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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Learning Forward puts equity front and center
In the October 2018 issue of The Learning Professional, Courageous Conversation founder Glenn Singleton reminded us not to engage in “random acts of equity.” Consistent with that message, Learning Forward aspires to develop a comprehensive approach to equity. In recent months, Learning Forward has developed an equity position statement to […] -
Building a Case for Connecting High-Quality Curricula and Team-Based Professional Learning
Frederick Brown and Tracy Crow of Learning Forward, Sandra Alberti of Student Achievement Partners, and Linda McMillan from the District of Columbia Public Schools discuss the latest research confirming the importance of high-quality curriculum and instructional materials to impact equitable outcomes for students. -
The results are in
Intentional principal pipelines are feasible, affordable, and benefit districts, schools, and students in tangible ways. That’s the key takeaway from the results of The Wallace Foundation’s six-year Principal Pipeline Initiative, an effort to help districts strengthen and make more systemic principal preparation, hiring, development, evaluation, and ongoing professional learning. Although […] -
The Principal Pipeline Initiative – Unpacking the Effects
The results are in, and they are exciting. Last week I shared Learning Forward’s anticipation about the release of the RAND study of the Wallace Foundation-supported Principal Pipeline Initiative. (See that post here.) On April 8, I represented Learning Forward at the New York unveiling of Principal Pipelines: A Feasible, […] -
The Principal Pipeline Initiative – Anticipating the Effects
In 2011, six large school districts set out to build and manage pipelines to support their school principals. This Wallace Foundation-funded effort, known as the Principal Pipeline Initiative (PPI), was built on substantial evidence from more than a decade of the foundation’s school leadership efforts. On April 8, Wallace is […] -
Equity drives Learning Forward’s vision
At Learning Forward, we fundamentally believe every child deserves access to excellent teaching and learning every day, regardless of his or her ZIP code or family income. Socioeconomic conditions, race, ethnic background, and other factors should not be predictors for educational attainment. We believe school systems and other learning environments […] -
Equity drives Learning Forward's vision
At Learning Forward, we fundamentally believe every child deserves access to excellent teaching and learning every day, regardless of his or her ZIP code or family income. Socioeconomic conditions, race, gender, ethnic background, and other factors should not be predictors for educational attainment. We believe school systems and other learning […] -
New report highlights the importance of the role of principal supervisors
By Frederick Brown A new report about The Wallace Foundation's Principal Supervisor Initiative (PSI) offers insight into the types of professional learning that are most effective for helping principal supervisors develop the instructional leadership capacity of principals. Among their findings, researchers noted that principal supervisors in PSI districts were able […] -
New report connects relicensure to real learning for educators
I'd like to send a shout-out to New America and authors Melissa Tooley and Taylor White for their recently released report, Rethinking Relicensure: Promoting Professional Learning Through Teacher Licensure Renewal Policies. After exploring how states handle relicensure, particularly when it comes to creating systems that contribute to enhancing educators' effectiveness […] -
Learning to lead
The role of the principal is a complex one. How well principals play that role matters to the success of the students and teachers they serve. Since Roland Barth (1984) succinctly noted that “the quality of a school is related to the quality of its leadership” (p. 93), research has […]
