Learning Forward

The Learning Forward Foundation relies on donations from members who share its vision to support educators through grant and scholarship opportunities. (Read about the impact of this support in the profile of scholarship recipient Karla McAdam on p. 55.)  How does your donation support professional learning initiatives for individuals and […]

Learning Forward Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh has joined the advisory board of the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders. The center supports the efforts of state education leaders to ensure great teachers and leaders for all students. Continuing the work of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, the center […]

I had a moment of pause and reflection while reading entrepreneur Seth Godin’s blog, where he challenged leaders by stating, “Our task, then, is to find people we can encourage and nurture until they’re as impatient with average as we are” (Godin, 2010). John Maxwell, a well-known author on leadership, shares […]

Implementing Change Through Learning Concerns-Based Concepts, Tools, and Strategies for Guiding Change By Shirley M. Hord and James L. Roussin  Foreword and finale by Gene E. Hall Real educational reform happens one school at a time, one classroom at a time. No matter what change a school or district is […]

Finding time for job-embedded professional learning is one of the most frequently cited challenges with implementing the Common Core State Standards. Establishing Time for Professional Learning is a workbook designed to guide districts and schools as they develop, assess, and implement recommendations for increasing collaborative learning time for educators. The […]

Educators understand that schools with socially and emotionally sound learning and working environments help ensure positive short- and long-term outcomes for students and staff. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) describes social and emotional learning as the process for helping children and adults develop the fundamental skills […]

Team Long-Term Planning Guide Directions: After discussing, reflecting, and making notes, team members are ready to begin to develop a plan. This plan will likely change as the team continues to meet and learn together, so think in terms of a monthly plan until all feel ready to develop a […]

Digital Learning  Blended Learning Implementation Guide Digital Learning Now!, February 2013 This is the fifth in a series of interactive papers offering guidance on the adoption of Common Core State Standards and the shift to digital learning. The authors assert that by the end of the decade, most U.S. schools will […]

Raise your hand if you’ve been in a workshop that included either of the following movie clips to illustrate what it means to really collaborate: the barn-raising scene in Witness or the scene in Apollo 13 where Ed Harris dumps a box of miscellaneous parts on a table and tells […]

Making schools learning places for teachers as well as students is a timeless and appealing vision. The growing number of professional learning communities is a hopeful sign that profound change is on the way (Lieberman & Miller, 2011). By now, most schools or districts have participated in professional learning community […]