Coaching is a high-impact form of professional learning that helps educators build their expertise and hone their practices so students can achieve success. Although some professional learning leaders have an official coach title or role, any educator can use coaching as a way to support another educator. Doing so requires understanding what coaching is –…

The 11 Standards for Professional Learning explicitly address equity, and work together to create the conditions, culture, and content for equity within professional learning. Specifically, the Equity Foundations standard addresses the learning conditions and context, describing the importance of creating conditions where equity considerations permeate professional learning rather than standing apart as a separate issue…

Both the House and Senate are continuing their fitful efforts to complete action on their versions of the 12 fiscal year 2024 Appropriations bills. The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education spending bill, which contains funding for all federal education programs including Title II-A, has not yet been brought to the floor in either chamber,…

At Learning Forward’s Annual Conference, educators engage in rich conversations with like-minded colleagues, learn new strategies, and access resources and materials relevant to their role. Participants often experience excitement, hope, and renewed energy or passion. However, a sense of overload can bring on anxiety, frustration, and even a bit of fear. What do you do…

More than ever, principals need support in how to navigate all the challenges they’re facing. Last month The Wallace Foundation President Will Miller delivered a keynote where he described how increased stresses to the principalship could lead to more principals leaving the profession, a situation that underscores the need to do more to develop and…

October is National Principals Month, and Learning Forward is thrilled to recognize how important principals are for students and communities. Research tells us that effective principals have a sizable impact on student achievement through instructional leadership, school climate, staff support, family engagement, and other pathways. Those improvements in achievement ultimately result in returns to communities…

In the many roles I have filled as an education leader, standards have always played an influential part, guiding my decisions and serving as a road map to the destination I am trying to reach. While serving as a principal, a leadership coach, and the director of a center that supports school leaders, my goal…

Learning Forward’s book club is an opportunity for members to stay up to date, gain current insights that improve practice, and connect with field leaders. Through a partnership with Corwin, Learning Forward offers four hand-picked books annually and brings members together with authors for deeper discussion. Learning Forward’s fall book club event featured authors Eleanor…

We are pleased to announce the themes for the upcoming year of Learning Forward’s journal, The Learning Professional. Narrowing down the collection of topics to six is always a challenge, but we did it with help from our readers and authors, through following thought leaders, and by constantly gathering ideas from the dynamic field of…

Congress returned from its August recess and faces a mountain of work. Its first task will be to pass a continuing resolution, a temporary spending measure that will keep the government operating beyond October 1 when the new fiscal year begins. As Congress moves to pass a continuing resolution, the House and Senate will continue…