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…

Dean Shareski shared the above tweet in October 2021 that sparked robust debate, with educators of all levels sharing opinions on the topic. Learning Forward is keenly interested in Shareski’s question, so we reshared his tweet and posed this question to teachers earlier this year. We received more than 100 responses across Twitter and LinkedIn,…

For those who support teachers, it can feel like there are myriad urgent needs, especially when educators are stretched thin and students are struggling, as many are now. How do you prioritize your support, and where do you start? The effort-to-impact matrix is a simple but valuable tool that can help instructional coaches, teacher teams,…

On March 9, President Biden unveiled his budget request for fiscal year 2024. The major disappointment is that the administration included no increase for Title II-A, the only federal program devoted exclusively to supporting professional learning activities. The administration’s budget signals that Title II-A is not a priority. This does not set us up well…

In support of Public Schools Week 2023, President of Learning Forward Mississippi Betty Wilson-McSwain participated as a panelist in a webinar titled “The Language of Connection to Build Community Relationships.” Facilitating the webinar was Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Their exchange highlights the importance of leaning into data and articulating hope…

How are you celebrating Public Schools Week? This week, I will spend time both in reflection and action, grateful for the excellent professional learning I’ve engaged in and eager to spread that kind of meaningful learning to all educators. Public Schools Week inspires me to reflect on my experiences as a student, teacher, and principal…

I still cringe when I remember my first year as a special education teacher at a suburban high school. I met my assigned mentor during the whirlwind week of meetings leading up to the start of school and learned that she was also mentoring two other teachers in addition to having a full teaching schedule…

A new slate of guest columnists is lined up to write for The Learning Professional in 2023. February’s journal will debut pieces by Kathy Perret and Val Brown, who address the issue’s educator retention theme through their unique lenses – Perret’s as a veteran instructional coach, author, and consultant and Brown’s as an adult learning…