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Stephanie Hirsh
Stephanie Hirsh retired in June 2019 after 31 years with Learning Forward, an international association of more than 13,000 educators committed to increasing student achievement through effective professional learning. Hirsh led the organization as its executive director for the last 13 years where she presented, published, and consulted on Learning Forward’s behalf across North America. Her books include Becoming a Learning Team, co-authored with Tracy Crow (Learning Forward, 2018), Becoming a Learning System, co-authored with Kay Psencik and Frederick Brown (Learning Forward, 2018); A Playbook for Professional Learning: Putting the Standards Into Action, co-authored with Shirley Hord (Learning Forward, 2012); and The Learning Educator: A New Era for Professional Learning, co-authored with Joellen Killion (NSDC, 2007). Hirsh wrote a column for The Learning Professional, Learning Forward’s bimonthly magazine, Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, The Record, The School Administrator, American School Board Journal, The High School Magazine, and Education Week. Hirsh has served on a number of advisory boards including Learning First Alliance, 2-Rev, Digital Promise, the University of Texas College of Education, and The Teaching Channel. She served three terms as a school board trustee in the Richardson (TX) Independent School District. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Staff Development Council, Master Trustee from the Texas School Board Association, and was named a Distinguished Alumna by the University of North Texas.
All Articles
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Teacher Team Learning
Stephanie Hirsh of Learning Forward and Tanya Batzel and Kellie Randall of Cherrycreek (Colorado) Schools look at a teacher-led cycle of continuous improvement. Based on Learning Forward’s book, Becoming a Learning Team, this webinar will explore a five-stage learning team cycle, touching on the steps essential to facilitating teacher team learning […] -
Join the Title II Day of Action
"With Title IIA funding, we established an early intervention model for elementary, middle, and high school students who historically have had achievement gaps. At the elementary school, this resulted in those students meeting the state's average for reading and math scores of students in that group. Our middle school students […] -
Call To Action
How can I be a better advocate for professional learning?” This is a question I hear frequently from school and district leaders, many of whom are already doing so much to lead effective professional learning in their schools and organizations. One of the three key concepts in the Leadership standard […] -
Reimagining professional learning in Delaware
The people of Delaware have long looked for ways to make their state first and started that tradition by being the first state to join the union in 1787. In keeping with that history, they were among the first to adopt the Learning Forward Standards for Professional Learning and certainly […] -
Look for signs of an aligned learning system
School systems that prioritize coherence are more likely to achieve their goals for students, and many education leaders recognize this. Departments that operate within their own silos create barriers to developing shared understandings and a common vision for all. Coherence puts all educators on the same systemwide map, so to […] -
Spring 2017 Vol. 20 No. 3
Learning teams constitute a crucial component of the continuous cycle of learning. This is the daily job-embedded learning focused on student learning challenges that teachers have over and over said they value highly. In this issue of Tools for Learning Schools, we look at the five-stage learning team cycle for collaborative […] -
The Learning Educator: A New Era for Professional Learning
Hirsh & Killion outline eight principles to guide professional learning during the next era. If professional development decision makers adopt these principles, the authors believe they will contribute to ensuring that professional learning will improve leading, teaching, and learning. This book helps readers understand what qualifies as effective professional learning, […] -
Becoming a Learning Team, 2nd Edition
Becoming a Learning Team offers teachers step-by-step guidance in using collaborative learning time to solve specific student learning challenges. -
Becoming A Learning System: Revised Edition
Every student should have the opportunity to attend a great school filled with great teachers. This book explores the idea that, for this to happen, school districts must become learning systems. In a learning system, every educator in the district focuses intently on learning — at whatever level they serve. […]