Learning Forward Announces Release of Establishing Time for Professional Learning

DALLAS—April 9, 2013— Learning Forward announces the release of Establishing Time for Professional Learning, a workbook designed to guide districts and schools as they develop, assess, and implement recommendations for increasing collaborative learning time for educators.

Finding time for job-embedded professional learning is one of the most frequently cited challenges with implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). With Establishing Time for Professional Learning, practitioners and education leaders use tools to identify current allocations of time for professional learning, analyze how that time is being used and what results are associated with it, and increase the effectiveness of the existing time before seeking additional time.

“A schedule is a ‘thing’ that can be—and should be—manipulated in ways that are best for student learning. Collaborative professional learning does not begin with plans for a schedule change, but with commitment to a cultural change,” said Jack Linton, Assistant Superintendent of the Petal (Miss.) School District.

Establishing Time for Professional Learning was published as part of Learning Forward’s ongoing initiative to develop a comprehensive system of professional learning that spans the distance from the statehouse to the classroom. The initiative, Transforming Professional Learning to Prepare College- and Career-Ready Students: Implementing the Common Core, is supported by Sandler Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and MetLife Foundation.

The workbook is organized into seven sections, each associated with a step of a process for studying, designing, implementing time for educator collaboration, and evaluating its success. The processes and tools included in the workbook will provide educators, parents, and community leaders with resources to create time for educator collaboration, increase the amount of time for collaboration, or refine the use of collaborative time to achieve the district’s and school’s goals related to implementing CCSS, new assessments, and other reforms.

“Innovation in any industry requires time for retooling existing practices, equipment, procedures, and facilities,” said Learning Forward executive director Stephanie Hirsh. “In order to use the Common Core standards and other college- and career-ready standards most effectively, educators must find the time to revise practices and continuously engage in standards-based, collaborative professional learning.”