Top 5 Classroom Management Professional Development Courses for Teachers in 2026

Classroom management is one of the most essential skills for today’s teachers. As classrooms evolve, teachers need strategies that support diverse learners, reduce disruptions, and create environments where students feel safe, motivated, and ready to learn. CE Credits Online continues to offer research‑based, accredited professional development courses that helps teachers strengthen these skills while earning credits for recertification or salary advancement.

Below are the top five classroom management courses for 2026, selected for their relevance, practicality, and proven impact in real classrooms.

1. Building Classroom Culture

A strong classroom culture is the foundation of effective management. This course helps teachers explore the key tenets of social emotional learning, culturally-responsive teaching, and positive relationships that set students up for success from day one. Educators learn how to build community, create a positive learning environment, and implement proactive strategies that reduce behavioral issues before they start.

Best for: Teachers seeking a structured, relationship‑centered approach to classroom management.

2. Creating Compassionate Classrooms: Overcoming Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)

More students are entering classrooms with experiences that affect their behavior, focus, and emotional regulation. This course equips teachers with the tools to recognize trauma‑related behaviors and respond with empathy, consistency, and effective support. This course will allow educators to implement compassionate school methods into a district by replacing traditional, punitive methods of discipline with positive behavior intervention supports, incorporating SEL in the curriculum, partnering with community members to mitigate the effects of poverty, and addressing all barriers for students with complex needs.

Best for: Teachers working in high‑needs environments or seeking to better support students with emotional and behavioral challenges.

3. Creating School Environments Free from Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying

Bullying prevention is a critical component of classroom management. This course provides actionable strategies to identify early signs of bullying, intervene effectively, and build a classroom culture where students feel respected and protected. Sadly, many students have been subject to harassment, intimidation, and bullying in schools. The situation is worse when students are discriminated against or targeted for their immutable characteristics. These include, but are not limited to, sex, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, and ELL status. This course will examine bullying through the framework of Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB) law and theory - which is the foundation of many states’ anti-bullying policies.

Best for: Teachers who want to strengthen their prevention and intervention skills to reduce conflict and improve student well‑being.

4. Providing Effective Feedback to Foster Student Learning

Clear, constructive feedback is one of the most powerful tools for improving student behavior and academic performance. In each module, teachers will approach the ideas and strategies being explored from an equity stance for students of all levels, identities, backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs. The concepts and practices associated with equitable education, inclusive language, culturally-responsive learning and teaching, trauma-informed teaching, accessibility, the Digital Divide, and inherent bias are interwoven throughout the course.

Best for: Teachers looking to improve student motivation and streamline classroom routines through purposeful communication.

5. Redesigning Physical Education: Student-Centered Approaches to Behavior and Belonging

This course challenges traditional punitive discipline practices in physical education and explores restorative, student-centered alternatives that affirm equity, confidence, and belonging for all students. Participants will learn how to redesign classroom management, fitness practices, and unit structures to reduce harm, increase engagement, and give every student a meaningful role. The course emphasizes critical consciousness, culturally responsive-sustaining practices, and real-world application to PE teaching.

Best for: Physical Education teachers who want to learn how to discipline in a way that reduced harm, increases engagement, and promotes classroom management.

Why These Courses Stand Out in 2026

Teachers continue to navigate shifting expectations, diverse student needs, and increasing demands on their time. The most effective classroom management strategies today are those that are:

• Practical and immediately applicable
• Grounded in research
• Supportive of student well‑being
• Flexible enough to adapt to different grade levels and teaching styles

CE Credits Online courses are self‑paced, fully online, and university‑accredited, making it easy for educators to strengthen their skills while earning credits that count toward recertification or salary advancement.

Take a course with CE Credits Online now!