Learning Forward’s policy briefing in June 2023 was a special convening of education leaders representing superintendents, principals, teachers, and the U.S. Department of Education. Moderated by Learning Forward CEO Frederick Brown, the session featured participants who provided compelling insight and evidence about how professional learning is critical to retain teachers, intensify academic recovery, and meet…

School leaders have a major impact on student achievement and schoolwide improvement, but they can’t achieve success by acting alone. Excellent results require a team effort. High-functioning leadership teams are built intentionally and are, on average, five times more productive than average teams (Keller, 2017). Even when leaders recognize the importance of a team, most…

Learning Forward is leading a broad education coalition to persuade members of U.S. Congress of the urgent need to invest in educators and their students by providing $2.4 billion for Title II, Part A in fiscal year 2024 appropriations. This funding level is necessary for Title II-A to be able to fulfill its original promise…

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,…