New editor joins staff of The Learning Professional

Suzanne Bouffard has joined Learning Forward as associate director of publications. Her primary responsibility will be to serve as the editor of The Learning Professional.

Bouffard has written about education and child development for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, U.S. News and World Report, Parents, and The Harvard Education Letter.

Her most recent book is The Most Important Year: Pre-Kindergarten and the Future of Our Children (Avery, 2017). Her first book, Ready, Willing, and Able (with Mandy Savitz-Romer, Harvard Education Press, 2012) covered challenges and strategies for first generation college-bound youth.

Bouffard has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Duke University and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She was a writer and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for 10 years.

TITLE IIA FUNDING REMAINS IN BUDGET PROPOSALS

The House Appropriations Subcommittee approved a funding bill with level funding for Title IIA for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for fiscal year 2019, just a few months after Congress passed a budget for fiscal year 2018 with $2.1 billion in support of Title II.

As the fiscal year 2019 budget process continues, full funding for the program remains in place in the proposed budget. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee recently approved the fiscal year 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education bill with the same level of funding.

Learning Forward is proud that the advocacy work of members is achieving its goals, and we will continue to amplify the need for this critical funding for professional learning throughout the year.

As part of this process, a group of advocacy insiders committed to building their capacity to advocate effectively at all levels — called the A-Team — is engaging in a series of calls to hear the latest updates on U.S. federal policy.

WE NEED YOUR EVIDENCE

How do Title IIA funds help?

Learning Forward is asking all members and allies to respond to a brief survey on the learning that Title II funds in local contexts. Members who responded last year are also invited to contribute.

Many of the respondents last year didn’t share the outcomes of the work funded by Title II, and Learning Forward needs a robust bank of evidence documenting the importance of Title II investments across the U.S.

Fill out the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/PNSDGFM and encourage your peers to do the same.

LEARN MORE

Become a member of the A-Team. Sign up at www.learningforward.org/get-involved/advocacy/advocacy-sign-up.

See a statement from Learning Forward Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh at www.learningforward.org/who-we-are/announcements.