We expect our faculty to demonstrate the same traits we foster in our students: curiosity, intellectual rigor, and a willingness to try new things. At our all-girls K–8 school, teacher professional development is a key part of how we keep growing, too.

Sometimes, that means attending a seminar and returning with a new approach to a subject. Sometimes, it means learning alongside other educators or spending part of the summer developing an idea with colleagues. Each experience gives teachers an opportunity to consider how to make learning more meaningful for the girls in their classrooms.

At our all-girls school in Austin, teacher professional development is a key part of The Girls’ School of Austin’s (GSA) culture of curiosity.

Teachers spend their days guiding learning. Professional development gives them time to be learners themselves: to explore new research-based best practices, to ask questions, learn what worked for others (and what didn’t), and see how other educators approach their work.

At GSA, those opportunities connect directly to the subjects our teachers teach and the students they know.

This past summer, the Eighth Grade humanities teacher attended a Facing History and Ourselves seminar and incorporated the learning into his Media Studies curriculum. The organization helps educators connect history to questions of identity, ethical choices, and the impact of prejudice.

Both our middle school humanities teachers trained in the R.E.A.L. Discussion method through the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools. Centered on four skills—Relate, Excerpt, Ask, and Listen—the approach helps students connect ideas, use textual evidence, ask thoughtful questions, and listen closely during classroom discussions.

In the Lower School, teachers shared an interest in attending Tang Math conferences, which offer strategies for building students’ mathematical understanding and problem-solving skills. This led GSA to bring Greg Tang himself to campus and invite teachers from other area independent schools to come learn alongside GSA teachers. An interest sparked by teachers became an opportunity to bring that expertise directly into our school and share it with other Austin educators.

These experiences reflect a culture in which teachers help shape their own professional growth. They identify opportunities to deepen their knowledge, stay current with research-based best practices, and consider how a different approach might benefit their students.

For families, the value of teacher professional development is in what happens next.

Our girls will encounter a future where ideas, technologies, and challenges are still taking shape. Preparing them for that future means helping them ask thoughtful questions, consider different perspectives, and approach unfamiliar problems with confidence.

Teachers who stay engaged with new ideas and evolving teaching practices are better equipped to nurture those abilities. They also model the curiosity we encourage in our girls: asking questions, reconsidering assumptions, and remaining open to learning.

Supporting that growth takes more than encouragement. It takes time and resources for teachers to explore what’s possible.

During the school year, teachers’ attention is rightly focused on their students. Exploring a curriculum idea in depth often requires additional time to read, research, plan, and collaborate.

GSA’s summer grants for teacher professional development help create that space by providing stipends that compensate teachers for their summer curriculum work.

Each May, teachers are invited to propose projects that strengthen collaboration, connect subjects, or help student learning opportunities build thoughtfully from one grade to the next. Approximately 10–15 grants are approved annually.

For an independent girls’ school in Austin serving Kindergarten through Eighth Grade, those connections matter. Teachers can consider how a skill introduced in the early years develops as students grow, or how two subjects might work together in an interdisciplinary approach to help girls explore a bigger question.

Before students return to campus in the fall, teachers present their summer grant work to colleagues during Work Week. The ideas become part of a wider conversation, giving other teachers an opportunity to ask questions and identify connections to their own classrooms.

The Phoenix Fund adds another avenue for supporting GSA’s educators. At the 2026 Spring Gala, our community raised more than $115,000 to establish the fund, which is designed to support experiences that complement traditional professional development. Recipients are then asked to share their learning with colleagues through a presentation, Lunch & Learn, or similar gathering.

While summer grants support focused curriculum work, the Phoenix Fund offers additional opportunities for educators to grow through experiences beyond the classroom.

For example:

A member of GSA’s Admin Council is taking Spanish courses as a professional development opportunity to better connect with parents and the broader Austin community. The Phoenix Fund could help deepen that learning through a Spanish-immersion experience in Costa Rica, including a homestay with a local family.

A teacher with the dream of writing a children’s sci-fi novel could apply to a summer writing workshop with a noted children’s author.

A teacher with their sights set on exploring a leadership role in schools might decide to apply for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) to cultivate their skills in a wilderness setting and the Phoenix Fund could provide the financial support to make it a reality.

Together, summer grants and the Phoenix Fund reflect the GSA community’s commitment to investing in the people who power our mission every day.

One accepted summer grant project from this year offers a look at where that investment in teachers’ ideas can lead.

“Interdisciplinary Future Thinking Unit: A Future Where Fashion Supports the World” brought together middle school teachers across science, math, humanities, Spanish, and Future Thinking. Their shared starting point is a question: Imagine a future where fashion supports the world.

Designed for eighth graders in fall 2026, the unit uses fashion to explore connections among sustainability, climate change, artificial intelligence, social justice, and technology.

The goal is to help students draw on different subjects as they consider the future they want to help shape. A topic they recognize from everyday life becomes an opportunity to investigate complex questions and imagine possibilities.

Developing the unit is a learning experience for teachers as well. Through shared planning, they are exploring how to connect their subjects and bring Future Thinking into core academic learning.

It is a concrete example of what summer collaboration can make possible: time for teachers to follow an idea, develop it together, and design something new for their students.

Families searching for the best K–8 girls’ school in Austin for their daughter have many things to consider. How will she be supported? What will spark her curiosity? Who will encourage her to keep trying when something feels difficult?

The teachers guiding her are an essential part of those answers. Supporting their continued learning is one way we invest in the education our girls receive, from their first years in an all-girls elementary school through the challenges and discoveries of middle school.

At the Girls’ School of Austin, we want curiosity to keep opening doors for our students and for the educators helping them grow.

If you’re exploring an all-girls school in Austin, we invite you to explore our programs. To support additional growth opportunities for GSA educators, consider giving to the Phoenix Fund.