What should professional development of knowledge and skills of academic sport scientists look like? We address this question by first dwelling in what 'being a professional academic' entails. Professionals work methodically, typically specialising their knowledge and skills while strategically planning how to progress their careers, often not…

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…

This article describes the process and strategies used in Arkansas to make the "AASL National Framework for Learners" the basis for the state's learning standards for school libraries. In addition, it provides details on the plan for helping school librarians fully implement the newly revised state standards into their curriculum.

Professional development of scientists is enhanced by training students in responsible conduct of research earlier in their careers. One aspect of responsible conduct of research is authorship ethics, which concerns granting of credit to those who make intellectual contributions to the research. The activity discussed in this article emphasizes…

Part of the reason many districts fail to achieve the promise of high-quality professional learning is that they operate with what the authors call a "PD mindset." This mindset manifests in sporadic, one-time events, inservice sessions, guest speakers, webinars, and workshops that are not part of a larger plan or vision. The authors…

More than a decade ago, the K-12 Framework for Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) shifted states' notions of what constitutes the core of science skills and knowledge that students need to thrive in school and beyond. The majority of states adopted standards based on the framework as well as the NGSS. Yet because of the…

The alert pace of technological, information and social development of contemporary society prevent academic programmes of initial education (bachelor, master) in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) from supplying graduates with enough knowledge and competences to meet the employers' requirements: this makes lifelong learning…

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 purpose of this special issue is to introduce ways in which the field of early childhood special education can use the Initial Practice-Based Professional Preparation Standards for Early Interventionists/Early Childhood Special Educators (EI/ECSE) (birth through age 8). In this article, the following applications are identified and guidance is…

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…

Writing can be challenging to implement in upper elementary classrooms because teachers report needing additional support and students may struggle to meet the academic and developmental demands of emerging adolescence. This was true of one diverse, high-need, under-resourced school that had ambitious writing instruction goals. To meet these…

With no universal educational requirements to coach at the collegiate level (Schempp et al., 2006), a coach may be hired based on past playing experience (Morris et al., 2014), who they know (McCullick et al., 2016), or by demonstrating a strong work ethic (Van Mullem & Croft, 2015). Thus, in reality a coach may be unprepared to lead an…

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.…

As states review, refine, and implement new academic standards, professional learning activities,also known as professional development (PD), should be scheduled in order to support educators. At the request of a state education agency, the Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (CSAI) conducted a scan of six states' PD opportunities…