Center to Support Excellence in Teaching

The Center to Support Excellence in Teaching is committed to a vision of education where all students experience success in learning, excellence in teaching, and the elimination of achievement gaps. CSET works in partnership to solve persistent problems of practice by improving the quality of instruction, keeping instructional equity at the center of the work, and developing leading teachers. CSET uses a practice-based approach to instructional improvement. As a result, we focus on core practices and content deepening with an emphasis on improving student outcomes. Reflecting the time and commitment it takes to change teacher practice, we structure our professional learning experiences to include face-to-face experiences in addition to support during the school year through PLC work, content clusters, or video-based coaching. CSET strives to keep equity at the center. Our professional learning experiences utilize research-based approaches that focus on developing cultural competencies, strengthening one’s ability to communicate across cultural lines, and examining the ways in which power and privilege benefit or harm learners. Acknowledging the complexity of keeping equity at the center, we recognize that examining instruction, curriculum, school structures, education policies, and personal beliefs are all included in this process. Another key aspect of our work is teacher leadership. At CSET, we believe that teachers can be empowered to practice real change that will benefit learning and teaching in schools. CSET equips teachers with the leadership practices necessary to lead instructional improvements in their settings. Over the last year and counting, CSET has led 17 projects, reached over 700 teachers, and served over 100,000 students. To learn more about our programs, our community, and our impact, visit our website at https://cset.stanford.edu/.