Wicht Consulting

Your PD isn't failing. Your implementation support is.
For 30 years—as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, curriculum designer, and now implementation consultant—I've watched the same frustrating pattern repeat:
Teachers attend excellent professional development.
They leave energized with pages of notes and genuine intention to implement.
And then... nothing changes.

The data is sobering:
📉 Only 10-15% of PD learning transfers to sustained classroom practice
⏰ Most new strategies disappear within 6-8 weeks
💰 That means 85-90% of PD investment is wasted

But here's the thing: It's not because the training is bad. It's not because teachers lack commitment.

It's because the implementation support systems don't exist.

The breaking point for me came during a follow-up visit where fewer than 20% of teachers were implementing anything from our "excellent" PD six months later.

The principal pulled me aside: "Sara, the training was great. But we need help with what happens next."

That conversation changed everything. I started researching what actually makes PD transfer into sustained practice change.
The answer? Six specific factors that most schools at least partially ignore.

Over the next few weeks, I'm breaking down each one—what it is, why it matters, and how to build it in your context.

Follow along if you're tired of PD that doesn't stick.
And if you're a school or district leader ready to stop wasting PD budgets and start building systematic implementation support, let's talk. Send me a message or visit my website (link in comments).

For 13 minutes during the Super Bowl halftime show, some Americans experienced what many of our students feel every single day--being in a space that wasn't designed for them.

As educators, we need to sit with what that reveals.

When students bring languages, cultures, or experiences we don't understand, we have a choice: move toward curiosity or pull away into comfort.

Staying in the Room: What 13 Minutes of Discomfort Revealed About Our Schools This piece was inspired by Dr. James Borishade's LinkedIn post reflecting on Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show. I'm grateful for his insight and encourage you to read his full reflection.Sometimes a cultural moment reveals patterns we've been living with all along but couldn't quite see. The reac...

Civic engagement has always been at the heart of American democracy.

https://www.sarawichtconsulting.com/post/the-work-between-protests

The Work Between Protests Federal forces are occupying Minnesota as I write this. Life in parts of the state is being patrolled and policed by a paramilitary federal force. People are responding with protests, with public statements, with lawsuits, with visible resistance. This is action, and it's necessary. There's other wo...

On grief, solidarity, and the messy conversation...

When Fear Centers Us: Navigating Grief Without Erasure On grief, solidarity, and staying in the messy conversation...A friend sent me a message this week that made me pause. She was frustrated - deeply frustrated - with what she called "finger-wagging purity politics" in progressive spaces. She'd shared her fear and grief about an ICE agent killing Rene...

Real talk: I default to either/or thinking when I'm stressed.

"Either this way OR that way"
"Either I succeed OR I fail"
"Either we do it my way OR yours"
"Either I'm productive OR I rest"
"Either I speak up OR I keep the peace"

But what if both could be true?
This week, I'm practicing a Binary Awareness Challenge—just noticing when either/or thinking shows up. No fixing, just awareness.
Here's the simple 5-step practice:
1️⃣ Track it: Notice moments when you sort situations into either/or categories
2️⃣ Spot cultural patterns: Where are you forcing people or practices into binary choices?
3️⃣ Identify triggers: What prompts your binary thinking? (Stress, time pressure, conflict, unfamiliarity)
4️⃣ Question it: Ask yourself, "What am I missing by flattening this into two options?"
5️⃣ Journal it: Reflect on one binary you challenged this week and what you discovered

Two questions I'm using:
✍️ "Where am I creating false choices out of fear or habit?"
✍️ "What am I missing by thinking in either/or?"

The goal isn't to eliminate all structure or decision-making—it's to expand what we see as possible before we choose.
Trying this with me? Tell me one either/or you're wrestling with right now.

Dialogue OVER Debate

(Bonus Post)

We tend to fall into debate more quickly than into dialogue for several interconnected reasons.

🧠 Our brains are built to quickly identify threats and defend against them. When our ideas are challenged, it can trigger fight-or-flight.

🏅 Many societies reward competitive thinking and see disagreement as a zero-sum game where someone must be right and someone wrong.

😇 Our beliefs often become part of our identity. It can feel personal when they're questioned.

⏰ Debate feels faster. Dialogue requires patience, curiosity, and the mental energy to hold multiple POVs simultaneously.

🎭 In groups, there's often pressure to take sides, show loyalty, or demonstrate expertise. Dialogue doesn't require taking sides; it is collaborative, which can be mistaken as weakness.

🔒 A fear of change can prevent us from truly listening to understand another perspective. For many of us, it's scary to admit we were wrong or take action we'd rather avoid.

The irony is that while debate feels like it gets results faster, dialogue often leads to more sustainable solutions and stronger relationships.

Been making updates...
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Check out some of our newest projects.

Wicht Consulting Wicht Consulting offers expertise in anti-bias education, literacy instruction, equity and diversity, and inclusive practice.

Pre-school-workshops...
That moment when you leave a workshop feeling like you're about to revolutionize your classroom...

and then (3 weeks later) reality hits 📚✨

If this sounds familiar, it's not you—it's how we typically approach professional learning!

Most workshops help us understand WHY something works, but classroom magic happens when we develop all four levels of knowledge:
• Understanding the concept ✓
• Learning the actual steps ✓
• Knowing when to adapt ✓
• Becoming flexibly masterful ✓

When we create space for teachers to grow through all these levels, sustainable change happens 🌱

Read more at: https://bit.ly/47CZvFv

From Understanding to Mastery: A Progressive Approach to Professional Learning How many times do you attend a workshop on an exciting new strategy, leave feeling energized and ready to transform your classroom, and then...reality hits! Within weeks, you're back to your old methods, the new strategy gathering dust in a proverbial folder somewhere. If this scenario resonates, yo...

What happens AFTER the workshop? (Usually not much... but it doesn't have to be that way!)

This interactive session, designed for K12 leaders who influence professional learning in their schools, explores research-backed factors that dramatically increase the successful transfer of professional development to practice.

Drawing from my Ph.D. research, I'll guide participants through six key factors that enhance PD implementation and maximize your ROI.

Through practical examples and collaborative discussions, attendees will:
📊 Assess current professional development systems
🏗️ Evaluate job-embedded support structures
📋 Develop action plans for strengthening implementation

This 4-hour online workshop combines whole-group dialogue with small-group work, allowing participants to create before, during, and after PD strategies tailored to their unique contexts.

Workshop Details:
📅 Friday, June 13, 2025 ⏰ 8:30 - 12:30 HST / 2:30 - 6:30 EST
💻 Online via Zoom 💰 $75 per person (Scholarships available)
REGISTER: https://lnkd.in/gYxWT7ga

📰 The Power of Headlines: Practice Digital and Critical Literacy

Ever notice how different news outlets cover the same story? Check out this analysis of 5 major headlines and their varying coverage across the political spectrum.

Key findings:
Word choice matters
Context shapes perception
Multiple sources needed

Read the full analysis here https://www.sarawichtconsulting.com/post/reading-between-the-lines-how-headlines-shape-our-digital-reality to strengthen your media literacy skills.

Reading Between the Lines: How Headlines Shape Our Digital Reality In an era where headlines flood our social media feeds and news travels at the speed of a click, the ability to critically evaluate information has never been more crucial. Digital literacy - the skill to navigate, analyze, and verify online content - serves as our compass in an ocean of competing n...