Dynamic growth models specify the ways that brain growth, cognitive development, and learning all fit together.Brain development shows not a ladder of stages but instead a network of interaction, including attractors, nested cycles, progressions,regressions, groups of discontinuities, and stable performance levels.Cognitive activity and cortical development turn out to be closely related, especially when the system is functioning optimally, as when a teacher or textbook supports optimal performance.We look forward to the time when teachers join us in cognitive neuroscience research, helping to discover the important challenges of connecting education to research on learning.