Despite the debt ceiling deal, which was enacted June 3 and sets the overall fiscal year 2024 federal funding level at roughly fiscal year 2023’s funding level, House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger, a Republican from Texas, issued a statement on June 12 that the committee would be using fiscal year 2022 levels as the…

As school leaders, principals are positioned to send a strong message about equity and excellence in their buildings and campuses through their deep commitment to ensuring every child’s needs are respected and nurtured. Ensuring all principals have access to the kinds of high-quality professional learning that helps them become effective, equity-centered leaders is an important…

On LinkedIn, we reached out to veteran professional learning facilitators and asked them to share their advice with first-timers. Whether you’re an experienced leader in learning or new to guiding educators in professional development, we hope you find inspiration from this collection of advice.   “Always keep it simple. The more complicated something is, the…

I remember when my kids were little and they wanted my attention, they would get increasingly louder and more persuasive until they succeeded in drawing my attention away from whatever I thought should take precedence at that moment. Well, professional learning leaders, it’s time for us to get louder and more persuasive. The noise overtaking…

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we invited our community of professional learning leaders to share how they acknowledge, promote, and celebrate the growth of teachers throughout the year. In the infographic below, we’ve included their approaches, along with a few from a Learning Forward cover story and free tool titled “Celebrate professional transitions and…

We all know that change takes time, but do schools have that time? With students and schools facing urgent, widespread challenges, it can feel like the pace of many improvement approaches is simply too slow. And yet, it’s clear we get nowhere when we take a scattershot approach to teaching and learning strategies. There’s no…

The fight over the federal debt ceiling and deficit reduction took an ominous turn for educators last week with the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage – on a razor-thin 217-215 vote – of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023. In exchange for raising the federal debt ceiling until March 31, 2024,…

Consider a scenario where you’re a member of a school’s in-house instructional staff and you receive a link to a professional learning survey from someone at the district. For a moment you think, “Wait, I already turned in my exit ticket…the room was too cold but we had an interesting icebreaker to start the session.”…

Welcome to Standards for Professional Learning Week 2023! I hope you celebrate with us by joining our live daily presentations focused on topics that address pressing issues for educators right now: advancing outcomes for all learners; elevating educator voices; embedding equity; examining impact; and advocating for support and equitable funding to ensure high-quality professional learning…

On April 18, 2023, the U.S. House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the U.S. Department of Education’s budget request for fiscal year 2024. In his testimony, Secretary Miguel Cardona continued to focus on the department’s “Raise the Bar” initiative, arguing that President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget…