A Customized Professional Development Series on Best Classroom Practices

MarcoPolo Let's Learn takes a strengths-based approach to professional development, helping educators grow in existing skills and capacities to improve classroom quality and learning outcomes.

Our Approach

Customizable

We work with our partners to identify their goals and build Professional Development opportunities tailored to their specific needs. The topics, format (live online, in-person, on-demand), language (English & Spanish) are all customizable.

Continuous

One-off Professional Development session doesn't work. We provide resources and tools that give teachers ongoing support to apply their learning back into the classrooms.

Cultivating

We provide a strength-based approach to Professional Development. Teachers are supported in identifying and developing their strengths.

Research-Based

We ensure that evidence-based teaching practices, classroom management, activities, differentiated instruction, and discussion questions support teachers with everything they need.

Ready to build your custom professional development program?

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Tools to promote classroom quality

Our easy-to-use planning tools and guides support teachers in providing quality instruction and personalized learning in the classroom and at home.

Engaging video content

Every video includes an instructional guide and activities that align with your curriculum.

Embedded instructional practice

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Behavior management tools

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Support family engagement

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A Program that Meets Your Professional Learning Needs

Our team of educational experts will work with you to design a program that meets the unique needs of your educators. From professional development topics to ongoing teacher support, we take a collaborative approach to customize to your needs.


High quality and flexible. Each of our courses is delivered by one of our trained early childhood practitioners with many years of classroom experience. The course can be delivered in-person, live virtually, or on-demand with recorded video sessions.

Interactive and engaging. Our course isn't the traditional one-off PD session. Each course is broken down into bite-size sessions and is high interactive. Educators will have multiple opportunities to learn, reflect, discuss, as well as to apply the learning into their classrooms. They will also receive tool tips throughout the course to reinforce concepts taught in sessions.

Ongoing coaching support. Each week, our instructors host live office hours for educators to pop in and ask questions, talk through scenarios, and discuss best practices to reinforce their learning journey.

Course Catalog

We work with you to determine the best courses to support your teachers.
Every course can be delivered in-person, live virtually, or on-demand.

5 Discourse Moves to Strengthen Child-Teacher Interactions

4
hours

Understand effective and practical strategies to shape language that will have immediate impacts on educator-child interactions.

Leveraging Family’s Strengths to Increase Family Engagement

4
hours

Acquire easy and effective ways to promote manageable family engagement, with a special emphasis on leveraging technology.

Developmentally Appropriate Ways to Boost Kindergarten Readiness

4
hours

Analyze pivotal research connected to kindergarten readiness, as well as how to set children up for success in kindergarten, both in math and literacy.

Social and Emotional Development: Teaching Self-Management Tools

4
hours

Develop ways to support children as they learn to identify their emotions (self-awareness) and gain effective tools to help children with self-management.

Materials Matter: Diversifying Your Instructional Learning Formats

4
hours

Learn how to assess the quality of your instructional materials as well as expand on the modalities you consider for instruction.

Cultivating Children’s Interests

4
hours

Use best methods to cultivate children's curiosity and acknowledge their interests by improving responsiveness, asking open-ended questions, etc.

Meet Your Instructors

At MarcoPolo, our professional development is provided by a team of exceptional early childhood educators. With expertise and a genuine passion for early childhood teaching, they understand firsthand what it takes to be an outstanding educator.

to Linkedin
Meredith Jester
Senior Manager, Education
Ms. Jester has seven years of elementary classroom and teaching experience where she focused on creating engaging learning experiences for students with diverse needs. She holds a M.A. in Elementary Education and Teaching from Brown University.
to Linkedin
Ashley Smith-Santos
Senior Manager, Curriculum and Professional Development
Ms. Smith-Santos has eight years of elementary classroom teaching and curriculum development experience. Her work and research focuses on developing social emotional curriculum for diverse learning populations. Ms. Smith-Santos received her M.A. in Literacy from Teachers College at Columbia University.
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Nermeen Dashoush, PhD
Chief Learning Officer
Dr. Dashoush is the founding educator and Chief Learning Officer at MarcoPolo Learning. Currently, she is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Boston University, where she teaches child development, STEM for educators, educational technology, and teacher preparation courses. Dr. Dashoush received her Ph.D in STEM Education and Masters in Curriculum and Teaching from Columbia University.

Our Pathway to Quality

We created a solution that provides ongoing support for educators to raise classroom quality. Learn from our research-based Professional Development and training on best classroom practices. Engage children using our resources with embedded PD to put learning into practice, and Share with families to foster effective family engagement.

Professional Development and Training

Our tailored Professional Development and training are integrated with research-based strategies and best classroom practices, providing educators with practical tactics to elevate teaching and learning.

Educators learn to:

  • Ask purposeful questions
  • Provide emotional support for children
  • Understand different learning styles
  • Respond to children in meaningful ways
  • Differentiate instruction for diverse learners
  • Extend learning and engage with families

MarcoPolo For Educators

MarcoPolo For Educators is an easy-to-use educator platform, aligned with early childhood curricula, that provides a suite of content and tools to help create a quality classroom environment and put teachers's professional learning into practice.

MarcoPolo For Educators includes:

  • 1,500+ videos and resources aligned to your curriculum
  • Content in English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese
  • A Modified English version to support diverse learning needs
  • Open-ended questions to foster quality teacher-child discourse
  • Inquiry-based activities to promote curiosity and extend learning
  • Alignments with assessment tools such as Teachstone's CLASS®

MarcoPolo For Families

MarcoPolo For Families is our award-winning app that allows families to stay connected to your classroom, extends learning from school to home, and fosters meaningful caregiver-child interactions.

Educators can engage families with:

  • Customized learning playlists for each child
  • Individualized video messages to caregivers and children
  • MarcoPolo Let's Talk™, a unique way to foster caregiver-child conversations based on their child's interests
  • 3,000+ contextualized learning games that build early literacy, math, and executive functioning skills
  • 800+ learning videos available in both Spanish and English
  • Easy and effective family engagement activities

Frequently asked questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Can’t find the answer you’re looking for?
Send us a message.

Is your PD offered online or in-person?

Our instructor-led professional development sessions are primarily offered online through our LMS. However, for larger groups we do offer an in-person option. Please contact us to determine which format is right for you.

Can I earn credits or CEUs?

Yes! Participants will earn 4 in-service hours for each course. Participants can opt in for CEU's or CPE credits if requested.

Does your professional development align to any standards?

Our professional development series is designed by a group of early childhood education experts, reflecting on research-based strategies and best classroom practices. We align with measurement tools such as Teachstone's CLASS and many curriculum and state standards. For specific alignment to a standard you use, please contact us for more details.

How much does your professional development cost?

Cost depends on the size of your group and the number of courses that are being offered. Please contact us for a quote. All subscribers to MarcoPolo For Educators get access to our on-demand professional development videos at no additional cost.

How can I sign up for a course?

To sign up, please contact us and we'll work with you to determine the right course and program.
Prior to these [PD] videos, I felt like I struggled with finding other interesting ways to incorporate math into our day. I will most definitely be able to use number cards, movement games, and some of the MarcoPolo videos to create meaningful math opportunities in various points of the day vs just in math groups.
Arika Marshall
Teacher, Precious Children in the Highlands Preschool
Read Success Stories
"After this professional development session, I have more confidence in my ability to teach math concepts and I am also more comfortable using the MarcoPolo program."
Barbara Kegley
Teacher, Treehouse Preschool Academy
Read Success Story