Embedded professional development is more of a coaching model, in which we work with school teams to help them build the skills to lead the work in their own schools. It’s well suited to a variety of professional development programs. Here are some examples of programs that are best implemented through an embedded approach:

• Developing a school’s vision, mission, and expectations for student learning
• Developing school-wide rubrics to assess the school’s academic expectations
• Teaming practices: elementary through high school level teaming, building effective teams in a school and developing the skills of team leaders
• Formative assessment strategies and techniques
• Analyzing data to inform instruction
• Building professional learning communities and
  promoting a school-wide collaborative culture
• Critical Friends Group training
• Supporting and coaching a school’s Accreditation Steering Committee
• Guiding and supporting the Accreditation self-study
• Supporting the work of a school’s literacy team to embed literacy instruction in all content areas
• Professional development and support to school leadership teams; including administrators, curriculum leaders, instructional supervisors, etc.
• Planning and implementing a school’s observation and supervision model
• Building understanding and use of teacher evaluation criteria and practices
• Incorporating instructional practices, such as writing across the curriculum, embedded literacy in all content areas, and others
• Developing and using protocols to monitor and learn about best practices in a school, such as “learning walks” or “walk-throughs”

This list could continue. Many professional development objectives can be met successfully through the use of embedded professional development.