Live small groups
Three to five teachers moving forward together in live cohorts. Peer discussion is where the learning happens.
Circles Learning
Learning with other teachers makes professional development actually work.
Small live groups, an instructor who supports you, and feedback after every session. That is the combination that moves classroom practice.
Circles at a glance
- Group size
- 2 to 5 teachers
- Cadence
- Weekly live sessions
- Languages
- Spanish, English
- Designed for
- Institutions investing in teacher PD
How the method works
Four design decisions baked into every Circles cohort.
Personalized support
Every cohort has an instructor walking alongside you. You are not alone in front of the screen.
Feedback after every session
You do not wait until the end of the course. Each week you get specific feedback on your practice.
Logistics that actually work
Stable scheduling, no class disruption. Enrollments and reporting are handled for your institution.
Why group learning works
Circles Learning is a teacher professional-development platform that delivers training in live cohorts of 2 to 5 teachers, with an instructor walking alongside each cohort and specific feedback after every session.
Sustained teacher learning happens when there are others who expect something of you, who offer another point of view, and who help you try new things in your classroom. That is the logic that drives every Circle.
It is not studying yet another video alone. It is practicing with peers, showing up to a session prepared, hearing a colleague who teaches in another context, and going back to your classroom with a concrete idea for the following week.
There are decades of pedagogical research behind this format: communities of practice and collaborative learning among teachers.
Who Circles is for
Three institutional contexts where Circles fits well, pedagogically.
K-12 school networks
For networks with a shared pedagogical focus that want professional development to reach every teacher at the same time, without each school solving its own logistics. Live cohorts that mix teachers across schools, scheduled outside class hours.
Universities
For higher-education teaching offices that want to develop their faculty in their pedagogical role. Works well for cross-faculty programs — assessment, AI applied to teaching, instructional design — where peer learning across disciplines is part of the value.
Foundations, programs and networks
For foundations, government programs, and professional networks that fund or coordinate teacher development for schools. Live cohorts with personalized support, scoped to the program being designed with the participating schools.
How it compares to other options
Circles is the only modality in the table that combines live small groups, instructor support in every cohort, and feedback after every session.
| Modality | Live learning | Instructor support | Peer learning | Feedback | Flexible schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-paced online courses | No | No | No | No | Yes, fully asynchronous |
| LMS content libraries | No | No | No | No | Yes, asynchronous |
| University extension programs | Yes, lecture-style | Partial, course by course | Partial, varies by course | Partial, in graded work | No, fixed academic calendar |
| In-person workshops | Yes, single-day | Yes, during the workshop | Yes, in person | Partial, no follow-up | No, fixed date |
| Conferences and travel PD | Yes, lecture-style | No | Partial, in hallways | No | No, fixed date and place |
| In-house PD teams | Yes | Yes, depends on internal capacity | Yes, within the school | Variable | Variable |
| One-to-many webinars | Yes, lecture-style | No | No, mass chat | No | No, fixed date |
| External consultants | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes, depending on scope | Partial |
| Circles | Yes, weekly sessions | Yes, in every cohort | Yes, groups of 2–5 teachers | Yes, after every session | Yes, multiple time slots |
Frequently asked questions
How are the groups of 2–5 teachers formed?
Groups are formed by chosen time slot and, when applicable, by grade level or subject so peers share enough context for productive dialogue. A group works together for the full course, which gives time to build the trust needed to share what is working and what is not.
Does it work without disrupting class hours?
Yes. Live sessions are scheduled outside school hours. Each teacher picks among several weekly time slots and is grouped with two to four peers in the same slot. The training runs in parallel with normal school operations, with no class replacement and no substitute teachers required.
What kind of feedback do you get after each session?
After each session the instructor provides specific feedback on the week's work: responses to the practical activity, observations on how to apply what was learned in your classroom, and questions to bring to the following session. Feedback is continuous, not concentrated only at the end of the course.
How does TeachView relate to Circles?
TeachView is our classroom-observation and AI-supported feedback tool: it records classes, transcribes them, and helps leadership teams have feedback conversations with their teachers. It pairs with Circles when an institution wants to close the learn-practice-observe loop. They can be contracted together or separately.
How do we scale this for our whole network?
We have run cohorts that group teachers from dozens to hundreds of schools in parallel, with several time slots so each teacher can choose. Operations are cohort-based, with live groups of 2–5 teachers and consolidated reporting per school. We define the scope together in an initial conversation.
Start with your team
Look at the courses in the catalog, or let us talk about what your institution needs.