How to Create a Thriving Drop-In Culture

Some of the best, most relevant professional development can happen when teachers step out of the silo of their own classroom to observe other teachers hard at work. But in the day-to-day busyness of school, there’s rarely time for regular peer observation. 

Three years ago, when Erika Kersey became principal of Greenville Elementary School in Virginia, she decided to capitalize on this untapped potential by creating structured, low-stakes opportunities for teachers to learn from each other. She began by launching a two-week initiative called “Learning Walks”—encouraging teachers to step into each other’s classrooms for 15-minute informal observations, and to welcome colleagues into their own. 

The walks weren’t tied to evaluations or paperwork. The goal, Kersey said, was simply to create space for teachers to observe new approaches and encourage each other. “We have really phenomenal people in our schools, and there are no better people our teachers can learn from than from each other.” 

Today, Greenville teachers pop into each other’s classrooms regularly—not only during Learning Walk weeks—and use the visits to find new instructional approaches, troubleshoot classroom management, and preview what their students will encounter in future grades. “It’s morphed into more of a schoolwide drop-in culture; a less formal way to do peer observation,” Kersey said. 

Opening classroom doors to low-stakes adult learning has paid dividends for the school’s educators. For first-year teacher Jordan Flis, visiting seasoned colleagues helps counteract her perfectionist tendencies. “I get to see so many classrooms and so many other teachers and realize that every teacher is different and does things in their own way,” she said. “There’s not a specific script, which is helpful to realize as a new teacher.” 

Research shows educators crave the informal, collegial feedback structure Kersey has created and find it more useful than occasional administrative evaluations. The effort can also lead to better student outcomes: A 2021 study of 1,300 ELA and math teachers found that monthly peer observations led to student gains equivalent to two to four additional weeks of instructional time—and the teachers who observed colleagues saw their own students experience a similar academic boost. 

For Kersey, the school culture payoff is also important. “The biggest benefit is building this culture of collaboration and trust within the school community,” she said, which results in stronger relationships, more collaboration, and as a result, better instruction.

Here are some best practices Kersey developed for starting a successful drop-in observation culture. 

Step 1: Lay a Strong Foundation 

To help drop-in visits gain traction, Kersey recommends beginning with a clear structure and timeline. “If you just push it out once, people forget about it,” she said. “Having a specific period of time—a week, or two weeks, for example—where it is really encouraged is important.”

It’s helpful to launch a program with a few key “look-fors,” to help orient teachers to the practice. For example, Kersey said, teachers might look for feedback or new ideas specifically around teaching literacy, or how to deploy quick ways to check for understanding during math lessons.

In an article she wrote for The Principal Project last year, Kersey suggests three post-visit forms teachers can complete: 

• A feedback card for quick affirmations. Teachers post the cards outside their doors when it’s a good time for a drop-in, and observers use them to highlight useful strategies and validate a colleague’s expertise.
• A reflection sheet for noting specific strategies observed, examples of how they were used, and follow-up questions. This, Kersey wrote, “encourages educators to seek out the tools and solutions they need but stay open to new ideas, too.”
• A professional learning form for long-term growth, helping teachers “define the apples-to-apples resource they needed, reflect on what they found, and make connections to practice goals.”

The important thing, Kersey said, is that the observing teachers engage in reflection, which helps new learning stick, but also creates purpose around the visits. Once the program is underway, teacher reflection can become lower-lift: a small slip they fill out and share with each other that provides encouragement or useful advice, for instance.

Step 2: Build in Leeway 

Although it helps to start with a degree of formal structure, Kersey is careful not to overengineer things, especially once teachers are in the drop-in observation habit. She doesn’t require teachers to report back to her, and doesn’t collect forms from them. She also lets teachers decide which areas they’d like to focus on. 

As a result, most drop-in visits align with her teachers’ professional learning goals for the year. “If they’re not feeling very confident in certain areas, say they’re focusing on improving phonics instruction, or facilitating effective group instruction, they can use these visits to see how other teachers approach things,” Kersey said.  

This freedom keeps drop-in visits appealing to veteran teachers as well as novices, says second-grade teacher Amanda Steinard. Steinard, now in her 14th year of teaching, said she appreciates the affirmation she gets from newer teachers visiting her classroom, but also loves doing targeted visits herself. One of her goals this year is to refine her writing instruction, and she is planning to drop in on a fourth-grade teacher pursuing the same goal. “I’d like to see how things are going, and how I can adapt what she’s trying to the second grade level.”  

Step 3: Plan for Coverage

For drop-in observations to work, schools need a system to free teachers up to step out of their classrooms. “You can’t just say, do this on your planning time, or do this during lunch. There needs to be a coverage plan,” Kersey said. Her recommendation: Leverage the leadership team. “The benefits for us are just as good as the benefits for teachers.” 

At Greenville, teachers use a shared calendar to see each other’s schedules and pinpoint specific content blocks they want to observe. If those blocks occur while they’re teaching, they can use a link to Kersey’s calendar to book a 20-minute slot for her to cover their class. 

Covering classes has become an unintended benefit. “It’s a good excuse to be in the classroom,” Kersey said. Students enjoy having her there, and periodically putting on her teacher hat makes it easier to connect with her staff. “When I jump in and work with kids on structured literacy, for example, it’s hard. And that’s great for me to realize because I can empathize with my teachers so much more.” 

Being in classrooms also helps reveal small but important gaps to leaders, Kersey says. During one coverage stint, she noticed that new vocabulary cards she’d purchased for teachers lacked a convenient storage spot. “I wouldn’t have thought about that issue unless I was sitting in the teacher’s chair myself.” 

During Learning Walk weeks, Kersey may cover two classes a day, but outside of those periods, she covers once or twice a week. With a staff of just 25 the system is “totally manageable,” but she said larger schools can distribute the load across more administrators and instructional assistants. Some leaders worry they won’t be able to teach effectively when covering a class, but Kersey encourages them to try. “You don’t have to know how to teach all the things,” she said. “It’s just 15 minutes. Our substitutes don’t know how to teach all of the things and it’s fine.” 

Step 4: Give PD Credit 

To keep participation steady, Kersey gives teachers professional development credit for drop-in visits. “This, in my opinion, is one of the best job embedded ways to do professional learning,” Kersey said, “which is why I believe teachers should get some credit for it.”

At Greenville, even though drop-in visits last around 15 minutes, teachers receive up to an hour of credit. “They may only be in the classroom for 15 minutes, but they’re spending more than that time reflecting on what they’ve seen, having follow-up conversations about it, and then implementing it.” 

Steinard said these credits are a major incentive—and a practical one. “Some teachers will take advantage of the program even if the PD credit is not there, but not everybody,” she said. “If you want to get the masses to really participate, giving that professional development helps. It’s a bit harder these days to get those hours in, and so it provides a good incentive for teachers.” 

Step 5: Keep it Low Stakes 

A big part of making drop-in visits work, Kersey said, is trusting staff and not weighing the process down with administrative tasks like reporting back to admin or filling out tedious forms. “I trust that if they say they did a Learning Walk and it was beneficial for them, it was.” 

She keeps the program optional, though visits are “highly encouraged.” As teachers experience the upsides of a thriving drop-in culture, momentum builds. 

Some teachers are hesitant at first—especially newer teachers, or those coming from schools where drop-in visits weren’t the norm. “It’s a risk to leave your classroom for a bit, and it’s an even bigger risk when people are coming into your classroom to watch you,” Kersey said. “You have to let teachers get over that initial fear and then come out the other end realizing, oh, that wasn’t so bad.” 

Before her first drop-in observation, Flis said she felt that fear acutely. “I thought, ‘Oh no, what if I’m doing something wrong?’” But after receiving encouraging, constructive feedback, her concern faded. “I knew that whoever came in next would give me positive feedback I could use to improve, not just be like, you did this and this wrong.”

A central goal, Kersey said, is to ensure the visits never feel like a formal evaluation. “This is just for them and their own learning,” she said. Ironically, after teachers participate in a few cycles, it tends to make formal evaluations smoother because teachers are more accustomed to interacting with her and experiencing her regular presence in their classrooms.