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…

Equipping educators to hear students' voices, and then translating that information into concrete behavioral and instructional changes, is what the team at Partners in School Innovation has undertaken in San Jose, California, for the last several years. Their efforts have not only suggested promising practices, but also highlighted important…

Educators everywhere are responding to the realities of student learning loss, unfinished learning, or disrupted learning as they continue to experience the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students of color and students attending high poverty schools experienced the largest achievement declines, increasing preexisting gaps for already…

Learning networks for school improvement are a powerful structure for educators to expand their knowledge and improve their practice, and when networks include members with diverse experiences and perspectives, the results can be particularly effective. But how can network facilitators ensure that members are learning from each other and…

A school is much more than a collection of individual classrooms. Fostering a collaborative and learning-oriented culture can improve teachers' and students' success. In model classrooms, teachers who have participated in professional learning open their classroom doors and agree to have others observe as they work to integrate the targeted new…

At the start of the 2020-21 school year, six months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the lives of everyone, the author and the other instructional coaches in her district were temporarily reassigned to virtual teaching positions. In this article, the author shares what she learned about the kinds of support teachers need and how…

For teachers and coaches, co-teaching can be exciting, rewarding, and full of powerful learning. It offers teachers supported experiences to apply new knowledge in their own contexts, exemplifying active engagement in job-embedded professional learning. Co-teaching requires the coach and teacher to make continuous, intentional decisions about how…

The authors have researched, designed, and engaged in leadership coaching for many years, from many angles and across many district contexts. They have been struck by how rare it is to see a leadership coaching model that clearly aligns with and supports district priorities. To help change that pattern, the authors have distilled the lessons they…

Professional learning leaders are sometimes faced with skepticism about the expected impact of an investment in professional learning. Long-held myths and outdated notions about sit-and-get professional learning can act as barriers to thorough planning, appropriate funding, and sustained implementation of professional learning efforts.…

Two years after the onset of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to take a toll on educators' morale and well-being. The need to strengthen relationships between educators and students is growing. The MyTeachingPartner-Secondary (MTP-S) program, which is a strengths-based coaching program for middle and high school teachers, helps educators respond…

Although instructional coaches are deeply committed to continuous improvement, they rarely have access to professional learning themselves. Rarer still is differentiated professional learning that meets coaches where they are in their careers and their professional growth. Just as Florida's Orange County Public Schools accentuates the importance…

Data is so deeply woven into the fabric of people's lives that it is next to impossible to imagine what a data-free life would be like. But despite the centrality of data in everyone's personal lives, when people talk about data in schools, their comments are often negative. The authors of this article believe "data" should not be a…

Professional learning focused on racial equity in schools should transform educators' beliefs and interrupt inequitable outcomes for students. To ensure that it does, professional learning leaders must not only excel at typical facilitation skills -- such as being aware of group dynamics, supporting inquiry, and creating relationships -- but…

It can be hard for leaders to find inspiration and joy when times are as stressful as they have been in the last two years. Coaching can help principals step back and rediscover their motivation or find new sources of inspiration. Coaching is a powerful approach to assist principals in being leaders of high-performing schools where students and…

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…