Below is Learning Forward's Proclamation for Professional Learning, to be delivered to key members of the new U.S. Congress in early 2019. Please add your name to the signatures to show Congress how important professional learning is to student success.

We, the undersigned, join together with Learning Forward to declare that professional learning is essential to improving teaching practice and student outcomes. We call on every policy maker to support and fund effective, job-embedded professional learning every fiscal year.

We believe, as defined in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), that professional learning must:

• Be based on data and evidence;

• Be focused at the school and classroom levels;

• Be ongoing and sustained;

• Include coaching, mentoring, collaboration, professional learning communities, and support for leaders.

We also strongly believe that access to effective professional learning should be equitable across classrooms, schools, districts, and states. Every educator has the right to experience great learning every day. Every student has the right to experience great teaching every day. Our future depends on it.

Finally, we call on policy makers at every level — local, state, and national — to recognize the critical role of teachers and leaders by providing the support they require to effectively educate every student.