Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
A tiger in the arctic. Sunflowers in a coral reef. Would they thrive — or even survive — in those ecosystems? Probably not, despite being strong and resilient species. Similarly, even well-designed, evidence-based professional learning must occur in a supportive, rather than endangering, ecosystem to take root and thrive. In my experiences as a researcher and a practitioner across states and districts, I have observed and engaged in ecosystems that support high-quality professional learning and promote improvement. But I have also seen situations where professional learning is dropped into schools, with high expectations for learning and change, but with little consideration of the nature and vitality of the wider ecosystem. Sometimes, reformers and administrators may neglect to account for how organizational structures and conditions shape
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References
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Grubb, W.N. & Allen, R. (2011). Rethinking school funding, resources, incentives, and outcomes. Journal of Educational Change, 12(1), 121-130.
Horn, I.S. & Little, J.W. (2010). Attending to problems of practice: Routines and resources for professional learning in teachers’ workplace interactions. American Educational Research Journal, 47(1), 181-217.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
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Neumerski, C.M. (2013). Rethinking instructional leadership, a review: What do we know about principal, teacher, and coach instructional leadership, and where should we go from here? Educational Administration Quarterly, 49(2), 310-347.
Pizarro, M. & Kohli, R. (2020). “I stopped sleeping”: Teachers of color and the impact of racial battle fatigue. Urban Education, 55(7), 967-991.
Wan, T. (2020, April 21). What does remote professional development look like? EdSurge. www.edsurge.com/news/2020-04-21-what-does-remote-professional-development-look-like-for-online-teachers
Woulfin, S.L. (2016). Duet or duel? A portrait of two logics of reading instruction in an urban school district. American Journal of Education, 122(3), 337-365.
Woulfin, S.L. & Rigby, J.G. (2017). Coaching for coherence: How instructional coaches lead change in the evaluation era. Educational Researcher, 46(6), 323-328.
Sarah L. Woulfin (sarah.woulfin@austin.utexas.edu; @sarahlouwou) is an associate professor in the department of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education.
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