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Elizabeth Foster

Senior Vice President, Research and Strategy

Elizabeth Foster is the senior vice president of research and strategy at Learning Forward. She leads the organization’s research efforts for partnerships, programs, and fundraising. Elizabeth co-wrote the Standards for Professional Learning (2022) with Tracy Crow and now facilitates learning sessions about the standards and develops resources that support their use and implementation. She contributes to the design, facilitation, and evaluation of networks. Prior to Learning Forward, Elizabeth was the vice president of strategic initiatives at the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) where she led a major research investigation about educator support systems that resulted in a report entitled What Matters Now (2016) and a successful three-year improvement network with Learning Forward. Her published work includes studies on teacher recruitment, preparation, and professional learning, urban teacher shortages, community college teacher preparation, professional learning communities, and the demographics of the education workforce. Elizabeth started out with an operating foundation in New York City that supported public education innovation projects, then worked in middle school special education in Boston and staffed a research project about inclusion with the Harvard RALLY project. Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her two incredible daughters, as well as other family and friends – especially on the beach.

  • Join us for a webinar highlighting state and district successes and challenges in implementing Title IIA programs and collecting impact data. As a community, we seek ways to seamlessly support and integrate high-quality professional learning and to share those efforts with Congress and the Administration as they debate the future […]
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    Ensuring multilingual students are supported in accessing academic content is critical to those students achieving grade-level standards. But it can be challenging to determine which evidence-based strategies to employ amidst the pressure of maintaining the pace of lessons and curriculum. Research syntheses are an efficient way to understand what we […]
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    Learning Forward’s 2023 Annual Conference focused on the theme Evidence Into Action. This theme was in keeping with Learning Forward’s commitment to building the evidence base on how professional learning leads to improved outcomes for students and schools. We are invested in examining and applying research on high-quality, results-focused professional […]
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    Throughout October, three districts kicked off their participation in Learning Forward’s Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Network. Teams of math teachers, math instructional coaches, principals, and district leaders collaborated with Learning Forward to begin strengthening the implementation of the Illustrative Math curriculum for their districts’ middle schools. Putting themselves in the roles […]
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    Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning call for professional learning that “results in equitable and excellent outcomes for all students” (Learning Forward, 2022). The “all” part of that vision is woven throughout the 11 standards. For example, the Equity Practices standard encourages the development of classrooms where educators “create high-quality […]
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    At Learning Forward, we are well aware that there is wide variation in how much time teachers have for professional learning. Research finds that only half (50.9%) of educators have any released time from teaching to participate in professional development (Garcia, 2019), and there is variation in how that time […]
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    Learning Forward recently became an affiliate of the Research Partnership for Professional Learning, which brings together professional learning organizations and researchers who are studying how features of professional learning address teacher learning and student experiences, well-being, and academic growth. As an affiliate, we will share with and learn from more […]
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    Professional learning research is essential for helping education leaders make informed, strategic decisions about how to build staff members’ knowledge and skills. That’s why applying data and evidence is a theme throughout Standards for Professional Learning and an operating principle for all of Learning Forward’s work. One of the first […]
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    Teacher retention has been a chronic challenge in U.S. schools for decades. Around 10% of teachers leave each year (Sutcher et al., 2016), and that number appears to be rising as the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic take a toll on teacher morale and burnout. According to a recent […]
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    Conversations about race are increasingly at the forefront of debates about education, teaching, learning, and how to achieve excellent outcomes for each adult and student in a successful learning system. Research is emerging about the benefits of building the capacity of educators to engage in conversations about race and identity, […]
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