Why One-Day Workshops Fail and What Actually Sustains English Learner Growth

Most educators can relate to this experience: A powerful one-day workshop sparks excitement, ideas feel fresh, and motivation is high. But weeks later, classroom practice looks largely the same. This isn’t because teachers don’t care or because the training wasn’t engaging. It’s because lasting instructional change requires more than exposure. For English Learners, improvement depends on consistent, intentional, and supported practice over time.

Research consistently shows that stand-alone professional development events rarely lead to sustained instructional change, particularly when teachers are expected to implement new practices without follow-up, coaching, or collaboration. Teacher transformation is not an event. It’s a process.

Schools that see measurable gains for English Learners share one common feature: professional learning is ongoing and job-embedded. Sustained EL-focused staff development includes:

•  Multiple touchpoints over time
• Opportunities to practice
• Reflection and feedback loops
• Collective responsibility across content areas

This approach shifts professional learning from something teachers attend to something teachers live.

Job-embedded professional development meets teachers where the work actually happens in classrooms, with real students, real lessons, and real constraints. Instead of asking teachers to figure it out later, job-embedded PD supports them to:

•  Plan lessons with explicit language objectives
• Anticipate linguistic demands of content
•  Practice scaffolding academic language in real time
• on student language production not just task completion

This is especially critical for English Learners, whose success depends on intentional language development embedded within content instruction.

Sustained professional development thrives when teachers are not working in isolation. Coaching and collaborative structures help teachers:

• Refine instructional moves
• Normalize productive struggle
• Build confidence implementing new strategies
• Shift beliefs about English Learners’ capabilities

When coaching is non-evaluative and growth-focused, teachers are more willing to take instructional risks. Peer coaching provides a powerful model for transforming professional learning from compliance to collective efficacy.

Effective, sustained staff development for English Learners often includes:

• A shared instructional framework such as
• Ongoing institutes or multi-session learning cycles
• Guided classroom application between sessions
• Structured reflection and peer dialogue
• Leadership alignment and administrative support

When these elements are in place, professional learning stops being fragmented and starts becoming systemic.

Districts that successfully support English Learners don’t ask, “What workshop should we offer this year?” They ask: “How do we build a system that continuously improves instruction for English Learners?” That shift from events to systems is where real transformation happens.

Sustained honors the complexity of teaching English Learners and respects teachers as learners who need time, support, and structure to grow.

At TESOL Trainers, our professional development is intentionally designed to move beyond one-day workshops. Our work focuses on

• Sustained learning over time
• Language-centered instructional practices
• Practical strategies teachers can use immediately
• Systems that support long-term growth for English Learners.

Whether through our popular or coaching-based models, we partner with schools to ensure professional learning leads to real classroom impact.

If your district is ready to move beyond one-day workshops and build professional learning that truly supports English Learners, we’re here to help. Explore TESOL Trainers’ English Learner Institute to discover how sustained, language-focused learning can transform instruction across your schools. 

To learn about our systemic and sustainable peer coaching program, iCOACH™, contact Dr. John Kongsvik directly.