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…

Systems, structures, and practices perpetuate disparities because they reinforce barriers that sort and separate students based on assumed success or failure. When students are disadvantaged in this way, the implicit message is that their learning doesn't matter. The counterpoint to these discriminatory systems is an asset-based approach, which is…

Fishbowl coaching is where a coach and a teacher engage in a coaching session while other coaches observe the live interaction. While the conversation is happening, the other coaches take notes and prepare feedback to share after the conversation. Coaches learn from each other about how to structure and lead meaningful conversations that they can…

When educators engage in professional learning that is standards-based and led by an administrator who engaged in a standards-aligned preparation program and works in a state that has adopted standards for school leadership, there is greater potential for everyone in the system to develop the beliefs, values, knowledge, and skills to improve their…

When Nia Thornton became an assistant principal at Central Gwinnett High School in Georgia, one of her responsibilities was to lead professional learning for the school staff. She and the school leadership team were excited engage the staff in meaningful, day-to-day learning. They knew that their work needed to be rooted in current research and…

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…

State education leaders and entities play vital, if not always highly visible, roles in establishing high-quality professional learning. Through legislation and regulations, resource allocation, leadership support, and more, they establish a vision of professional learning and support its implementation in districts and schools. In particular,…

The Alhambra Elementary School District in Phoenix, Arizona, uses the Standards for Professional Learning to shape and guide their planning and professional learning design, and embeds them in meetings and learning opportunities for district-level directors, specialists, and coaches to ensure they integrate them throughout their work across the…

At a time when it is unpopular to publicly stand up for equity, diversity, and inclusion, Learning Forward demonstrated its unwavering commitment to ensure equitable outcomes for all students by centering equity in its newest iteration of Standards for Professional Learning. The three equity standards push professional learning facilitators to…

Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning define and describe professional learning that leads to improved educator practices, leadership, and student outcomes. Standards draw on the latest evidence and research about what works in professional learning to help educators implement every phase of the professional learning process. They…

The goal of this meta-analysis was to examine whether there is a significant relationship between professional learning that is aligned to Standards for Professional Learning and teacher instruction and student achievement. Using a cutting-edge method called a mediation-meta-analysis, the authors were also able to examine whether changes in…

Standards for Professional Learning are forward-looking by nature because they drive continuous improvement in educator practice. But taking a brief look at the history of the standards is important for understanding their impact on the field and their role in today's professional learning. As the field has shifted philosophy from staff…

Research has been at the heart of Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning since they were first conceptualized and shared with the field in the 1990s. The standards are built on a decades-long foundation of research literature that describes the ways in which professional learning can improve educator knowledge, skills, and mindsets…

In Canada, there is no federal department of education, nor is there a national system of education. Education is the responsibility of provinces and territories, and provincial education ministries lead the organization, implementation, and assessment of education within their jurisdictions. What this means for professional learning is that each…

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…