Pao School welcomed two groups of experts this week, as part of the Excellence in Young Teachers' Development Programme review. The mathematics team has completed its final project with excellent outcome, while the Chinese team delivered a successful mid term presentation, demonstrating solid interim progress. Experts from the Municipal Education Commission gathered with school leaders and project team members to review the projects' progress. The progress of the two teams highlights Pao School’s strengths in professional development and innovation in teaching.
Commending both project teams, President Madam Xu Yongchu said: “What matters most to us is the full cycle, from proposal and implementation through to evaluation. This provides a model for a teacher research community, using project‑based research to develop outstanding teaching teams. Through professional learning structures, focused sub-projects, and cross-grade collaboration, teachers grow from practitioners into researchers, collaborators, and even innovators, allowing individual strengths and team development to advance together."
Mathematics team
On 10 November, the Mathematics team underwent the final on-site assessment for their project, titled 'Building an Outstanding Young Teachers Team Focused on Cultivating Students’ Mathematical Modelling and Enquiry Abilities', during which attendees reviewed the project's outcomes.
The programme review comprised outcome reports, classroom demonstrations and expert feedback. In her opening remarks, Zang Na, Deputy Principal, outlined the school’s “International+” curriculum framework and emphasised its strong teaching faculty. She highlighted the school’s institutional support for teaching and research in mathematical modelling, which provided a solid foundation for the project.
Project leader Yingkai Li presented the final report, outlining a collaborative model centred on “task‑driven engagement, collective in‑depth development, and specialised focus.” He unveiled the team’s self‑developed five‑step mathematical modelling teaching system and their co‑authored volume, A Guide to Math Modeling Teaching: Theory, Methods, and Selected Student Works. Team members Jessica Yang, Vicky Yi, Yifan Shen and Lisa Liu then gave practical examples, from topic selection and competition coaching to curriculum development, demonstrating how the initiative cultivates individual expertise within a cooperative framework.
Teacher Jeff Zhang then gave a classroom demonstration entitled ‘Research on Student Text Evaluation Based on Mathematical Modelling Activities’. The student‑centred lesson illustrated the tangible outcomes of modelling‑based instruction and drew high praise from the visiting experts, who commended the team’s strong teaching‑research capabilities and observed that publishing the work as a book was an effective way of translating research into practice.
The experts recommended strengthening the links between classroom practice, curriculum design and research projects, sharing the team’s achievements more widely, and encouraging greater participation from other schools.
Chinese team
On 12 November, the Chinese team underwent the mid-term evaluation meeting for their project 'Educational Drama Practice Research Guided by Core Chinese Literacy', during which attendees reviewed the project's progress and charted next steps.
The event began with some opening remarks by President Xu Yongchu, which were followed by a detailed mid-term report, team presentations, a live classroom demonstration and a feedback session with the expert panel. In her welcoming address, President Xu Yongchu thanked the panel for their guidance, outlined the school’s history and curricular strengths, and reaffirmed Pao School’s steadfast commitment to teacher development and to fully supporting the Programme.
The project leader, Monica Chen, then delivered the team’s mid-term report. Supported by extensive case studies and quantitative data, she reviewed their work in curriculum design, classroom practice and applied research, demonstrating how collaborative structures have propelled both individual and collective professional development.
Next, team members Yingyu Le, Rena Yue, Bella Lu, Rochelle Ding and David Xiong shared insights from their respective research areas. The topics ranged from teacher training and educational drama guidance to differentiated instructional design and curriculum resource creation.
During the classroom demonstration, Ms Zhao Dan gave a lesson on ‘Oh, Xiangxue’, employing the ‘freeze-frame’ technique to encourage students to explore character nuances and historical context through expressive movement and inner monologue.
In their concluding remarks, the expert panel praised the team’s clear, practical research objectives, steady progress and rich portfolio of case studies. They recommended further systematisation of the research framework, greater refinement and wider dissemination of findings, and broader teacher participation in pedagogical innovation to elevate the quality of private education across Shanghai.
Supported by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission’s private-education excellence platform, the school has assembled a top-tier teaching team and achieved outstanding student results — including four students admitted to the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Both teams will embrace the experts’ recommendations, continue championing model instruction, refine team-building, deepen inter-school collaboration and uphold the motto “advance teaching through research and learning through teaching,” all to cultivate graduates who combine innovative thinking with practical, real-world skills.
*A special thank you to the High School Mathematics and Chinese Department for their contribution to this article.
