Paul Fleming has been promoted to Learning Forward’s deputy CEO in combination with his existing role as chief learning officer. Fleming’s areas of focus include leading the effective implementation of the Standards for Professional Learning and corresponding tools, the expansion of professional services and leadership teams, and multiple consulting projects with states and districts to increase educator and leader effectiveness through student-focused, high-quality professional learning.

Prior to joining Learning Forward in 2019, Fleming served as the assistant commissioner for the Teachers and Leaders division at the Tennessee Department of Education, where he was responsible for the design, implementation, evaluation, and support of impactful policies, practices, and programs related to teacher and leader preparation institutions, licensure, evaluation and development, and educator talent. This included the revision and implementation of the state leadership standards and administrator evaluation rubric, the Tennessee Teacher Leader Network, and the Tennessee Transformational Leadership Alliance.

Fleming began his career as a social studies teacher at the middle and high school levels, later becoming principal at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville, Tennessee. Hume-Fogg has been ranked as one of the top 50 public high schools in the United States and was named a national Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.