Curriculum-based professional learning is situated within the broader professional learning ecosystem. It focuses on how to teach a specific subject for specific grades, using the specific materials that teachers will use with their students. Given the potential of curriculum-based professional learning to support teachers and strengthen…

Since professional learning is about shifting adult mindsets and behavior, it is work that frequently challenges assumptions, expectations, beliefs, instructional practices, and long-standing habits. To have meaningful and productive conversations about evaluation and data, educators must be equipped with effective practices and tools that allow…

Many countries around the world are facing issues related to low levels of teacher wellbeing. In Australia, for example, there is a severe teacher shortage, resulting in many understaffed schools. Although this shortage is due to a confluence of factors, part of the cause stems from the fact that the support provided to teachers in recent years…

For emergent bilingual students to thrive, schools need a culture of valuing bilingualism, supported by strong and committed leaders. From 2015 to 2017, the authors convened a professional learning community of 14 emergent bilingual leaders from around the U.S. They defined emergent bilingual leaders as leaders at all levels who support…

In March 2020, emergency school closings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic initiated a sudden widespread use of virtual learning and brought new challenges that affected teaching and learning across multiple contexts. The complex change caused school district leaders to make plans to reinvent and reimagine schools and created a need for teacher…

Coaching is a popular and promising form of professional learning, with research evidence of its effectiveness for teachers and students. Surprisingly little is known, however, about the current landscape of coaching. To close this knowledge gap, Learning Forward recently partnered with Digital Promise to survey more than 1,000 U.S. educators…

Many teachers have strong beliefs about the way literacy should be taught, despite what the research shows about how students learn best. If an educator's existing beliefs about literacy clash with updated instructional understandings and methods about the science of reading, there's a likelihood that teachers may resist embracing change and…

Since 2013, a majority of states have been working to implement new standards for K-12 science education that are based on the National Research Council's framework for science education and the Next Generation Science Standards. The new science standards emphasize deeper understanding of content in relation to practices and a three-dimensional…

With educators facing conditions never seen before, Student Achievement Partners wanted to better understand what was happening on the ground -- the triumphs, needs, opportunities, and concerns of teachers trying to navigate instruction during the pandemic. A sample of more than 400 survey responses received in March and April 2020, which include…

Joellen Killion is senior advisor to Learning Forward. In each issue of "The Learning Professional", Killion explores a recent research study to help practitioners understand the impact of particular professional learning practices on student outcomes. In this Issue Mary Kennedy conducts a review and analysis of the research on…

In each issue of "The Learning Professional," Joellen Killion explores a recent research study to help practitioners understand the impact of particular professional learning practices on student outcomes. In this issue, Killion explores the study presented in "The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A…

A recent study by Debra McKeown and colleagues is described by author Eliabeth Foster as important not only because it highlights professional learning about a model of writing instruction of interest to many educators, but also because it examines teachers' reflections about their experiences in professional learning. Building on a larger…

In Penn State's work with aspiring teacher leaders over the last decade, two core strategies have emerged that hold significant promise for fostering teacher leadership: (1) provide teachers with the skills they need to create their own jobs; and (2) provide training and extended (e.g. post-graduate) support in developing ongoing professional…

Professional development designed to integrate key features of research-based professional learning has positive and significant effects on teacher practice and student achievement in mathematics when implemented in schools that meet specified technology-readiness criteria. Key features of research-based professional learning include intensive…

The path to principalship in Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida is not one taken lightly. After receiving the Wallace Foundation Principal Pipeline Initiative grant, Hillsborough was one of six districts that developed a comprehensive principal pipeline based on four key components: leader standards that define the role of principal;…