The bottom line on excellence: A guide to investing in professional learning that increases educator performance and student results. By Joellen Killion and Stephanie Hirsh With the current challenges to school funding, it is crucial that education agencies carefully examine their investments in professional learning. Guiding principles based on the Resources standard in Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning can assist schools and districts to prioritize, monitor, and coordinate resources for educator learning. 841 square miles of commitment: Districtwide plan makes professional learning a priority. By Nancy Ames Slabine For the last eight years, Duval County (Fla.) Public Schools has focused on enhancing professional learning. Although its annual budget has grown by only 9% since 2003-04, funding for professional development has nearly doubled during that same period.