Learning Forward

Sharing Up, Down, and Sideways: Alliance is a driving force in reshaping New Jersey vocational school. By Valerie von Frank School-based learning teams, supported in part by Learning Forward’s Learning School Alliance, raised student learning to new heights in a vocational high school in the Newark area. Educators found their practices […]

Difficult conversations — all principals have to have them. In the past, I dreaded them and would fret about them for days. Yet my confidence has significantly improved as I learned more about having effective conversations, both through the book Fierce Conversations and from my staff’s work with the Fierce […]

In our last column, we wrote about the need to expand the notion of cultural proficiency to explicitly address diversity in all its forms. As we continue to focus on cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity, we must also recognize that students have additional identities that affect their understanding of the […]

Educators who have opportunities to collaborate with their peers through classroom visits or lesson observations will benefit from intentional planning. The four tools below offer suggestions and prompts for classroom visits at the planning and debriefing stages. Use or adapt the tools to fit your context and specific needs. 1. […]

More and more, the educators I work with recognize that schools will need to become different, not just better, to help students meet the challenges of the future. These educators are trying to respond to an imperative to innovate as well as improve. The depth of change required to move […]

Professor John Rice, a pioneer of the Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS), posed the question: “How does teaching and learning in schools today speak to students about satellite navigation, biomimetics, laser tweezers, intelligent polymers, quantum computers, or artificial photosynthesis?” He recognized that schools’ curricula were at odds with the […]

Like many school districts across the nation, Solon (Ohio) City Schools is committed to improving the quality and depth of student learning while simultaneously fostering the growth of leadership in the district. To achieve these goals, the district is investing in sustained professional learning designed to build leadership among faculty […]

When I became principal of Acton Elementary School in Acton, Maine, in 2003, I spent the summer interviewing staff members. Staff in this small, rural elementary school overwhelmingly expressed a desire for opportunities to learn collaboratively. The teachers described a school culture where staff did not work together but instead […]

In today’s workplace, the ability to solve complex problems, think critically, and engage in continuous, self-directed learning is essential. Recognizing that providing the kind of education that fosters such abilities necessitated considerable change in its schools, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office of Catholic Education developed a strategic plan focusing on […]

In Essex County, N.J., whose county seat is Newark, students have the option of attending one of four vocational high schools. The Essex County Vocational School District draws students from the county seeking instruction in a multitude of career and technical areas. The district — one of the oldest and […]