Special educators who work with students with significant behavior support needs require professional development opportunities that provide practice-based professional development and create the social support inherent in communities of practice. We outline a practice-based professional development model with follow-up sessions using the U.S. state of New Mexico’s Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes to build authentic learning opportunities and support educators through a community of practice lens. We present an example illustrating one district’s approach to designing professional learning systems. We also offer recommendations and resources for designing impactful professional learning systems.
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