation and enrichment. “I learned that your pretest and posttest can be compared to show students’ growth. You can also track students’ weak areas and assign remediation as well as provide enrichment for students who are performing 80% and above.”

Some educators used this opportunity to discover how Progress Learning could apply to their specialties. For example, Ms. Seibel is a second-year teacher who shared that social-emotional learning (SEL) is an area she hopes to improve this school year. She watched a recently recorded webinar to get a refresher on the 5 core components of SEL and learned that the goal-setting/independent study plan is a great way to encourage students to manage themselves and enhance their SEL skills.

Last but not least, some teachers used this opportunity to get familiar with all the support we offer. “I learned that there are lots of help links in the Help Center in case a teammate, or I have questions about lesson planning, training, data, or just getting started!” said Ms. Martinez, a 2nd grade teacher.

Thanks to all the amazing educators who participated in our Summer PD Challenge! We’re wishing you a fantastic school year!