Professional Development for Educators
Professional Learning & Professional Development for Educators
Enhance your teaching skills, discover innovative strategies, and expand your resources with iCivics’ on-demand professional development and professional learning offerings.
Invest in Professional Learning Services
Cultivate thriving classrooms with our flexible Professional Learning Services. Our team’s coaching—paired with our best-in-class curriculum—can save you time, build capacity, and positively impact student outcomes in your district.
Self-guided Learning Pathway
Receive 1 year of access to course materials through our online learning management services.
Learn on your own time with 30-60-minute asynchronous course videos.
Receive regular digital communications.
Registration is only $150
Collaborative Learning Pathway
Receive 1 year of access to course materials through our online learning management services.
Learn on your own time with 30-60-minute asynchronous course videos.
Join a six-month cohort that fosters community and interactive collaboration with three 90-minute workshops.
Registration is only $250.
Menu of Services for Individual Offerings
Fostering an Inquiry-based Classroom
Building a culture of inquiry requires creating and using questions, gathering and adapting primary and secondary sources, and scaffolding skills essential to content, disciplinary, and informational literacies.
Objectives:
- Engage informed citizens through inquiry and foster critical thinking and collaboration.
- Build inquiry skills: questions, sources, tasks.
- Create relevant questions, curate primary and secondary sources, and build tasks that scaffold literacy.
- Cultivate classroom inquiry, empowering engaged, informed citizens.
Offered to K-12 Educators
Self-guided Learning Pathway completion time: Approximately 12 hours
Collaborative Learning Pathway completion time: 20 Hours, including three synchronous virtual sessions
Graduate credit opportunities are now available for those who participate in the Collaborative Learning Pathway.
Teaching Media and Information Literacy in the Digital Age
Fostering a healthy democracy starts with building media and information literacy (MIL) skills by equipping educators with the dispositions, skills, and knowledge to teach students how to critically analyze, evaluate, and responsibly act on information.
Objectives:
- Educators will become more mindful of the importance of the “pursuit of accuracy” and recognize that MIL practices are vital for a healthy classroom and democracy.
- Educators will be introduced to the five key practices of MIL–Access, Analyze, Evaluate, Create, Act–and apply strategic inquiry methods, such as lateral reading and effective search strategies.
- Educators will be introduced to the five key practices of MIL–Access, Analyze, Evaluate, Create, Act–and apply strategic inquiry methods, such as lateral reading and effective search strategies.
Offered to K-12 Educators
Self-guided Learning Pathway completion time: Approximately 12 hours
Collaborative Learning Pathway completion time: 20 Hours, including three 60 minute synchronous virtual sessions
Enhancing Elementary Civics and Social Studies
Make Private i History Detectives and our K-5 social studies and civics curriculum come alive in your classroom. This course offers practical strategies and support for seamlessly integrating our inquiry-based methodology.
Objectives:
- Implement dynamic inquiry in elementary classrooms with Private i History Detectives.
- This K-5 social studies and civics curriculum guides educators, fostering student-driven exploration.
- It supports inquiry-based learning, cultivating critical thinking and historical understanding through active investigation.
Offered to K-5 Teachers and Leaders
Self-guided Learning Pathway completion time: Approximately 12 hours
Collaborative Learning Pathway completion time: 20 Hours, including three 60-minute synchronous virtual sessions
Supporting Social Studies Best Practices in Classrooms and Schools
This pathway provides training to instructional leaders to create and foster momentum for pedagogical shifts around inquiry-based learning, information, and media literacy, and implementing iCivics’ core curriculum.
Objectives:
- Empower instructional leaders to support social studies educators. This pathway provides training to create momentum for pedagogical shifts.
- Learn to foster inquiry-based learning, enhance information and media literacy, and effectively implement iCivics’ core curriculum.
- Equip leaders to drive change and enrich student civic engagement.
Offered to school-level instructional coaches & school leaders who support social studies or civics teachers
Self-guided Learning Pathway completion time: Approximately 12 hours
Collaborative Learning Pathway completion time: 20 Hours, including three synchronous virtual sessions
Strengthen your impact in the classroom without stretching your schedule (or your wallet).
Registration closes January 23rd.
Advocating for Professional Learning Funds: Tips and a Template
Don’t let budget constraints limit your professional development goals. Access our guide for proven strategies and a ready-to-use template to make a compelling case for funding to your administrators or district leaders.
Our Unique Approach
Elevate your professional development with our paid professional learning offerings. Grounded in effective practices and standards, our offerings— virtual workshops, asynchronous courses, and community cohorts—provide a valuable and distinct learning experience.
Discover the key differentiators that make our pathways impactful.
Lead with Inquiry
Courses are structured inquiries grounded in a compelling question, with carefully curated, research-based sources and tasks.
Drive Continuous Improvement
Courses create a cycle for educators to learn new strategies, put them into practice, and then reflect and improve.
Foster Collaboration
Courses intentionally create collaborative environments for teachers to learn from one another and share challenges and successes.
Cultivate Leadership
Courses provide supportive coaching, walkthroughs, and constructive feedback that nurture and grow educators into leaders.
Learn with Free Professional Development Webinars
Learn at your convenience with professional development resources available on demand and through live online webinars.
2026 is Here: Seizing the Moment of America’s 250th in the Classroom Webinar
Explore how you can use this national moment to foster deep civic engagement and win support for your school.
We Can Teach Hard Things Series
You can teach hard things—and should! But you don’t have to do it alone. Let iCivics support you as you navigate the growing challenges of teaching essential civics concepts amidst historic polarization.
