Shifting from hoping for the best to measuring impact through standards-aligned professional learning

Denise Stevens, EdD. is Director of Leadership Development at Clayton County Public Schools, Jonesboro, Georgia. She is a distinguished educator with over 30 years of district and school leadership experience. From teacher to assistant principal, principal, leadership coach, adjunct professor, and chief financial officer, she has exhibited expertise in various roles. As an experienced principal specializing in school turnarounds, she consistently accomplished significant success in enhancing educational environments across four distinct schools. Her dedication to student achievement has played a key role in achieving exceptional results and fostering positive transformations in each school under her leadership. Named Clayton County Public Schools’ Principal of the Year in 2015, Dr. Stevens is a highly qualified educational leader who provides impactful professional learning at district, state, and national levels. Proudly a member of the Learning Forward Academy Class of 2025, an Advisory Board Member for the Principals Center (Georgia State University), a trained McREL facilitator, and a graduate of Georgia School Superintendents Association – Superintendents Professional Development Program (Class of 2023), she brings a wealth of experience and dedication to the field.

Elizabeth Foster is the senior vice president of research and strategy at Learning Forward. She leads the organization’s research efforts for partnerships, programs, and fundraising. Elizabeth co-wrote the Standards for Professional Learning (2022) with Tracy Crow and now facilitates learning sessions about the standards and develops resources that support their use and implementation.

Machel Mills-Miles is vice president, standards implementation & outreach at Learning Forward. She advances the conceptualization and development of tools and resources to support the use of revised Standards for Professional Learning. Mills-Miles formerly served as senior learning strategist at BloomBoard, facilitating the use of micro-credentials to support professional learning plans in district, state, and regional contexts. Previously, she worked at the Tennessee Department of Education to lead a statewide pilot for micro-credentials and playing a key role in Tennessee’s Diversity Innovation Grant, Human Capital Network, Teacher Leader Network, New Teacher Induction Framework, and Professional Learning Systems Framework. She worked in Metro Nashville Public Schools as a lead coach for literacy, helping to support more than 120 coaches districtwide, and earlier as instructional/literacy coach in direct support of teachers. She began her education career as an English Language Arts teacher. Mills-Miles holds degrees in cognitive science from Northwestern University and teaching and learning in urban schools from Vanderbilt University. Mills-Miles maintains peace and balance by connecting with family and nature.

Paul Fleming serves as chief learning officer at Learning Forward. His current areas of focus include leading the effective implementation of the revised Standards for Professional Learning and corresponding tools, the expansion of our professional services and leadership and learning series teams, and multiple consulting projects with states and districts to increase educator and leader effectiveness through equity-focused, high quality professional learning.