At Learning Forward, we fundamentally believe every child deserves access to excellent teaching and learning every day, regardless of his or her ZIP code or family income. Socioeconomic conditions, race, gender, ethnic background, and other factors should not be predictors for educational attainment.
We believe school systems and other learning environments have to be relentless in addressing the issue of expanding learning opportunities for each and every student while building on the strengths all children bring to the classroom.
These beliefs are fundamental to our approaches to achieving equity. They underlie the decision the board of trustees made earlier this year to explicitly include equity in Learning Forward’s vision statement: Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
We recognize that districts and schools have many tools to address their equity challenges, and we believe effective professional learning can play a crucial role. How a district defines equity will determine the role professional learning can play in helping the system achieve its goals.
For example, if a district has a goal focused on closing achievement gaps for populations that haven’t performed as well as others, the professional learning strategy might include a focus on helping teachers try different approaches, differentiate to meet learning needs, and find ways to build on the strengths of all students.
Another equity goal for a district could be increasing the diversity of its teaching force to more closely align to its student demographics. In this case, the professional learning strategy could include supporting principals and central office staff in strategies to attract, seek out, and support teacher candidates. Such a strategy would include developing an induction process that values culture, embraces diversity in the teaching force, and builds the efficacy of new teachers.
A district’s equity strategies connect directly to the attitudes and beliefs of its workforce. The professional learning strategy can help central office and building staff engage in deep exploration of their values, beliefs, and assumptions about children who have life experiences different from their own.
This professional learning approach is not something a district or school accomplishes in a two-hour sit-and-get session or a professional development day for all staff at the beginning of the year. Instead, it requires an ongoing commitment to understanding the core issues and creating ways of working that allow educators to return to the topic, practice strategies, receive feedback, and assess their new practices and behaviors.
This professional learning strategy also requires a firm commitment from district leaders to stay engaged until new behaviors are sustained and equity goals are met.
As we consider and clarify our own approaches to equity, we see that some students have not been served by education. While we recognize that professional learning is essential for all educators to improve, we changed our vision to include equity because we recognize that educators and the students they serve are in vastly different contexts and situations.
We are making a commitment to explore pathways that support those educators, children, and schools that have traditionally been underserved and those that have the greatest needs. Our commitment to equity is a significant driver in our recent shift to explore in depth the intersection of curriculum and professional learning.
Our commitment to equity also undergirds Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning. When we revised the standards in 2011, we embedded the concept of equity throughout. We believed then, as we do now, that when a district aligns its practices to the standards, each and every child will experience excellent teaching and learning every day.
However, we know that we must do more. While our new vision statement is an important step for our organization, it isn’t the only step to take. Going forward, we will view all of our strategies through an equity lens with the goal of making sure our efforts will help districts and schools ensure each and every child exceeds provincial, state, and local standards.
We also commit to reflect on our own assumptions, beliefs, and practices and how they can evolve. This is also a central task of high-quality professional learning. In that spirit, we are reflecting on these questions and issues:
As we continue to grapple with our equity questions, we ask you to send us yours. What questions and issues are you reflecting on? What new ideas or reflections does reading this issue of The Learning Professional bring up for you? Please share them with us.
Frederick Brown is Learning Forward’s president | CEO. Prior to joining Learning Forward, Brown served as a senior program officer for the New York City based Wallace Foundation where he guided the work of several major grantees, including the Southern Regional Education Board; the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh; and the states of Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas, and New Jersey.
Before joining The Wallace Foundation, Brown was director of the Leadership Academy and Urban Network for Chicago (LAUNCH), an organization whose mission was to identify, train, and support principals for the Chicago Public Schools. In 2005, LAUNCH was highlighted by the U.S. Department of Education as an Innovative Pathway to the Principalship.
Brown's expertise is grounded in real-world experience. He has been an elementary school teacher and principal as well as a middle school assistant principal. He also served as a founding member of the Mathematics and Equity Teams for Ohio's Project Discovery, a statewide initiative to improve mathematics and science instruction.
Over the past 15 years, Brown has been a leader in designing and facilitating cutting-edge learning experiences for school and district administrators on topics such as cultural competence, leadership, and professional learning communities.
Stephanie Hirsh retired in June 2019 after 31 years with Learning Forward, an international association of more than 13,000 educators committed to increasing student achievement through effective professional learning. Hirsh led the organization as its executive director for the last 13 years where she presented, published, and consulted on Learning Forward’s behalf across North America. Her books include Becoming a Learning Team, co-authored with Tracy Crow (Learning Forward, 2018), Becoming a Learning System, co-authored with Kay Psencik and Frederick Brown (Learning Forward, 2018); A Playbook for Professional Learning: Putting the Standards Into Action, co-authored with Shirley Hord (Learning Forward, 2012); and The Learning Educator: A New Era for Professional Learning, co-authored with Joellen Killion (NSDC, 2007). Hirsh wrote a column for The Learning Professional, Learning Forward’s bimonthly magazine, Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, The Record, The School Administrator, American School Board Journal, The High School Magazine, and Education Week. Hirsh has served on a number of advisory boards including Learning First Alliance, 2-Rev, Digital Promise, the University of Texas College of Education, and The Teaching Channel. She served three terms as a school board trustee in the Richardson (TX) Independent School District. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Staff Development Council, Master Trustee from the Texas School Board Association, and was named a Distinguished Alumna by the University of North Texas.
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