California Standards for the Teaching Profession

Developing as a Professional Educator

Professional practice grows through reflection, purposeful learning, collaboration, family and community partnership, responsible management, integrity, and ethical care.

California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) • Practical guide for planning, coaching, reflection, and professional growth

Use this as a professional-learning companion. It does not replace the complete CSTP, California content standards and frameworks, local policy, collective bargaining agreements, credential requirements, legal advice, or the individualized requirements in a student’s IEP or Section 504 plan.

Explore the elements of Standard 6

6.1Reflecting on teaching practice in support of student learning

6.2Establishing professional goals and engaging in continuous and purposeful professional growth and development

6.3Collaborating with colleagues and the broader professional community to support teacher and student learning

6.4Working with families to support student learning

6.5Engaging local communities in support of the instructional program

6.6Managing professional responsibilities to maintain motivation and commitment to all students

6.7Demonstrating professional responsibility, integrity, and ethical conduct

What Effective Practice Looks Like

Use a recurring inquiry cycle: identify a student-learning need, establish a focused goal, try an evidence-informed action, study impact, and revise.
Seek feedback from students, families, colleagues, coaches, and supervisors while protecting confidentiality and professional boundaries.
Contribute to collaborative planning, calibration, intervention, and improvement work with shared responsibility for all students.
Maintain accurate records, meet legal and contractual duties, communicate reliably, and use time and workload systems that support sustainable practice.
Apply professional codes, district policy, due process, mandated-reporting duties, copyright, accessibility, privacy, security, and responsible technology use.

Focus Points for This Standard

Plan intentionally

When law, policy, ethics, and convenience conflict, pause, document, consult the appropriate authority, and protect students.

Teach responsively

Keep professional accounts, devices, communication channels, and relationships appropriately bounded.

Study the impact

Treat generative AI output as unverified assistance, never as an authority or substitute for professional judgment.

Teacher Inquiry Cycle

Identify: Name a specific student-learning opportunity, barrier, or question connected to this standard.
Learn: Gather student, family, curriculum, assessment, and contextual information while protecting privacy.
Design: Choose an evidence-informed strategy, success criteria, access supports, and a feasible way to gather evidence.
Enact: Teach, observe, confer, and make in-the-moment adjustments without losing the intended learning.
Study: Examine student work, participation, explanation, transfer, and student perspective—not implementation alone.
Respond: Keep, adapt, intensify, replace, or discontinue the practice and record the reasoning.

Possible Evidence for Reflection or Coaching

focused professional-growth goals tied to student outcomes
reflection logs and before/after evidence from inquiry cycles
collaboration artifacts showing decisions, responsibilities, and follow-through
family and community partnership records with consent and access considerations
completion records and artifacts related to required duties and professional learning

Evidence caution: No single artifact proves accomplished teaching. Interpret evidence in context, center student learning, use multiple sources, and avoid collecting identifiable student information that is not necessary.

Technology and Software: Purpose Before Product

Purpose	Possible tools	Professional-use guidance
Create and collaborate	professional learning networks and district learning platforms	Use version history, comments, exemplars, and clear roles; explicitly teach digital collaboration.
Elicit and assess	collaborative documents, agendas, decision logs, and project boards	Keep checks low stakes when formative; inspect item quality and pair scores with student work and conversation.
Model and investigate	district-approved family communication and interpretation systems	Require prediction, observation, explanation, and transfer so the tool supports—not replaces—disciplinary thinking.
Access and communicate	calendar, task-management, and secure recordkeeping tools	Follow student plans, provide captions and accessible formats, and use human-reviewed interpretation or translation.
Manage and reflect	video reflection or coaching platforms used only with consent and district approval	Minimize collected data, restrict sharing, use approved accounts, and periodically remove records according to policy.

Software is illustrative, not endorsed. Availability and features change. Before use, follow district approval processes and review accessibility, age restrictions, privacy, security, advertising, data ownership and retention, interoperability, copyright, AI features, and the need for family notice or consent. Never enter confidential student information into an unapproved service.

Questions for Collaborative Reflection

What do students say, do, create, explain, or transfer when this practice is working?
Whose participation or success has changed, and whose has not? What barriers or unintended effects remain?
Does the evidence reflect the intended learning, or might language, disability, technology, background knowledge, or task design be obscuring it?
What is the smallest high-leverage adjustment to test next, and what evidence will show whether it helped?
How will student and family perspectives inform the next decision?

CSTP Reflection Questions

Teachers reflect on their teaching practice to support student learning. They establish professional goals and engage in continuous and purposeful professional growth and development. They collaborate with colleagues and engage in the broader professional community to support teacher and student learning. Teachers learn about and work with families to support student learning. They engage local communities in support of the instructional program. They manage professional responsibilities to maintain motivation and commitment to all students. Teachers demonstrate professional responsibility, integrity, and ethical conduct.