Frederick Brown
President | CEO
Frederick Brown is Learning Forward’s president | CEO. Fred is an education visionary who knows firsthand that our nation’s schools need transformational change if we are to meet the challenges of the next decades. Fred advocates that every child deserves to reach their highest potential and every educator must have the opportunity to participate in exemplary, ongoing, professional learning programs to provide students the skills needed to meet their unique needs. Supporting educators at all levels and improving student achievement are through lines of Fred's career. An elementary school teacher, a middle school assistant principal, and school principal, Fred saw firsthand the impact high-leverage instructional practices and school culture have on school success. Fred is a frequent speaker on leadership and building high-quality learning in schools. He has co-authored two books that have made significant contributions to the field of education, demonstrating how a comprehensive approach to professional learning can be achieved so that everyone in a system is a learner, and how principals apply a learning lens to their many critical responsibilities to create a productive climate for learning and collaboration. "Becoming a Learning System" and "The Learning Principal -- Becoming a Learning Leader" are time-tested Learning Forward resources for schools and leaders. Fred is a Learning Forward Academy graduate and serves as secretary/treasurer on the board of Learning First Alliance.
All Articles
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Plan backward to move forward with a logic model
More and more school principals are stepping into the role of learning leader in their schools, modeling and supporting improvement for both educators and students. When my colleagues Kay Psencik, Stephanie Hirsh, and I (Psencik at al., 2020) wrote The Learning Principal: Becoming a Learning Leader, our goal was to […] -
From lawnmowers to leadership: The power of mentorship
My first regular paying job was mowing my 10th-grade teacher’s lawn. I showed up with energy and a willingness to learn, but not much experience mowing her type of yard. Even in that seemingly simple job, I realized quickly that success required more than just showing up and pushing a […] -
Learning designs should be a starting point, not an end
In the early 2000s I was on the board of directors of the Chicago Leadership Academies for Supporting Success, an initiative for school and district leaders. I have so many fond memories of the work we did supporting participants’ growth and development throughout their leadership journeys. We often touted that […] -
NAEP scores call for a united response to support educators and students
Like all educators, the Learning Forward community was disappointed by the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” that were released on January 29th. The fact that nearly all states saw student reading and math scores decrease or remain flat from […] -
Here’s my professional learning wish list for 2025
Many of us make wish lists around the holidays, a collection of requests and hopes that we’ve saved up during the year to share with family and friends. This year, I’m making a different kind of wish list — a set of steps to build a career-long professional learning continuum […] -
Learning Forward’s standards and curriculum go hand in hand
When Learning Forward revised the Standards for Professional Learning in 2022, we added the Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction standard (Learning Forward, 2022), in part due to the accumulating evidence about the importance of high-quality curriculaum and instructional materials. As we noted in the research brief released alongside the revised standards […] -
Pivoting is made easier by an intentional change process
When Learning Forward released the book Becoming a Learning Team (Hirsh & Crow, 2017), I was an instant fan. At the heart of the book is the learning team cycle, a collaborative learning process for teams of educators to address problems of practice and improve teaching and learning. The cycle […] -
Inspiration comes from all across the globe
I recently participated in a gathering of the Global Education Leaders Partnership in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This international network of education system leaders, institutions, and capacity-building organizations is focused on transforming education to prepare every learner to thrive in the 21st century. During the meeting, we looked beyond schools and districts […] -
Title II: Opportunities and impact
This webinar highlights state and district successes and challenges in implementing Title II-A 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 funding levels for […] -
Advances in technology help us do more for students
Recently I was speaking to my doctor about a minor surgical procedure I needed. During our conversation, she explained how new robotics technology would make my surgery much less painful and decrease the recovery period substantially. She admitted that when she first learned about the new technology, she was reluctant […]
