Teaching is a selfless profession. Although many teachers find great satisfaction in their work, most educators would probably say they are driven by the desire to help and inspire students. Too often, educators sacrifice their own well-being to support students' social, emotional, and academic needs. Teacher wellness influences school culture and…

Jal Mehta is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His work focuses on educational practices and policies that promote deep and meaningful learning. He has also conducted extensive research on the education workforce. He is the author of "In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School"…

As racial violence in America took on an international focus in summer 2020, many began to make pledges and statements against racism. The author heard multiple outcries for support from teams of school principals in her school district who wanted to do more than make a statement. The tool featured in this article was designed as a planning and…

The events of 2020 highlighted many longstanding truths about teaching and learning. One such truth is that culture matters for learning, especially for transfer of learning from abstract knowledge into practical application. Because this holds for adults' learning as well as students', it can and should have an impact on professional learning.…

Learning Forward's Professional Learning State and District Planner is a guide to help state, district, and school leaders implement professional learning to support high-quality curriculum and instructional materials. Grounded in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) definition of high-quality professional learning as intensive, data-driven,…

In the chaos and upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been hard to keep a focus on race and equity in schools. And yet in this time of disruption of the very notion of what it means to be a teacher and how teachers do school, keeping race and equity at the center of this work is essential. In this time of exhaustion and uncertainty,…

As the world races to combat a pandemic, slow climate change, and solve many other public health challenges, it is clear that developing young people's scientific knowledge should be an urgent priority in schools. The goal of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is to foster scholars and citizens who can think critically and creatively to…

Coaches play integral roles in many schools' learning cultures, but they often find their entry into coaching life disorienting and difficult. Educators typically take on the mantle of coach because they were successful as teachers, and they may have limited experiences working with adult learners. For new coaches, having access to the support and…

Teaching young students requires more than just learning about child development -- it requires understanding children and their experiences. Teacher educators have seen a lack of such authentic understanding among future and current early childhood educators. The authors set out to change that in a bachelor of education degree program in northern…

Iheoma Iruka is founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and research professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her work focuses on supporting the optimal development of children from low-wealth and marginalized communities and ensuring excellence…

At the heart of the most successful pre-K and early elementary programs is professional learning -- and at the heart of the professional learning is coaching. Even though early childhood is a unique period of development, the success of early learning coaches offers valuable lessons for professional learning across grade levels and settings. It…

Across public and private settings, about 250 preschoolers are suspended or expelled each day, according to a Center for American Progress analysis of the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (Malik, 2017). The U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection has exposed serious inequities in exclusionary discipline practices.…

Kay Psencik, Frederick Brown, and Stephanie Hirsh explore how school leaders can apply a learning lens to achieve their ambitious goals for educators and students in "The Learning Principal," their new book for Learning Forward. Chapter 3, "Managing Change," details how leaders can create the conditions and learning…

Test score outcomes continue to be disparate between races. Districts continue to face uneven funding with so-called urban districts receiving less than their so-called suburban counterparts (Morgan & Amerikaner, 2018). Students with diagnosed disabilities, those whose families are experiencing measures of economic distress, and those adding…

It is a tragic irony that George Floyd Jr., once a brilliant Black boy with dreams to serve on the highest court in the U.S., would grow up to be murdered by a white law enforcement officer who pressed his knee needlessly against Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. What did young George Floyd learn about the justice system? What do young…