With only the October and December journals left to publish this year, the Learning Forward publications team sets its sights on the 2025 issues of The Learning Professional. Informed by Learning Forward members, The Learning Professional writers and contributors, and the evolving needs of the field, we’ve selected the six upcoming themes. They are:

  • Learning designs
  • Navigating new roles
  • Measuring learning
  • Professional learning resources
  • Learning communities for leaders
  • Meeting the needs of today’s learners

If you’re wondering whether your piece is a good fit for our journal, we encourage you to read past issues to familiarize yourself with our content. There are free, publicly accessible articles in every issue. Take a look here.

We prioritize articles that address Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning and that provide data demonstrating improvements in educator practices and/or student learning. In addition, we always appreciate work that highlights equity, leadership, and high-quality curriculum and instructional materials.

Note that every issue of our magazine also contains non-thematic articles, so we are always on the lookout for professional learning stories of all kinds. If you lead powerful professional learning that is making a difference for students, we want to hear about – the who, what, how, and other details. What was the purpose of the learning? What did it look like? What is the implementation context and who was involved? What are the results?

We can’t wait for another year of sharing inspiring stories, strategies, and tools for high-quality professional learning, and we can’t do this without you — our contributing writers. We invite you to share your work with others in the field to help strengthen the network of educators dedicated to creating a professional learning movement that benefits students everywhere. We also encourage you to spread the word about The Learning Professional to your networks.

We can’t wait for another year of sharing inspiring stories, strategies, and tools for high-quality professional learning, and we can’t do this without you — our contributing writers. Share on X

Below are detailed descriptions of the six themes for 2025. For submission guidelines and instructions, please visit the Write for Us section of our website. Happy writing!

2025 themes for The Learning Professional

February 2025: Learning designs

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to growing educators’ skills. Great professional learning is customized to educators’ needs and systems’ goals. So how do you design professional learning that is aligned with both local goals and best practices and research? Grounded in the Learning Designs standard from the Standards for Professional Learning, this issue will examine the “how” of professional learning. Articles might cover effective facilitation strategies that engage educators and build their buy-in; how to build on adult learners’ existing knowledge; how to integrate expectations for collaboration; equity considerations; and how to make the most of educators’ time. Submission deadline: December 1, 2024

April 2025: Navigating new roles

Getting a new position is exciting, but what happens afterward? And what do educators need to stay and thrive in these new roles? This issue will dig into how to support new-to-the-role professionals at all points along the career continuum, including teachers, coaches, support staff, and leaders at all levels. Topics might include mentoring for novice teachers, helping coaches understand their role and navigate common challenges, leadership coaching, and learning communities for new teacher leaders. Articles should address how such endeavors are part of systemic efforts to cultivate skills and excellence over time. Submission deadline: January 1, 2025

June 2025: Measuring learning

Research shows that high-quality professional learning makes a difference for student outcomes. But how do you measure the progress of specific professional learning initiatives? How do you collect, analyze, and make meaning of multiple forms of data? Grounded in our commitment to evaluation and our readers’ requests for more information on conducting it, this issue will home in on measuring the results where they matter most—for students. It will feature how educators, professional learning designers, evaluators, and other practitioners measure the implementation and impact of professional learning and use the findings to improve initiatives and tell stories of success. We invite submissions about research questions, evaluation methods, and recent study findings. We also welcome readers to send questions about evaluation and measurement for us to pose to evaluation experts and share in Q&A articles. Submission deadline: March 1, 2025

August 2025: Professional learning resources

Supporting the professional growth and expertise of teachers requires resources, including funding, time, technology, curriculum, and more. How do you secure and sustain those resources, document their use, and make sure you’re getting the most out of them? At a time when Covid relief funds are winding down and many budgets are tightening, how can you do more with less? This issue will feature ways educators are finding, getting creative with, and maintaining the resources that enable high-quality professional learning and improvement for students. It will also share strategies and stories about Title IIA, the U.S. Department of Education’s funds allocated to states for educator professional learning. Submission deadline: May 1, 2025

October 2025: Learning communities for leaders

Leadership can feel like a lonely endeavor, but it shouldn’t be. Just like teachers, leaders learn and grow to be their best in community. This often requires going beyond the barriers of school buildings and district offices to connect across organizational boundaries. This issue will explore models of leadership development and support grounded in collaboration. Articles might address topics such as: how to create safe and encouraging spaces to connect with role-alike professionals, strategies to facilitate collaborative professional learning both within and outside of school walls, leadership communities of practice, and innovative career pathways in leadership. Submission deadline: July 1, 2025

December 2025: Meeting the needs of today’s learners

Today’s students have to manage a lot on top of learning: cell phones and social media distract from learning while anxiety and chronic absenteeism are on the rise. How can educators teach students who are not fully ready to learn? Some of the solutions to making schools more welcoming, engaging, and effective for today’s learners lie in professional learning. What are schools doing that’s working, and what data do they have to show it? Topics of interest include: supporting positive and productive school cultures, building students’ self-regulation and readiness to learn, improving social and emotional outcomes as part of academic improvement, and restorative practices or initiatives that have increased student safety, student belonging, and connection. Articles should focus on the professional learning that enables successful approaches to holistic student success. Submission deadline: September 1, 2025