Teachers who crave more leadership responsibilities but don't want to leave the classroom are often left with few options. Even when teacher leadership positions are available, many teachers don't know about them or have chances to develop the skills to succeed in them. Teacher leadership programs at higher education institutions fill this gap.…

Many teachers are underprepared to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Most have insufficient training and field experiences from their preparation programs, and once they begin teaching, they often lack collaborative professional learning about supporting students with disabilities. This article describes s how a multidisciplinary team…

In this article, the authors discuss the Baltimore Secondary Literacy Improvement Community, a teacher fellowship with two goals: (1) to develop pedagogy that supports the reading and writing skills of middle and high school students; and (2) to develop teachers' skills and habits in continuous improvement--behaviors that empower them to drive…

To help coaches grow into their roles, Learning Forward's Coaches Academy provides personalized support to districts and states. Offered both in person and virtually, the Coaches Academy builds coaches' knowledge and capacity through facilitated sessions with an expert coach, collaborative learning communities, tools and strategies tailored to the…

The instructional coaches in Kildeer Countryside School District 96 (KCSD 96), outside Chicago, are like tugboats, a key part of a maritime navigation system. Just as tugboats nudge and guide barges and ships that need steering assistance to navigate tricky waters, the coaches in KCSD 96 nudge and guide educators to navigate toward school and…

Viewing classrooms as apolitical, race-neutral environments is not working -- and never has. In promoting color blindness, educators have denied student racial identities. In using the broad language of multicultural education, schools have maintained a strict adherence to white, middle class, heteronormative definitions of success. As a result,…

Curriculum is an essential but often underemphasized factor in quality teaching and student learning. One part of the problem is that teachers have few opportunities to learn about and practice with curriculum even when their districts have selected high-quality materials. Nearly a third of teachers have access to less than five hours of…

Standards for Professional Learning set the vision for high-quality professional learning by defining the content, processes, and conditions that lead to great teaching and learning for all students and educators. Learning Forward believes that all educators have a role to play in advocating for Standards for Professional Learning adoption and…

Dealing with controversial issues is one of the most important tasks teachers perform. In this article, the author presents a few core concepts and research findings that are essential for understanding what teaching controversial issues is all about and why it is so important to develop capability in this methodology.

Society lives in perilous times for educational equity. The progress made in desegregation, culturally responsive pedagogy, and social justice is threatened by backlash legislation and protests in defense of the status quo. The pushback is happening at structural levels and very personal levels. There is an urgent need for professional learning…

Teaching in K-12 schools is stressful, as educators know and research documents. Although all teachers experience stress, minoritized teachers of color often experience unique stressors. Common examples include being asked to translate for parents who do not speak English or function as the disciplinarian for students experiencing behavioral…

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…

Improving educators' abilities to recognize and respond to signals that indicate students are upset, confused, or disengaged is a powerful but often underused strategy for ensuring that all students are accessing rigorous learning. Research has shown that when adults respond to students' social and behavioral cues for help in a timely, proactive,…

Student journalists from the Canine Courier at El Dorado Springs (Missouri) High School shared their thoughts and suggestions about what teachers need to know so that all students feel safe, welcome, and successful. Journalism teacher Amber Francis and assistant superintendent Theresa Christian facilitated their contributions. The contributions…

While a good amount is known in education research about approaches to individualized learning (e.g. differentiated instruction, personalized learning plans), little is known about the scope and scale of efforts to individualize learning in the Bush Foundation's region of focus. To support its learning and future investments, the Bush Foundation…