On April 3rd, President Trump released his fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budget request, which includes requests for the U.S. Department of Education. Although the budget request maintains funding for some major education programs like Title I and IDEA, it requests that Congress enact significant cuts to other programs including Title II-A, the primary federal funding…

In this second part of Learning Forward’s blog series on the CalTex Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Network, we’re highlighting the work of Grow Public Schools, a charter network focused on serving students in the underserved areas of Kern County, California. Two schools—Grow Academy Arvin and Grow Academy Shafter—are participating in Learning Forward’s latest CBPL Network, which…

Nearly every day, Tulsa Public Schools’ Melissa Ihde works with Katy Green, executive director of Educator Effectiveness and Professional Learning, supporting novice and aspiring teachers. Outside of their normal work day, Green and Ihde, director of Teacher Development and Pathways, both participate in Learning Forward Academy, a multiyear active learning experience designed for profound educator…

Research solidly supports the idea that curriculum has a direct impact on student engagement and learning. On their own, high-quality instructional materials are not enough; to make a positive impact on their students, teachers must engage in ongoing support to learn how to use high-quality curricula and implement them with integrity. Curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL)…

Fostering school improvement through high-quality professional learning is always challenging for education leaders, but recently, they have been called on to address their numerous improvement challenges while funding is even more limited than in previous years. “Out of the box” or “from the catalog” programs may offer strategies or ideas that sound good, but they…

For many years, our Monday afternoon professional learning time, referred to as Continuous Instructional Improvement (CII), was well-intentioned but fragmented. Sessions varied by teams and topics, initiatives competed for attention, and the impact on classroom practice was inconsistent. While each session had value, the absence of a shared through-line made it difficult for adult learning…

Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, on a vote of 217 to 214, a five bill FY 2026 Appropriations minibus that contains final FY26 funding for the Departments of Labor, HHS, Education, Transportation, HUD, State, and Defense. It does not include final FY26 funding for the Department of Homeland Security as a result…

In most schools, a new teacher assumes essentially the same responsibilities as an experienced one, often to the detriment of both the novice teacher and her students. Nationally representative data shows that one in 10 new teachers in the U.S. has no student teaching experience (Podolsky et al., 2016). Furthermore, in 2023 schools in 49…

As a certified professional coach who works with educators at all levels, I appreciated a recent blog published in Postive.News about the benefits of getting beyond surface-level conversations with others to truly connect with them. Author Tom Pattinson presented ways to initiate deeper conversations that will help anyone spark more meaningful connections this year. If…

AI-driven technology is equipping teachers and leaders with learning design tools they can use to build experiences uniquely suited to every student’s wonder, curiosity, and learning needs. This shift is similar to how music listening has moved from a focus on whole albums to personalized playlists, according to education leaders Rob Dickson and Dyane Smokorowski….