Learning Forward has received a $500,000 grant from Sandler Foundation to launch Transforming Professional Learning to Prepare College- and Career-Ready Students:

Implementing the Common Core. This two-year initiative will lead a statewide, comprehensive professional learning system that supports educators as they implement Common Core State Standards and new student assessments.

Common Core Standards and new assessments are in- tended to prepare all students to be college- and career-ready at the end of their pre-K-12 education and will necessitate dif- ferent learning experiences for students. Because the standards focus on students’ construction of new knowledge and appli- cation of learning in authentic situations, teachers will need to employ instructional strategies that integrate critical and creative thinking, collaboration, problem solving, research and inquiry skills, and presentation skills.

Sandler Foundation is committed to increasing opportunity for underserved students. “We have an opening to prepare all of our students to be critical thinkers with the skills needed to solve the pressing problems we face,” said Susan Sandler of Sandler Foundation, “but the potential of the Common Core

State Standards and assessments can only be realized through a serious commitment to professional development.”

“Full implementation of Common Core State Standards and readiness for new student assessments require that all school-based educators expand their expertise to produce high- level learning for all students,” said Stephanie Hirsh, execu- tive director of Learning Forward. “This calls for new forms of professional learning that engage educators in the same learn- ing experiences they will create for their students. We cannot expect to realize the promise of Common Core with old models of professional learning. These new standards and assessments require us to rethink the entire system from policy to practice.”

Working in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers and with support from the National Governors Association, National Association of State Boards of Education, and American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, Learning Forward will select a demonstration state in which to transform professional learning and create a comprehensive system, guided by policy and modeled through practice, that spans from the statehouse to the classroom. Five critical friend states will serve as contributors and critics.