Learning Forward’s board of trustees, staff, voting members, and representatives from the Learning Forward Foundation gathered for the organization’s annual business meeting in March, with a focus on our growth and progress in 2023 and where we are heading in 2024. A highlight from the meeting was the report that Learning Forward’s organizational membership is at an all-time high. Here are other highlights from the past year:

The release of four new Action Guides for the Standards for Professional Learning for principals, coaches, system/central office leaders, and external partners.

An updated version of Joellen Killion’s Establishing Time for Professional Learning as a free download, along with a print version that can be purchased in the Learning Forward Bookstore.

Live, online book club discussions about Learning Forward Book Club selections, a benefit for members at the comprehensive level.

A digital flipbook of The Learning Professional that allows online readers to experience the same layout as the print version.

A successful 2023 Learning Forward Annual Conference in the Washington, D.C., area, with 3,370 conference attendees, the highest number in attendance since 2017. Nearly all conference attendees — 97.5% of survey respondents — said they came away from the event with ideas they would like to implement or apply.

A new cohort of the Learning Forward Academy and a new opportunity for 2024 graduates to present their educational change work in data stories in a poster session at the 2024 Annual Conference in Aurora, Colorado.

Launch of the Curriculum-Based Professional Learning Network with three districts selecting and testing change ideas in instructional practices through the process of continual improvement. Teachers are already reporting positive outcomes. One example is teachers’ use of specific mathematics language routines, which they first practiced in their professional learning communities with other teachers.

How you can attend the annual meeting 

Each year, Learning Forward’s annual business meeting updates members on the state of the association. All voting members are encouraged to attend. If you are not yet a voting member and would like to become one, visit bit.ly/4akZyo3 for instructions.