Unlocking Pockets of Excellence: How to Identify and Scale Teacher Success

What if the keys to overcoming your students’ learning challenges are already inside your school? In nearly every school across the country, there are classrooms where students achieve remarkable, often unexpected, growth. Year after year, certain teachers consistently surpass proficiency benchmarks on high-stakes tests. Walking into these classrooms, you see students deeply engaged, taking ownership of their learning, and supporting their peers’ success. There is joy in the learning process, strong relationships are built through shared experiences, and students take pride in the results of their hard work.

These “pockets of excellence” exist in nearly every school. The real question is: why do they remain isolated instead of becoming the norm?

Too often, schools lack structured systems for identifying and scaling effective practices. Exceptional teaching stays within individual classrooms because schools don’t have clear processes for recognizing and sharing what works. But by systematically identifying these bright spots, schools can transform isolated successes into a foundation for broader instructional excellence.

A Framework for Scaling Success

To put this process into action, follow a simple, repeatable cycle that you can use again and again:

By embedding these steps into an ongoing school improvement process, school leaders can ensure that successful teaching practices spread across classrooms. Here’s how to put this into action.

Step One: Identify the “Who”

Start by gathering state testing and district benchmark results across multiple years. Look at the data with curiosity, analyzing it from multiple angles. Avoid averages, as they can be skewed by extreme scores. Instead, focus on percent proficiency and student growth over time.

Consider these key questions:

Are there teachers whose students consistently outperform expectations?
Do these results hold steady over the past two or three years?
Are similar patterns evident when cross-referencing state assessments with district benchmark data?
What trends emerge across grade levels or subject areas?

Step Two: Analyze the “What”

Once standout teachers are identified, the next step is to understand what they are doing differently. Gather a team of administrators, instructional coaches, and teacher leaders to observe their classrooms, looking for key instructional practices that contribute to student achievement.

These questions can guide the observations:

How does the teacher foster student engagement and motivation?
What strategies are used to maximize instructional time?
How are curriculum materials utilized in ways that enhance learning?
What research-based instructional strategies are evident?
What does the classroom environment communicate about student learning?

As a team, determine the best method for gathering as much information as possible through the observations. It may be best to visit the classroom in pairs, being sure to capture all parts of the day in your observations. Having two perspectives is valuable because different people notice different things. Be transparent with the teacher, letting them know that they have been identified as having outstanding success and the purpose of the observations is to begin to determine the causes of success.

Step Three: Discover the “How”

After observations, engage in deeper conversations with the teacher to uncover the details behind their success. These discussions often reveal subtle yet impactful strategies that aren’t immediately visible. This can be conducted as a team, or as a one-on-one conversation.

Key questions to ask:

What do you believe are the keys to your students’ success?
How do you cultivate student motivation and investment in their learning?
What strategies do you use to increase student cognitive engagement?
How do you use instructional materials to support learning?
Walk us through a lesson from beginning to end—what intentional choices do you make?

Teachers are often surprised by the depth of these discussions, realizing that what seems second nature to them can be transformative when shared with colleagues. Across these conversations, three consistent themes emerge: teacher clarity, student engagement, and relational teaching.

Step Four: Scale the Success

Identifying best practices is only the first step—the real challenge is spreading these practices across the school. The key is creating structured, sustainable ways for teachers to learn from one another.

Practical Strategies for Scaling Success:

Peer Observations – Arrange for teachers to visit standout classrooms using the same observation guide from Step Two. Encourage them to reflect on strategies they can implement in their own classrooms.
Collaborative Planning Sessions – Provide opportunities for teachers to co-plan lessons with high-impact educators, learning their approach firsthand.
Lunch & Learns – Create informal spaces where teachers can share and discuss instructional strategies over lunch.
Teacher-Led Professional Development – Instead of traditional PD sessions, empower teachers to lead learning based on their expertise and success.
Action Research – Encourage teachers to experiment with new strategies in a supportive, low-risk environment and reflect on the outcomes.

Addressing Common Barriers

Many teachers hesitate to showcase their strengths, fearing they’ll appear boastful. They also deeply respect their colleagues’ skills, making them reluctant to position themselves as experts. School leaders can ease these concerns by shifting the focus to collaboration over competition and framing the process as a way to improve student success collectively.

Additionally, no single teacher’s approach will work for everyone. The goal isn’t to replicate styles but to identify the core principles that drive success and empower all teachers to integrate them in ways that align with their unique classrooms. This process harnesses the power of collective efficacy, which John Hattie’s research¹ identifies as one of the most significant factors influencing student achievement. When teachers believe in their collective ability to impact student learning, outcomes improve schoolwide. Every teacher thrives when the entire team grows together—but growth doesn’t mean uniformity. Instead, it means leveraging individual strengths within a shared commitment to excellence.

A Continuous Learning Cycle

Scaling instructional excellence isn’t a one-time initiative—it’s an ongoing process. By revisiting these steps regularly, schools can refine strategies, adapt to new challenges, and ensure that best practices reach every classroom.

When schools commit to this process, the results extend beyond test scores—fostering engaged students, motivated teachers, and a thriving learning community. By building a culture of shared learning and continuous improvement, schools can transform isolated excellence into a schoolwide standard of success.

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