The major challenge with time is finding it. Current school-day schedules and school-year calendars are leaner than ever because of budget reductions. States and districts have implemented furlough days to balance lean-and-mean budgets that show no sign of improving. Few are willing to take the leap toward reducing instructional time to improve…

What percentage of their budgets should schools and districts invest in professional learning? To answer that question, schools and districts must first know how much they are spending on professional learning and be able to connect that spending to student achievement. Knowing what is invested in professional learning requires understanding the…

Student success depends on effective teaching--not just occasionally, but every day in every classroom and school. Effective teaching impacts students' academic, physical, social-emotional, and behavioral well-being. Generating a vision, developing an instructional framework, and delineating student learning outcomes by themselves are insufficient…

As the call for professional learning that incorporates ongoing feedback and support increases and resources to address that need decline, more states, districts, schools, and individuals are turning to technology. Technology creates significant opportunities for more focused professional learning, especially when it is effectively integrated into…

Educators face significant changes today that affect their daily work lives. Chief among those changes is the national expectation that every student will graduate from high school, college and career ready. Common core state standards adopted in 46 states, as well as college- and career-ready standards established in other states, define what…

Successful principals shape the culture of schools, set clear expectations, and share leadership with others to create productive learning environments for students and staff. For nearly a decade, The Wallace Foundation has coordinated studies of principal effectiveness and has concluded that principals are second only to teachers as the most…

Learning Forward introduces new Standards for Professional Learning. This is the third iteration of standards outlining the characteristics of professional learning that lead to effective teaching practices, supportive leadership, and improved student results. The standards are not a prescription for how education leaders and public officials…

New standards alone will not prepare all students for college and careers. The success of the Common Core State Standards depends on educators' capacity to make the instructional shifts the standards require. Meeting the promise of content standards cannot be achieved merely by agreeing on and publishing the new standards. Effective teaching of…

Meeting the unique and diverse needs of students challenges educators daily. And, the demand for improvement increases at the same pace. Enormous efforts are underway in school systems and state agencies across the country to design and implement multiple, high-stakes changes in educator effectiveness systems, college- and career-ready standards,…

This workbook guides a team in reviewing, revising, or replacing an existing professional learning system. The process outlined and the tools included support the team in conducting all aspects of its work, usually done over several months, with continuous progress monitoring and input from research, experts, and constituents. The workbook is…

Policy influences practice. Policy has the capacity to strengthen practice by demanding accountability for both process and results through clear expectations as well as deliberate sanctions for failure to meet those expectations. Policies can also provide resources to meet expectations. In this article, the authors discuss how several national…

Implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), now adopted in a large majority of states, requires significant support. To realize the potential of these new college- and career-ready standards, states must focus significant attention on how to prepare educators for implementation. Key among the strategies is high-quality, sustained…

The authors' experiences with improvement efforts, particularly those which failed to be fully implemented, cause them to wonder if other approaches to improvement will increase their potential for success. They conclude that principles--powerful beliefs that underlie actions--are essential to sustained system and school improvement. Over the…

Given what system leaders must accomplish with limited resources, they must make bold decisions about their current investments to achieve high-priority goals related to implementing college- and career-ready standards. This workbook is designed to guide users through a five-step process of understanding what professional learning is available in…

Leadership Networks are regional and content-specific networks focused on the preparation of college- and career-ready students. Each network includes teacher leaders, school administrators, central office staff, regional cooperatives, and institutes of higher education. Network members work collaboratively to focus their efforts on regional needs…